tough clayey lands than in black loams. The texture of the clayey particles is finer and the interstices smaller than in the sandy loam. The clayey soil holds more water than the loam, because the interstices, although smaller, are far more numerous. This, however, only makes the necessity for drainage that much the more important. In the clayey lands the tiles must be closer together than in the loams for reasons indicated above.

It is frequently asked how close must the tile be placed. That question I cannot answer; there is no rule that can be followed. In clayey ground the tile must be closer, say from 16 to 20 feet, while in certain loams equally good drainage may be secured at 40 to 50 feet apart.

The next question which may arise is the size of the tile to be used. This depends, first, on the method used in laying the tile; and second, on the fall or grade.

First, if the tile is laid by guess, or by a water level, or rather by observing the flow of the water in the ditch, then you would better use a six-inch tile where a three-inch tile would be abundant on a perfect grade, because the grade line will have many inequalities in it; and you must make an allowance for the parts below grade to be filled up with silt. If these inequalities, up and down, be less than six inches, then some water will continue to flow from a sixinch tile, as in figure No. 2 below.

No 1

No 2

Figures Nos. 1 and 2 represent tile laid on an imperfect grade. The dark portion represents the silt which has collected in points below the grade line. The light, that part not filled. In No. 1, the tile is choked with silt at A, and is useless.

In No. 2, the tile is partly filled at C, F. and G, and its capacity has been limited to that of the narrowest point, as at F.

The probabilities are, that the inequalities will be more than three inches, and that the tile so laid will in a few years be entirely filled with silt, and cease to be of any use, as shown in figure No. 1 above. However, great the care taken in laying tile, there are liable to be slight inequalities. These should, however, be reduced to the minimum. Where there are not more than two inches fall in one hundred feet, and where we have nothing better than the eye to determine it, it is very easy to go from two to three inches below the true grade line without discovering it. This would cause a three-inch tile to be strangulated, and hence useless. If

tile are properly laid on a grade of one inch to one hundred feet, it will be sufficient, in most soils. Such a grade is over four feet to the mile, which is greater than the fall in many of our rivers. For this reason, I would never recommend tile to be laid by a water level. If a man were to offer to furnish the tile and lay them for nothing, and I had no immediate use for the land, I think that I would let him put them in; but I certainly could not afford to pay for it.

I would have the tile put in on as perfect a grade as possible, first, because it would cost but little more to do the work, possibly not so much; and second, the tile that I would then need to use would not be more than half the size otherwise needed. The cost of the tile depends on the size. Thus: three-inch, about 18 cents per rod; four-inch, 25 cents per rod; five-inch, 35 cents per rod; six-inch, 50 cents per rod; seven-inch, 70 cents per rod; eight-inch, 90 cents per rod; ten-inch, $1.20 per rod. Now, if a three-inch tile properly laid could be used where a six-inch tile must be used under the other methods, then it would be much cheaper to lay the tile on a perfect grade.

To estimate the size of the tile, the amount of water to be carried away in any one day must be known. A ten-inch tile on a grade of three inches to the hundred feet will carry in twenty-four hours water to the depth of one inch over an area of sixty acres. The amount of water on the surface of one acre when one inch deep weighs about one hundred and twelve tons. Hence a ten-inch tile would carry at that grade about six thousand seven hundred and twenty tons in twenty-four hours. A three-inch tile would carry on the same grade an equal amount of water from three acres, or three hundred and thirty-six tons. But we can rarely ever get a three-inch tile long enough at a grade of three inches to one hundred feet to keep itself filled with water for twenty-four hours. The water can't get to it fast enough. By an experiment which I made, I found that a three-inch tile at a grade of two inches in one hundred feet had to be extended to a length of seven hundred feet before it would run full of water, when the soil was saturated. a grade of three inches to the one hundred feet, it is probable that the tile could be extended to one thousand two hundred feet. If the three-inch tile runs just full of water, then it carries all the water that would be carried by a six-inch tile in the same place, because it carries all the water that can reach a tile at that point. Hence a larger tile would be useless.

At

When the soil has been proper y tiled to the depth of 40 inches, then the water-table, as has been said, has been lowered to almost that depth. The interstices between the particles of the soil are now filled with air, and when the rain comes it readily passes

down into the ground, forces the air out, and saturates the soil. If one inch of water were to fall in twenty-four hours, it would saturate the soil to a depth of about 30 inches, and unless the rain fell very suddenly it would all be absorbed. The rain water contains a large amount of carbonic acid gas,-a very necessary plant food, --which is left in the soil, while the water escapes through the little channels on the water-table to the tile drains. Within the next twenty-four hours this water is carried away, and leaves the soil ready for the next water-bath. In the meantime, the air has followed up the water as it passed toward the water-table, carrying with it its heat, imparting it to the soil, and helping, at the same time, to work those chemical changes which stimulate growth.

