Draining for Profit, and Draining for Health | Page 7

"luck;" that he should deliberately bet his capital, his toil, and his experience on having a good season, or a bad one,--this is not the least of the remaining mysteries. Some chance there must be in all things,--more in farming than in mechanics, no doubt; but it should be made to take the smallest possible place in our calculations, by a careful avoidance of every condition which may place our crops at the mercy of that most uncertain of all things--the weather; and especially should this be the case, when the very means for lessening the element of chance in our calculations are the best means for increasing our crops, even in the most favorable weather.
CHAPTER II.
- HOW DRAINS ACT, AND HOW THEY AFFECT THE SOIL
For reasons which will appear, in the course of this work, the only sort of drain to which reference is here made is that which consists of a conduit of burned clay, (tile,) placed at a considerable depth in the subsoil, and enclosed in a compacted bed of the stiffest earth which can conveniently be found. Stone-drains, brush-drains, sod-drains, mole-plow tracks, and the various other devices for forming a conduit for the conveying away of the soakage-water of the land, are not without the support of such arguments as are based on the expediency of make-shifts, and are, perhaps, in rare cases, advisable to be used; but, for the purposes of permanent improvement, they are neither so good nor so economical as tile-drains. The arguments of this book have reference to the latter, (as the most perfect of all drains thus far invented,) though they will apply, in a modified degree, to all underground conduits, so long as they remain free from obstructions. Concerning stone-drains, attention may properly be called to the fact that, (contrary to the general opinion of farmers,) they are very much more expensive than tile-drains. So great is the cost of cutting the ditches to the much greater size required for stone than for tiles, of handling the stones, of placing them properly in the ditches, and of covering them, after they are laid, with a suitable barrier to the rattling down of loose earth among them, that, as a mere question of first cost, it is far cheaper to buy tiles than to use stones, although these may lie on the surface of the field, and only require to be placed in the trenches. In addition to this, the great liability of stone-drains to become obstructed in a few years, and the certainty that tile-drains will, practically, last forever, are conclusive arguments in favor of the use of the latter. If the land is stony, it must be cleared; this is a proposition by itself, but if the sole object is to make drains, the best material should be used, and this material is not stone.
A well laid tile-drain has the following essential characteristics:--1. It has a free outlet for the discharge of all water which may run through it. 2. It has openings, at its joints, sufficient for the admission of all the water which may rise to the level of its floor. 3. Its floor is laid on a well regulated line of descent, so that its current may maintain a flow of uniform, or, at least, never decreasing rapidity, throughout its entire length.
Land which requires draining, is that which, at some time during the year, (either from an accumulation of the rains which fall upon it, from the lateral flow, or soakage, from adjoining land, from springs which open within it, or from a combination of two or all of these sources,) becomes filled with water, that does not readily find a natural outlet, but remains until removed by evaporation. Every considerable addition to its water wells up, and soaks its very surface; and that which is added after it is already brim full, must flow off over the surface, or lie in puddles upon it. Evaporation is a slow process, and it becomes more and more slow as the level of the water recedes from the surface, and is sheltered, by the overlying earth, from the action of sun and wind. Therefore, at least during the periods of spring and fall preparation of the land, during the early growth of plants, and often even in midsummer, the water-table,--the top of the water of saturation,--is within a few inches of the surface, preventing the natural descent of roots, and, by reason of the small space to receive fresh rains, causing an interruption of work for some days after each storm.
If such land is properly furnished with tile-drains, (having a clear and sufficient outfall, offering sufficient means of entrance to the water which reaches them, and carrying it, by a uniform or increasing descent, to the outlet,) its