REESE LIBRARY 
 
 v 
 
 01- THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 Class 
 
 ' 
 
 i 
 

Land Draining 
 
 A Handbook for Farmers 
 
 ON THE 
 
 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE 
 
 FARM DRAINING 
 
 By MANLY MILES, M. D., F. R. M. S. 
 
 Author of " Stock Breeding; " " Silos, Ensilage and Silage," etc., etc. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 or THE 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 ORANGE JUDD COMPANY 
 1903 
 
4 
 
 BEcSE 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1892, 
 ORANGE JUDD COMPANY. 
 
A book on farm draining is evidently needed at the 
 present time, to bring within reach of practical farm- 
 ers the established facts of science relating to the princi- 
 ples and advantages of thorough drainage, and the best 
 and most economical method of making farm drains. 
 
 Under the present conditions of American farm 
 practice, one of the most prominent defects in the pre- 
 vailing system of management ''appears to be a lack of 
 attention to thorough drainage as a means of diminish- 
 ing the cost of production, and insuring uniformly remu- 
 nerative returns in crop growing, by increasing the fer- 
 tility of the soil, and avoiding the losses from unfavor- 
 able seasons. The manifest neglect of this important 
 branch of rural economy by the majority of farmers is 
 undoubtedly owing, to a great extent, at least, to the 
 frequent failures observed in draining, from the practice 
 of imperfect methods, and vague, or incorrect notions, 
 in regard to the real a'dvan^tages to be derived from 
 draining. 
 
 This is not surprising, as attention has been turned 
 in other directions, and the most valuable contributions 
 to the principles of drainage, of late years, have been 
 confined, in the main, to periodicals and reports not 
 generally accessible to farmers, and there is no book on 
 this special subject in which may be found a description 
 of the best method of making tile drains, or an adequate 
 discussion of the latest developments of science in their 
 relations to the principles of drainage. Many of the 
 
 tssorvj 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 maxims in draining, of but a few years ago, have become 
 obsolete, and more consistent methods have been adopted 
 in the best modern practice, while the progress of sci- 
 ence has extended our knowledge of correct principles, 
 and made clear many details in regard to the most favor- 
 able conditions for growing crops, which are of great 
 practical importance. 
 
 In this Handbook for Farmers, the aim has been 
 to present the leading facts of practical significance, in 
 connection with a popular discussion of the applications 
 of science, and the results of experiments relating to 
 draining have been summarized in tables in convenient 
 form for reference, which furnish ready answers to 
 many of the economic questions that will be suggested 
 to the intelligent farmer. 
 
 An outline of the history of draining is given to 
 illustrate the progress of discovery and invention in 
 developing correct principles of practice, and the direc- 
 tions for laying tiles, which are the results of an 
 extended experience in draining under widely different 
 conditions, are confidently recommended as a decided 
 improvement on former methods. 
 
 Lansing, Mica, 1892. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. Page 
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES 1 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 WATER IN SOILS AND CONSERVATION OF ENERGY 24 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 RAINFALL, DRAINAGE AND EVAPORATION 35 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 ENERGY IN EVAPORATION 58 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 ADVANTAGES OF DRAINING RETENTIVE SOILS 70 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY AND INVENTION 96 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 LOCATION AND PLANS OF DRAINS 130 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 QUALITY AND SIZE OF TILES 139 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 How TO MAKE TILE DRAINS 157 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 DRAINS IN QUICKSAND, AND PEAT 177 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 OUTLETS AND OBSTRUCTIONS . . 184 
 
OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 
 
 The rapid growth of science, and the development 
 of the mechanic arts which have made possible the 
 unprecedented activity in the industries during the past 
 quarter of a century, have brought about economic 
 changes in methods of production, which must be taken 
 into consideration in attempts to improve the practice 
 and increase the profits of agriculture. 
 
 From the intense competition in farm products of 
 all kinds, arising from the extraordinary development of 
 facilities for cheap transportation, the farmers of the 
 United States are directly interested in every means of 
 diminishing the cost of production, to enable them to 
 hold a commanding position in the world's markets, and 
 obtain remunerative returns for their labor, without 
 impairing the value of their invested capital. The busi- 
 ness methods that have been found necessary to insure 
 success in other pursuits must be adopted, and atten- 
 tion must be given to every available means of increasing 
 the productiveness of the soil and making the labor 
 expended on it more effective, while the losses resulting 
 from bad seasons must be reduced to a minimum by the 
 intelligent direction and control of the forces of nature. 
 
 One of the first steps in the direction of improved 
 methods of farm practice is to put the soil in a condition 
 to yield the best net returns from the elements of plant 
 food which it naturally contains, or that may be applied 
 to it in the home, supplies of manure. The questions that 
 may arise in regard to artificial, or purchased fortuity, 
 
 1 
 
2 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 are of secondary importance to the majority of American 
 farmers, and the leading problem for them to solve is to 
 obtain the best returns from the elements of production 
 j^ready within their control. 
 
 Among the available agencies for bringing about 
 tins desirable conservation and utilization of the elements 
 of profitable crop-growing on a large proportion of the 
 farms of this country, thorough drainage is the most 
 important, as upon it will depend the successful applica- 
 tion of other means of increasing productiveness, includ- 
 ing thorough tillage and manures, which are relied upon 
 to increase the net income that may be derived from the 
 aggregate of farm operations. 
 