In addition to the changes in the mechanical condition of the soil, thorough drainage does another important thing: it raises the temperature of the soil during the rainy season,-winter and spring, -and makes the soil more moist during the dry season. These are conditions certainly greatly desired by every farmer.

In underdrained lands, there are but three ways for the water to escape,―first, to pass through the soil and sub-soil; secondly, to flow away over the surface of the soil; and thirdly, to evaporate and escape by means of the air. Only a very small portion of the rain which falls in this valley can escape through the soil and subsoil. Hence the greater part must escape either by overflow or evaporation.

When your head aches, you bathe your forehead with ether; this quickly evaporates and carries away from your temples the excess of heat. Let it evaporate from your hand, and you feel that your hand is colder. The evaporation of the water from the surface of the soil has the same effect on the soil and the plants-it lowers the temperature of the soil and chills the plants. The rapidity of growth of any plant depends upon moisture and warmth. Properly drained land is, therefore, warmer than the undrained-first, because the amount of evaporation is lessened; and second, that which is just as important, the air circulates through the soil down to the water-table, and gives up to the soil its extra heat.

During the dry season, the air circulates freely through well drained lands, because it is friable; and as the soil is colder than the air it causes a condensation of the moisture in these currents of air which makes the soil moist. All know that the more thoroughly pulverized the soil, the better it withstands drought. By proper drainage fifteen days may easily be gained in the spring, and the fall may be extended an equal time. Thus, a month may be gained for maturing various crops.

Some one usually asks during these talks on drainage what about the road? Well, if you will drain your farm and make an Eden of

it, you will then have something to make roads for and with. If you will tile drain your roads to the depth of 40 inches,-placing a tile on each side of the roadway,-raising the center of the road so that the water will run off, you will have ordinarily good roads, and especially is this true if you drain the lands on either side of the road. No energetic community need have bad roads in this country, nor does a town or city need to have muddy streets,—don't wait for sewerage, that will come later, but tile-drain your streets and grounds.

METHOD OF LAYING TILE.

In order to properly underdrain your farm there should first be a carefully prepared plan; it would be better to make out a complete map, drawn to some scale, say one inch to the hundred feet. The first thing to be secured is a proper outlet; second, the position of the mains which are to carry the water away,-the size of these must be adapted to the amount of water to be carried; and third, the lateral drains. I would suggest that you stake out these mains and laterals just as you wish the drainage to be when fully completed. Drive a good stake 18 inches long down into the ground until the top is even with the surface of the soil; this is the grade stake. By the side of it drive in a stake two feet in length and leave one foot exposed; this is the station stake. These stakes should not be more than 25 feet apart. When this is done get an engineer, if you are not one, and have a complete survey made of your lands.

If your plan shows that the laterals are to be 20 feet apart and you are not able to do all the work in one season, then put in the mains and put in lateral drains 80 feet apart; the next year make the laterals 40 feet apart, and the next year put in twice as much tile and make them 20 feet apart. The same grade stakes will remain through that period.

The engineer will give you the depth of the tile at each stake or station, and, if competent, can you tell the size of the tile to be used. This will cost something, but when you have once prepared for the work it will take him but a short time to level and make the calculation for a thousand rods of tile. If this is properly done it will save many times its cost. We speak of houses and farms as being permanent improvements, but really the tile drainage will be the only permanent improvement that you will ever put on your lands. A thousand years hence, if it has been well done, it will still be new. Hence it should be well done.

The following device, illustrated in the cut on the succeeding page, is the best means that I have found for securing a perfect grade in laying tile without an engineer to test the work as it is completed.

At the side of the grade stake stakes about four feet in length are driven into the ground which have the station marked above them. On the side of these stakes is a hook. The first stake at 0 is driven into the ground until the hook is just 35 inches above the grade stake. This makes the bottom of the tile just 65 inches below the hook. The second is driven into the ground until the hook is just 25 inches above the grade stake, making the bottom of the tile just 65 inches below the hook. The other stakes, it will be observed, have each been driven into the ground until the hook is just 65 inches above the bottom of the tile. Then a wire (a fine steel wire of the kind used for holding stovepipes in place) is stretched very taught on the ground between the two inclined stakes, and when fastened, it is then lifted into the hooks on