The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1893-12-08
WATER GETS INTO TILE.
! an exchange, under the above

II 5loss of the Ontario state col
Il gives in recent lecture on
drainage, some true and some false
theories. Thus, the professor
claims that the water does not
come through the top of the tile,
but through the bottom, where the
ends of the tile come together;
and the American CuItivator is
quoted as affirming that some wa
ter does go shrough the body of
the tile, and would appea, to
recommend soft, porous tile as the
best" When the attention of
Pres. John M. Bloss of the state
agricultural college was called to
the above article he said: II know
of no Prof j. M. BIoss in an On
tario state college, and l assume
that the Oregon state agricultural
college is meant. In a bulletin
winch was issued from this station
in May, 1898, said on page 6:
'''It is frequently y asked now does
the water get into the tile. Well,
it rises up on the under side, be-
tween the ends OF the tile. 1t
could only go down through the
top OF the tile while the whole tile
is covered with wafer The water
goes in at the ends of the sections
1t does not soak through the body
of the tile. Avoid agents who
want TO sell you porous tile. You
don't want that kind, the harder it
is burned the better
.'1'his bulletin has been repub-
| lished in part OF in whole Ill a
large number of newspapers and
periodicals in the west and the
east. 1t is possible that the one
who wrote the article referred to
had not read fhe whole bulletin"
well, does water pass through
the body of the tile !'' was asked.
The president answered that
possibly a few drops might thus
get into a tile, but it was so small
quantity that il could not be
considered as producing amy valu-
able effect III draining land. This
would be true OF the soft and seem
ingly porous tile, as We'll as the
hard burned; that SOFT burHAd tile
was far more liable IL break and
crumbe under ground and would
not pay that the water entered
the tile at end ol the sections and
not through the body OF the tile :;
that the water would not flow in
a tile drain unless the ground were
full OF water up to above the bot
tom Of the tile; that otherwise it
would pass out into the ground
below, TO be absorbed.
"Suppose that the whole soil has
been saturated with water both
tabove and below the tile drain g.
"Then," said President Bloss,
1.-THE tile will be lying in a bed
of water, and the action will
be as follows: If the tile be laid
upon an inclining plane as it should
be, the water will begin at once to
flow through the tile. The water
around the tile, the very moment
that water in the tile begins to
flow presses into the tile at tie
ends of the sections, from above
and below and from the sides to
establish the equilibrium. Many
forget that liquids have, under
such circumstances, lateral and
upward pressure as we'll as down
ward pressure. OF course pres
sure from above will not be con-
tinued for great length of time,
and the facts show that in proper
ly drained lands the soil above the
tile is soon the driest in the field.
II the drain in such field be ex-
posed it will be found that the
water probably does not cover the
tile, yet the water is rapidly escap
ing through it. 1t would be evi-
dent in such case that water
rushed into the tile to restore the
equilibrium, from the sides and
below.
"Of course as long as the water
wholly covers the tile it will flow
into it from above. In actual
practice this period will be of short
duration, so that it will be found
that by far the larger part of the
water will enter from points be-
low the center of the tile. The
pressure will be greatest upon this
part of the tile"