 In order to lay a foundation for the intelligent dis- 
 cussion of the advantages of thorough drainage it will 
 be necessary to briefly review some of the conditions that 
 are essential to the health and well-being of the crops 
 grown on the farm. The results of scientific investiga- 
 tions are suggestive, and the knowledge that has been 
 gained of the laws and processes of vegetable nutrition 
 and growth must be recognized as of great practical 
 value in farm economy, when their relations to details 
 o'f practice are clearly understood. 
 
 The uniform certainty of results obtained in all 
 operations in other industries can only be realized in 
 agriculture when the practice of the art is based on con- 
 sistent principles, in harmony with those natural laws 
 which it is the mission of science to discover and inves- 
 tigate. In dealing with the different forms of life with 
 which the farmer is chiefly concerned, the best results can 
 only be obtained by a strict conformity to physiological 
 laws, the practical significance of which may readily be 
 learned and appreciated, without any profound knowl- 
 edge of the science of physiology. 
 
 Clear and consistent notions of the philosophy of 
 farm drainage can only be secured by an examination 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 3 
 
 of the known facts relating to the nutritive activities of 
 plants and their relations to the soil and its contained 
 moisture, to ascertain what special conditions are likely 
 to interfere with their normal processes of growth. The 
 intelligent farmer will not be satisfied with the simple 
 statement that the draining of retentive soils makes 
 them more productive but he will inquire how this 
 result is brought about, and the knowledge he may 
 acquire in tracing to their source the conditions that 
 favor the vigorous growth of his crops, will be of value 
 to him in suggesting many details of practice that may 
 be profitably adopted in his general system of farm 
 management. 
 
 We cannot, of course, in this connection, attempt a 
 full discussion of the physiology of plants, and attention 
 will only be directed to some of the leading facts in this 
 department of science, that have a direct relation to the 
 principles of farm drainage. 
 
 Physiologists tell us that a very large proportion of 
 the dry substance of plants is derived from the atmos- 
 phere, but it is well understood that the atmospheric 
 supplies of plant food are only made available when 
 their roots are enabled to take from the soil, under 
 favorable conditions, the comparatively limited amount 
 of nutritive materials it is their function to furnish. 
 
 From a practical standpoint it is, therefore, a mat- 
 ter of the first importance to provide suitable soil condi- 
 tions to promote the functional activities of the roots of 
 plants, as they have direct relations with the part per- 
 formed by the leaves in appropriating from the atmos- 
 phere materials that constitute the great bulk of the dry 
 substance of the plant. 
 
 Dr. Gilbert makes the statement that in the Roth- 
 amsted experiments, "by the application of nitrogen to 
 the soil, for mangels, there was, in many cases, an 
 increased assimilation of about one ton of carbon per 
 
4 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 acre, from the atmosphere," and that one pound of 
 nitrogen as manure for mangels gave an increase of over 
 twenty-two pounds of sugar, derived almost exclusively 
 from the atmosphere. With wheat and barley for 
 twenty years there was an increase of from fourteen to 
 twenty-two pounds of carbon in the crop for each one 
 pound of nitrogen in the manure. The results here 
 presented are in strict accordance with other known facts 
 in vegetable physiology, which it is unnecessary to 
 notice, and we cannot avoid the conclusion that soil con- 
 ditions have a direct influence on all of the nutritive 
 processes of plants, and that their chemical composition 
 furnishes no index of their requirements in regard to the 
 food constituents that may be profitably applied in the 
 form of manures. 
 
 In the growing of crops, as well as in the care of his 
 animals, the farmer is dealing with living organisms, 
 and it is not sufficient to furnish the food elements 
 required in building tissues, but he must also provide 
 conditions that are in every way favorable for the exer- 
 cise of their vital activities, on which the appropriation 
 and assimilation of their food directly depends. 
 
 CONDITIONS OF PLANT GROWTH. 
 
 In common with other living organisms, our farm 
 crops require certain conditions of environment for their 
 active growth and perfect development, and amon<r 
 those which the farmer can, to a greater or less extent, 
 control, may be enumerated as essential a favorable 
 temperature, a proper supply of moisture, and a supply 
 of appropriate food. In the absence of, or any marked 
 deficiency in, either of these conditions, the plants can- 
 not thrive. These conditions must be studied in detail, 
 as they have a direct relation to the subject of farm 
 drainage. 
 
 Temperature. Plants do not irnvin the 
 and seeds do not germinate until the soil is 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 5 
 
 warmed by the sun and the heat liberated in the pro- 
 cesses of soil metabolism. Each crop is adapted, by its 
 inherited habits, to a certain range of temperature pecu- 
 liar to itself. There is a minimum temperature at 
 which all growth ceases, a maximum beyond which the 
 plant cannot live, and between these extremes there is 
 an optimum temperature that is most favorable for 
 rapid growth. Any agency, or condition of the soil that 
 tends to lower the temperature from the optimum point 
 must, therefore, retard the processes of growth and devel- 
 opment, no matter how favorable other conditions 
 may be. 
 
