Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-02-20
TILE DRAINING WET LAND.

TILE DRAINING WET LAND.
Many a man throughout the wet sec
ton of the country is up against tho
proposition Of either tile draining his
farm or going dead broke. This is q
condition which confronts him and is
not theory. For years he has tiled
his lands, seeded and plowed them,
only to have his crop destroyed and hia
labor lost by an excess of water during
the growing season, which at best Is a
most discouraging situation. Now,
these wet lands when properly tiled
are almost without exception the most
productive of all lands, and 30 tiled not
only insure good crop in wet season,
but also in dry one, for tile drainage
works two ways-it dries the land In a
wet time and furnishes needed moisture
to the soil in q dry time. As it looks
to us, the owners Of such land will do
well to look the situation In the face
and decide that it is worse than use
less to continue to work such land In 4
Its present undrained condition. Ii,
there is no other way out Of the dilem&
ma, better sell one half of the farm
and tile drain the other half or borrow I
money with which to do the Job, for
this is the one farm Improvement
which will well justify the borrowing
Of money to do. The cost Of tile drain
ing If properly done will run from $1a
to $40 per acre, and instances are
plentiful the past season where the
crop the past year-the extra crop has
been enough to cover all the expense.
There is no sense in figuring how to gel
hold Of more land to work ct home or
far Oh 90 long as there are good acres
on the old farm which may be reclaim7
ed at an expense Of not to exceed SCI
per acre, and this better land than can
be bought anywhere. We know on
hundreds of farms where this recla-
nation work can be started to the
greatest advantage. Mistakes are
made in tile drainage Of land, but they
are almost wholly connected with tho
neglect to have proper survey Of the{j
area to be SO drained, the failure to de-
cure sufficient fall for the water and
dig the bitches deep enough, and per-
haps more than any other thing ths(
tendency to use tile Of too small d. !
ameter. Draintlle of three inches araV
too small for general use save for short
lateral lines Of tile, and none less than
four inches in diameter should ever bel
used. We know Of a case where $500l
worth Of thing had to be all pulled upA
and relaid with four inch tile. And itl
Is not the sloughs and wet spots on
the farm which alone may be bene-l
flied by tiling, but there is many al
seep on the hillside which little tile1
draining will remove and make pr0l]
ductive. More than In any other waxs
the attention of road builders andS
workers should be called to the great
value of tile for the highway to rid itA
Of the subsoil moisture. Many an al-I
most impossible quagmire Of couns
try highway has been, completely re-
constructed by the laying of two lines
Of draintile, one just outside each
wagon track, making such highway
from being the very worst to be found
In the township by all odds the bestl
road to be found In the community H
Men all over the wet sections should
wake up to the great reforms connect
ed with the intelligent use Of dranHle.