 The range of temperature within which plants can 
 grow lies between the freezing point and about 122 P. 
 The optimum temperature in any particular case can 
 only be stated approximately, as the results may be 
 modified by other conditions. According to the experi- 
 ments of Sachs, Koppen and Alphonse de Candolle, 
 wheat and barley do not sprout if the temperature is 
 below 41, and the most rapid growth was made at about 
 84 P. Maize required a temperature of at least 48 for 
 germination, and the most rapid growth of the roots 
 was made when the temperature was about 90 to 93.* 
 
 Carbon, which constitutes about one-half of the dry 
 substance of plants, is appropriated by chlorophyll (the 
 green coloring substance of plants), in the presence of 
 light, from the small percentage of carbonic acid present 
 in the atmosphere. The larger part of the carbon 
 assimilated by plants from carbonic acid is obtained 
 by the leaves, but the air permeating cultivated soils 
 contains a larger percentage of carbonic acid than the 
 normal atmosphere, and this is absorbed by soil water, 
 and may therefore gain access to the plant through the 
 roots. The presence of chlorophyll, however, appears to 
 be necessary for the assimilation of the carbon from the 
 
 * Sachs' Text Book of Botany, p- 750. 
 
6 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 carbonic acid introduced through the roots, as well as by 
 the leaves. The lowest temperature at which chlorophyll 
 was formed in maize was observed, by Sachs, to be 
 between 43 and 59.* When the temperature is too low 
 for the active formation of chlorophyll, as in cold, back- 
 ward spring months, the pale appearance of the plants 
 indicates a defective power of appropriating carbon from 
 the atmosphere. The summer temperature in England 
 is barely sufficient to mature wheat and barley, and 
 Indian corn, which requires a higher temperature, can- 
 not be grown as a farm crop. 
 
 Moisture. When growing, or in the green state, 
 from about 68 to 88 per cent, of the weight of farm 
 crops is water, and the remaining 12 to 32 per cent, is 
 referred to as dry substance. The water contained in 
 the crop, however, represents but a small part of that 
 which is made use of in its processes of growth. The 
 roots of a healthy and rapidly growing plant are con- 
 stantly absorbing water from the soil, which is finally 
 exhaled by the leaves, and disappears, in the form of 
 vapor, in the atmosphere. A circulation of water 
 through the tissues of the plant is thus maintained for 
 the introduction and distribution of the inorganic nutri- 
 tive materials derived from the soil. From this it will 
 be, seen that the amount of water required by farm crops 
 is in fact very much larger than would be suspected by 
 those who are not familiar with these well known pro- 
 cesses in the nutrition of plants. 
 
 In a careful series of experiments made at Rotham- 
 sted, it was found that from 250 to 300 pounds of water 
 was exhaled by field crops, for each pound of dry sub- 
 stance formed and stored up by the plants. " Hellriegel 
 (at Dahme, Prussia) found that summer wheat and rye, 
 oats, beans, peas, buckwheat, red clover, yellow lupines 
 and summer colza, on the average, exhaled three hundred 
 
 * Sachs' 1. c., p. 651. 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 7 
 
 grams of water for one gram of dry matter produced, 
 above ground, during the entire season of growth, when 
 stationed in a sandy soil."* It is probable that field 
 crops, from their more vigorous growth and active pow- 
 ers of assimilation, may exhale a larger amount of water 
 than plants under the artificial conditions, required in 
 exact experiments. Lawes and Gilbert estimate the 
 average amount of dry substance produced on some of 
 their experimental wheat plots at 5,600 pounds per acre, 
 and this would involve the exhalation of over 800 tons 
 of water. Estimated on the same basis, a crop of wheat 
 of 25 bushels per acre would exhale, in its processes of 
 growth, more than 500 tons of water, and a crop of one 
 acre of Indian corn, of 60 bushels, would exhale about 
 960 tons of water, equivalent to more than 8.5 inches 
 of rainfall. 
 
 The absolute amount of water in the soil that is 
 most favorable for the growth of plants can only be 
 approximately stated, as it will probably vary with the 
 character of the soil, the kind of crop grown, and 
 atmospheric conditions influencing evaporation. 
 
 "Hellriegel experimented with wheat, rye, and oats, 
 in a pure sand mixed with a sufficiency of plant food. 
 The sand, when saturated with water, contained 25% 
 of the liquid." The results are given in the following 
 table, the weights being in grams. 
 
 TABLE 1. 
 WATER IN SOIL AND YIELD OF CROPS. 
 
 WATER IN SOIL. 
 
 Y'LD OF WHEAT. 
 
 YIELD OF RYE. 
 
 YIELD OF OATS. 
 
 In per- 
 cent, 
 of soil. 
 
 5*10 
 10-15 
 15-20 
 
 Inp.c.of 
 retent'e 
 power. 
 
 Straw 
 and 
 
 chaff. 
 
 Grain. 
 
 Straw 
 and 
 chaff. 
 
 Grain. 
 
 Straw 
 and 
 chaff. 
 
 Grain. 
 
 10-20 
 20-40 
 40-60 
 60-80 
 
 7.0 
 15.1 
 21.4 
 23.3 
 
 2.8 
 8.4 
 10.3 
 11.4 
 
 8.3 
 11.8 
 15.1 
 16.4 
 
 3.9 
 8.1 
 10.3 
 10.3 
 
 4.2 
 ' 11.8 
 13.9 
 15.8 
 
 1.8 
 7.8 
 10.9 
 11.8 
 
 " In each case the proportion of water in the soil 
 was preserved within the limits given in the first column 
 
 'How Crops Grow, 1890 ed., jr. 311. 
 
8 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 of the table, throughout the entire period of growth. It 
 is seen that in this sandy soil 10-15 per cent, of water 
 enahled the rye to yield a maximum crop of grain, and 
 brought wheat and oats very closely to a maximum crop. 
 Hellriegel noticed that the plants exhibited no visible 
 deficiency of water, except through stunted growth, in 
 any of these experiments. Wilting never took place 
 except when the supply of water was less than 2% 
 per cent."* 
 
 As farm crops will not grow well in a wet soil, it 
 must be evident that the soil must be well pulverized 
 and porous, and readily permeable to moisture, so that 
 healthy roots may be distributed throughout its entire 
 mass, to enable them to gather the large amount of 
 water they require from the moist particles that repre- 
 sent the normal conditions of a productive soil. The 
 capillarity of soils or permeability to moisture, so that a 
 moderate but continuous supply is furnished to the 
 growing crop, must then be recognized as an essential 
 condition of fertility. 
 
 Food Supply. The roots of farm crops obtain 
 from the soil certain materials that are needed in their 
 constructive processes, among which are : nitrogen, 
 chiefly in the form of nitric acid, or, to a limited extent, 
 perhaps as ammonia free oxygen from the air perme- 
 ating the soil and the mineral constituents that appear 
 as ash when the plant is burned. 
 
 The larger roots serve simply as supports to the 
 plant, or, in some cases, as stores of nutritive materials ; 
 while the absorption of plant food is exclusively carried 
 on by the slender, thin- walled fibrils, or fine branches, 
 forming the ultimate subdivisions of the larger roots. 
 In most cases the absorbing surface is materially 
 increased by numerous still more delicate cells, called 
 root-hairs, which are thickly distributed near the en" 1 , of 
 
 * Jiow crops Feed, pp. 215-21$. 
 
GENEKAL PltlNCiPLEo. 
 
 the fibrils. As the root fibrils increase in length, feel- 
 ing their way, as it were, between the particles of soil, 
 the older root-hairs disappear and new ones are formed 
 a short distance behind the slender growing tip of the 
 fibrils, and, in a vigorous, healthy plant, these delicate 
 absorbing organs are found to penetrate every available 
 space between the particles of soil. 
 
 The extent of these absorbing fibrils and root-hairs 
 would not be observed in a careless examination, as most 
 of them, under average conditions, are left in the soil 
 when the plants are pulled up, the larger roots, only, 
 remaining attached to the stalk. Hellriegel estimated 
 the aggregate length of the roots of a single barley plant 
 at one hundred and twenty-eight feet, and of an oat 
 plant at one hundred and fifty feet, and he found that 
 but a small fraction of a cubic foot of soil sufficed for 
 this extended root development.* Under suitable con- 
 ditions, the roots of a growing plant may be observed 
 under the microscope, and the slender fibrils and root- 
 hairs can then be seen closely in contact with each parti- 
 cle of the soil. These facts furnish a ready and simple 
 explanation of the injurious effects of drainage water 
 when retained in soils. These delicate absorbing organs 
 of the roots of plants are not fitted for an aquatic life, 
 and they readily succumb under the encroachments of 
 standing or drainage water in soils. Their function is 
 to absorb free oxygen, as well as the mineral constitu- 
 ents of plant food, and air must be allowed to circulate 
 between the soil particles, to furnish the needed supply. 
 When the space between the particles of soils is filled 
 with drainage water the air is excluded, the supply of 
 free oxygen cut off, and the active agents of absorption 
 cannot live under these abnormal conditions. 
 
 We must, then, include among the essential condi- 
 tions of vigorous growth in plants, a finely pulverized 
 
 *How Crops Grow, 1890 ed., p. 265, 
 
10 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 soil free from drainage water, that will permit and 
 encourage the free ramification of these delicate organs 
 of absorption, in free contact with air, and the moist 
 surface of the soil particles. 
 
 Soil Metabolism. Soils are not an inert mass of 
 matter from which plants passively obtain their food 
 supplies. All soils that are, or may be made, fertile, are 
 constantly undergoing change, and the transformations 
 taking place in the arrangement, or relations of their 
 constituents, may be favorable, or otherwise, to the well 
 being of the crops growing in them, according to the 
 conditions present for the time being. The aggregate 
 of chemical, physical and biological changes, or trans- 
 formations that take place in soils, are conveniently 
 expressed by the general term metabolism, without 
 attempting to distinguish between them, which, in the 
 present state of knowledge, would, in most cases, be 
 impossible. 
 
 For a more detailed account of the purely chemical 
 and physical changes taking place in soils, than, for lack 
 of space, is here given, the reader is referred to readily 
 accessible works, in which they are more or less fully 
 discussed.* 
 
 Biological Factors. Recent investigations, how- 
 ever, tend to show that biological activities are impor- 
 tant, and, perhaps, in some cases, dominant factors in 
 soil metabolism, and in their relations to our present 
 subject of farm drainage they require notice in greater 
 detail. 
 
 All processes of fermentation and putrefaction are 
 now known to be caused by living organisms, each of 
 
 * Master's Plant Life on the Farm, and Warington's Chemistry of the 
 Farm, are admirable popular elementary works that may be profitably 
 consulted by the general reader. For the advanced student Johnson's 
 How Crops Feed, and How Crops Grow, new ed., 1890, and Storer's Agri- 
 culture, 2 vols., will be more satisfactory, from the more detailed illus- 
 tration of the principles under discussion. 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 11 
 
 which performs a specific role in tearing down and disin- 
 tegrating organic substances in their processes of nutri- 
 tion. Yeast, a minute plant, of which there are several 
 species, is the type of the true alcoholic ferments. The 
 lactic, butyric, acetic, and other ferments, belong to the 
 group of minute organisms popularly known as bacteria, 
 or microbes. To the same group belong the various fer- 
 ments concerned in the complex processes of putrefaction. 
 
 The rotting of manures and the disintegration of 
 organic matters in the soil are brought about by a series 
 of micro-organisms that succeed each other with the 
 change of conditions presented in the course of the 
 putrefactive process. One species, beginning the work 
 of putrefaction, after taking the supplies of food fitted 
 for its nourishment, leaves a residual mass that is better 
 suited to the requirements of some other species which 
 succeeds it, and this, in turn, for the same reasons, is 
 succeeded by another form better fitted for the new con- 
 ditions, and these changes in the active agents of decay 
 are repeated, wholly, or in part, until the entire mass is 
 reduced to its elements, or simple binary compounds. 
 Each species requires, for the exercise of its vital activi- 
 ties, certain conditions of environment, and as these are 
 constantly changing as the putrefactive process proceeds, 
 the microbes that, for the time being are best adapted 
 to the prevailing conditions, become the dominant spe- 
 cies. This is, in fact, but a phase of the " struggle for 
 existence," and "survival of the fittest," that is now 
 recognized as an important factor in the evolution of 
 organic beings. 
 
 Agricultural plants cannot make use of organic sub- 
 stances as food, but in the processes of disintegration, 
 to which they are subjected in the soil, plant food is 
 liberated in an available form ; but in case no growing 
 plant is present to appropriate it, the next scries of 
 (Vhanges, brought about by the accession of other species 
 
12 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 of microbes, may transform what is valuable plant food 
 to a condition unfitted for the nutrition of plants. Soil 
 exhaustion cannot, therefore, be measured by the amount 
 of the chemical elements of fertility removed in crops. 
 In the absence of growing plants a loss of fertility m.iy 
 not only take place through the agency of microbes, bur 
 it may be washed out of the soil by rains, or locked up 
 in more stable compounds with other soil constituents. 
 Summer fallows were supposed to increase the available 
 elements of fertility in the soil, but the soluble materials 
 formed in the metabolism of fallow soils are liable to be 
 washed out by rains, in the absence of growing plants 
 to make use of them. 
 
 Schloesing and Muntz made the notable discovery, 
 in 1877, that nitrification is caused by microbes, and 
 this led to further investigations, by numerous observ- 
 ers, in regard to the agency of these organisms in pre- 
 paring plant food, which have proved to be of great 
 practical interest. Nitric acid, in combination with 
 bases, forming nitrates, seems to be the favorite form of 
 nitrogenous food for farm crops, and this is provided by 
 nitrifying microbes, under suitable conditions for the 
 exercise of their processes of nutrition, from the nitro- 
 gen of the organic substances, and ammonia of the soil 
 and manures, and from the atmospheric nitrogen per- 
 meating the soil. 
 
 Nitrification is carried on very slowly at tempera- 
 tures but little above the freezing point, and then rap- 
 idly increases as the temperature is raised to an optimum 
 of 90 to 99, when the organisms are most active. At 
 higher temperatures nitrification diminishes, and ceases 
 entirely at 125 to 131. At Eothamsted thirty-seven 
 days were required for the nitrification of the substances 
 under experiment at 52, while it was completed in eight 
 days at a temperature of 86. Schloesing and Hunt/ 
 state "that at 99 nitrification is ten times more rapid 
 than at 57." 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 13 
 
 We have already noticed the relations of tempera- 
 ture to the vigorous growth of the plants themselves, 
 and it now appears that the supplies of plant food are 
 likewise influenced by the temperature of the soil, 
 through its effects on the living organisms that prepare 
 it. The atmosphere is composed of a mixture of gases 
 consisting, by volume, of 20.96 per cent, of oxygen, 
 79.00 per cent, of nitrogen and 0.04 per cent, of carbon 
 dioxide (carbonic acid), to which should be added a 
 variable amount of the vapor of water and minute quan- 
 tities of combined nitrogen, in the form of nitric acid, 
 ammonia, and organic matters, which are washed out by 
 rains and thus carried to the soil. The nitrogen annu- 
 ally added to the soil from this source, at Rothamsted, 
 is estimated not to exceed four or five pounds per acre. 
 
 When the discovery was made of the composition of 
 the atmosphere it was at once supposed that the vast 
 envelop of free atmospheric nitrogen was the main, or 
 sole, source of the nitrogen of plants. Experiments by 
 Boussinganlt, in France, and by Lawes and Gilbert, at 
 Rothamsted, in England, however, showed that free 
 atmospheric nitrogen was not appropriated by plants, 
 and that their supplies of nitrogen were obtained from 
 the soil. Notwithstanding this conclusive evidence to 
 the contrary, it is a popular notion, indorsed even by 
 some chemists, that leguminous crops (clover, beans, 
 peas, etc.) obtain their nitrogen directly from the atmos- 
 phere. The practical inferences from this erroneous 
 theory are misleading, as they ignore the importance of 
 soil conditions on the supplies of nitrogenous plant food. 
 
 It was likewise shown in the Rothamsted experi- 
 ments that, while leguminous plants removed from the 
 soil much larger amounts of nitrogen than the cereals, 
 they were not benefited by nitrogenous manures, which 
 had a marked influence in increasing the growth of the 
 cereals. It was also found that on land where cereal 
 
14 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 crops failed to grow from a deficiency of soil nitrogen, 
 large leguminous crops were grown containing much 
 more nitrogen than a heavy crop of cereals. It was, in 
 fact, evident that leguminous crops obtained nitrogen in 
 some way, or from some source, that was not available 
 for the cereals. 
 
 An explanation of these anomalous results has been 
 furnished by recent experiments, and it is now known 
 that the tubercles, or nodules, that have been frequently 
 observed on the roots of leguminous and some other 
 plants, are caused by microbes, and that, through their 
 agency, the free nitrogen of the atmosphere permeating 
 the soil is appropriated and made available, as combined 
 nitrogen, in the nutrition of the plants with which they 
 are associated. 
 
 Some of the experiments leading to these conclu- 
 sions will be of interest here, as they have a direct bear- 
 ing on the subject of farm drainage in its relations to 
 soil metabolism. Hellriegel, in experiments with agri- 
 cultural plants, in pots filled with washed quartz sand, 
 to which nutritive solutions containing no nitrogen were 
 added, found that in some of the pots the plants grew 
 luxuriantly, while in others the growth seemed to be 
 limited and determined by the amount of nitrogen con- 
 tained in the seed. He observed numerous nodules on 
 the roots of the plants that made a good growth, while 
 there were none on the roots of the plants of limited 
 growth. A probable relation of the root-nodules to the 
 supply of nitrogen obtained by the plants was suggested 
 and made the subject of investigation. 
 
 Experiments were planned "to determine whether, by 
 the supply of the organisms, the formation of the root- 
 nodules and luxuriant growth could be induced, and 
 whether, by their exclusion, the result could be pre- 
 vented. To this end he added to some of a series of 
 experimental pots 25 c.c. (0.88 ounces), or, sometimes, 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 15 
 
 50 c.c. (1.76 ounces) of a turbid extract of a fertile soil, 
 made by shaking a given quantity of it with five times 
 its weight of distilled water. In some cases, however, 
 the extract was sterilized (by the application of heat, to 
 destroy all living organisms). In those in which it was 
 not sterilized there was almost uniformly luxuriant 
 growth and abundant formation of root-nodules ; but 
 with sterilization there were no such results. Consistent 
 results were obtained with peas, vetches and some other 
 Papilionaceae ; but the application of the same soil- 
 extract had no eifect in the case of lupines, seradella and 
 some other plants of the family which are known to 
 grow more favorably on sandy, than on loamy, or rich 
 humus soils. Accordingly he made a similar extract 
 from a diluvial sandy soil where lupines were growing 
 well, in which it might be supposed that the organisms 
 peculiar in such a soil would be present; and on the 
 application of this to nitrogen-free soil, lupines grew in 
 it luxuriantly and nodules were abundantly developed 
 on their roots." 
 
 At "Rothamsted* experiments were made on the 
 same lines, in 1888, with peas, blue lupines and j^ellow 
 lupines ; and in 1889, with changes suggested by the 
 experiments of the preceding year, they were repeated 
 with "peas, red clover, vetches, blue lupines, yellow 
 lupines and lucern," under the following conditions : 
 For the lupines and lucern special glazed earthenware 
 pots were made, fifteen inches deep and six inches in 
 diameter, and for the other plants the pots were seven 
 inches deep and about six inches in diameter. "There 
 were four pots of each description of plant." Three 
 of these were filled with clean-washed quartz sand, to 
 which was added 0.1 per cent, of the ash of the plant to 
 
 *A more detailed account of these experiments, particularly in 
 their relations to crop rotations, will be found in Popular Science 
 Monthly for Feb. 1891, p. 691. 
 
16 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 be grown, and 0.1 per cent, of calcium carbonate. To 
 destroy all living organisms in this prepared soil it was 
 kept for several days at a temperature of about 212. 
 A fourth pot for the lupines was filled with soil from a 
 field where lupines were growing, to which was added 
 0.01 percent, of lupine ash. A fourth pot for each of 
 the other plants was filled with garden soil. 
 
 Seeds were sown to secure a uniform stand of two 
 plants in each pot, and all were watered with distilled 
 water. To one of the three pots of washed and sterilized 
 quartz sand, for each kind of plant, no further addition 
 was made, while the other two were inoculated, or 
 seeded, with a soil-extract prepared as in HellriegeFs 
 experiments. For the lupine pots the extract was pre- 
 pared from the soil of a field where lupines were grow- 
 ing, and for the other plants the extract was prepared 
 from a garden soil like that filling the fourth pot of 
 each series. An analysis of these soil extracts showed 
 that the elements of plant food they contained were so 
 small in quantity that they could be safely igno v ed in 
 summing up the results, and the effects of the extracts 
 on the soil could only be attributed to the microbes with 
 which they were seeded. 
 
 The results of these experiments may be tabulated, 
 as in table 2, showing the height of the two plants in 
 each pot. 
 
 TABLE 2. 
 
 HEIGHT OF PLANTS IN INCHES. 
 
 
 Vetches. 
 
 Yellow lup'ns. 
 
 Prepared quartz sand, not 
 inoculated 8J-8J 
 
 lli-lOi 
 
 li-2i 
 
 Prepared quartz sand, in- 
 oculated 14-50 
 
 52i-67 
 
 24-18 
 
 Prepared quartz sand, in- 
 oculated 52i-50j 
 
 61i-51 
 
 24-8 
 
 (Janlrii soil for peas and Plants sfuall- 
 vctches field soil f or er than in the 
 lupines inocul'd pots. 
 
 53-36 
 
 16-18 
 
 The peas, vetches and yellow lupines were harvested 
 at the close of the season, and analyzed to ascertain the 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 
 
 FIG. l. PEAS.* 
 
 *Pots 1, 2 and 3 were filled with the prepared and sterilized quartz 
 sand. Pot 1 was not inoculated. Pots 2 and 3 were inoculated 
 with the microbes of a garden soil extract. Pot 4 was filled with a 
 garden soil. 
 
18 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 amount of nitrogen assimilated, and the nodules and 
 root development were carefully examined. The blue 
 lupines failed to grow, and the red clover and lucern 
 were recerved for a second year's growth. Copies of the 
 photographs of the plants, taken when harvested, are 
 given in figs. 1, 2 and 3. 
 
 The limited growth of the plants in the sterilized 
 quartz sand that was not inoculated with soil extract 
 (pots 1, 9 and 17) was apparently determined by the 
 amount of nitrogen in the seed, the soil itself being 
 practically barren. There was but little root develop- 
 ment in these pots, and no root-nodules could be found. 
 
 In the pots of sterilized quartz sand seeded with the 
 microbes of a soil extract (pots 2 and 3, fig. 110 and 
 11, fig. 2, and 18 and 19, fig. 3), there was, on the 
 other hand, abundant root development and numerous 
 root-nodules. On the roots of the plants in the garden 
 soil (pots ,4, fig. 1, and 12, fig. 2), and on the roots of 
 the lupine in the field soil (pot 20, fig. 3) some root- 
 nodules were found, but they were not as numerous as 
 on the roots in the inoculated quartz sand. 
 
 The figures clearly show, as well as the tabulated 
 results, that the growth of plants in a sterile quartz 
 sand was materially increased by inoculation with the 
 microbes of a soil extract. Another still more striking 
 and suggestive fact is the failure of the plants in the 
 garden and field soils to make as vigorous growth as was 
 made in the inoculated quartz sand. These natural soils 
 undoubtedly contained very much more of all of the 
 elements of what we are accustomed to look upon as 
 plant food, than the quartz sand, which, when seeded 
 with microbes, proved to be the most productive, not- 
 withstanding its original poverty of constitution. 
 
 It is evident, from the results of these experiments, 
 that the chemical composition of soils does not furnish 
 evidence of fertility, even under conditions that appear 
 
GEKERAL PRINCIPLES. 
 
 19 
 
 FIG. 2. VETCHES.* 
 
 *Pots 9, 10 and 11 with prepared quartz sand, sterilized. Pots 10 
 and 11 inoculated with garden soil extract. Pot 9 not inoculated. 
 Pot 12 with garden soil. 
 
20 
 
 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 to be favorable for the growth of plants, and that micro- 
 organisms in the soil are important factors in the elabo- 
 ration of plant food. 
 
 From what we now know in regard to soil metabo- 
 lism and vegetable nutrition, the comparatively limited 
 
 FIG. 3. YELLOW LUPINES.* 
 
 growth of the plants in the garden and field soils (pots 
 4, 12 and 20) can only be attributed to defective biolog- 
 ical conditions. That the microbes, concerned in the 
 appropriation of free nitrogen from the air permeating 
 
 *Pots 17, 18 and 19 were filled with the prepared quart/, s;ind. Tots 
 18 and 19 were inoculated with the microbes of a field soil extract, and 
 pot 17 was not inoculated. Pot 20 \v;is tilled with soil from a field 
 where lupines were growing. 
 
GENEKAL PRINCIPLES. 21 
 
 the soil, found less favorable conditions for growth and 
 development in the garden and field soils, is shown by 
 the smaller number of nodules on the roots of the plants 
 growing in them, as already noticed, and yet it must be 
 remembered that the sterile quartz sand was seeded with 
 the microbes in a water extract prepared from these 
 same natural soils. 
 
 Again, the garden and field soils had a great appar- 
 ent advantage over the prepared quartz sand in the com- 
 bined nitrogen of the organic matters they contained ; 
 but this was not made available, from the lack of suit- 
 able conditions for the nitrifying microbes that were 
 required to prepare it for the nutrition of plants, or 
 from defective conditions for root distribution, or both, 
 acting together. These biological defects of the garden 
 and field soils were probably caused by physical condi- 
 tions resulting from the manner in which they were 
 packed in the pots, or by diminished porosity arising 
 from the method of watering. 
 
 Thus far r the relations of microbes to soil metabo- 
 lism have been considered with reference to the nitrogen 
 supplies of plant food, but there is evidence that the 
 mineral constituents of soils undergo transformations 
 resulting from the nutritive processes of microbes and 
 the roots of plants. In my own experiments with soil 
 microbes, the glass tubes in which cultures were made, 
 under certain conditions of defective supply of lime and 
 potash in the culture solutions, have been deeply etched 
 as the result of their activities, and they also readily 
 obtained their supplies of lime and potash from solid 
 fragments of gypsum and feldspar. 
 
 As a further illustration of biological activities in 
 soil metabolism we should not fail to notice that the 
 roots of plants themselves aid in the disintegration of 
 soils, through their selective and digestive action upon 
 the particles of soil with which they are in contact. In 
 
22 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 Sachs' well known experiments the details of the root 
 systems of beans, squashes, maize and wheat were clearly 
 traced on polished plates of " marble, dolomite (carbon- 
 ate of lime and magnesia), magnesite (carbonate of mag- 
 nesia) and osteolite (phosphate of lime)," by the fibrils 
 and root-hairs that corroded the surfaces on which they 
 were growing.* Dietrich found that the roots of 
 "lupines, peas, vetches, spurry and buckwheat assisted 
 in the decomposition and solution of the basalt and 
 sandstone/'' presented for their action in the form of 
 coarse powder, f 
 
 In water-culture experiments the plants appropriate 
 the nitric acid of nitrate of potash, leaving behind the 
 potash ; and "when ammonium chloride is employed to 
 supply maize with nitrogen, this salt is decomposed, its 
 ammonia assimilated, and its chlorine, which the plant 
 cannot use, accumulates in the solution in the form of 
 hydrochloric acid to such an extent as to prove fatal to 
 the plant." J Whether the decomposition of these com- 
 pounds is brought about directly by the roots of the 
 plants themselves, or through the agency of micro- 
 organisms in the culture solutions, has not been deter- 
 mined, but in either case these changes must be recog- 
 nized as the result of biological activities, that are of 
 interest in their relations to soil metabolism. 
 
 In every direction we find evidence that other fac- 
 tors than the food supply of plants must be considered 
 as having an influence on their vigorous growth and 
 ultimate composition. From their inherited feeding 
 habits, and the relations of the soil constituents to the 
 metabolism and demands of their tissues at the time, 
 plants seem to have the power to "take what they want, 
 and when they want it, and are not induced to take 
 more by the addition of larger supplies." 
 
 * Sachs 1. c., p. 625 How Crops Feed, p. 326. 
 
 tHow Crops Feed, p. 327. 
 
 jHow Crops Grow, new ed. 1890, pp. 184, 403. 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 23 
 
 In the Rothamsted experiments with wheat and 
 barley grown for a long series of years on the same land, 
 under widely different conditions of manure supply, it 
 was found that the percentage of nitrogen, potash and 
 phosphoric acid in the dry substance of the grain was 
 influenced more by the season than by the supply of 
 these constituents in the soil, and that in favorable sea- 
 sons, for the perfect maturing and ripening of the grain, 
 its composition was quite uniform on the different plots, 
 which presented marked contrast in the amount of the 
 food constituents contained in the soil. There were 
 greater variations in the composition of the straw, but 
 the influence of seasons was manifestly more significant 
 in producing them than differences in the composition 
 of the soils. 
 
 From this review of some of the biological factors 
 of soil metabolism and vegetable nutrition it must be 
 seen that the abundant supply of the elements of plant 
 food in soils will not render them fertile or productive, 
 unless favorable conditions are provided for the normal 
 exercise of the vital, or physiological, activities of the 
 living organisms (roots of plants and soil microbes) on 
 which the selection and elaboration of the nutritive 
 materials, in an available form, so largely depend. We 
 can now profitably consider the relations of the different 
 forms of water in the soil to these factors of soil metab- 
 olism and plant growth. 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 WATER IN SOILS, AND CONSERVATION OF ENERGY. 
 
 Water in the soil may be free, or in combination 
 with its constituents. Free soil water may be conven- 
 iently considered under three conditions, which have 
 been designated by Professor S. W. Johnson as hydro- 
 static, capillary and hygroscopic.* 
 
 Hydrostatic, or Drainage water is that which 
 may percolate through the soil by gravitation, and be 
 removed by draining, or, in case of undrained soils with 
 a retentive sub-soil, it may be retained, forming the 
 "standing water" of the soil. The surface of this 
 drainage water in the soil is called the ivater table, to 
 which we shall frequent^ refer. 
 
 Capillary Water is held in contact with the parti- 
 cles of soils by capillary attraction, and gives the appear- 
 ance of moisture in all fertile soils. 
 
 Hygroscopic Water is in more intimate relations 
 with the soil particles, and cannot be detected by the 
 senses. Soils that are apparently dry from the escape 
 of capillary water by evaporation, or otherwise, when 
 exposed to a temperature of 212 for some time, lose 
 weight from the loss of hygroscopic water. Capillary 
 water is the chief source of the water absorbed by the 
 roots of plants, but, under otherwise favorable condi- 
 tions, vigorous plants are able to appropriate hygroscopic 
 water, to some extent, when the capillary water is 
 exhausted. 
 
 *How Crops Feed, p. 199. 
 
 24 
 
WATER IN SOILS. 25 
 
 Behavior of Drainage Water in Soils. As 
 drainage, or hydrostatic, water cannot be used by farm 
 crops, its influence on the soil and growing plants should 
 be carefully studied. 
 
 Available Depth of Soils. As only aquatic 
 plants can grow in the retained drainage water of soils, 
 the depth of available soil for the growth of farm crops, 
 in soils that are not shallow from original poverty of 
 constitution, will be determined by the distance of the 
 water table below the surface. If the roots of upland 
 plants penetrate below the level of the water table, or, 
 if the water table is raised, by rains, to submerge roots 
 already developed, they become unhealthy, and the 
 plants accordingly suffer from defective nutrition, as 
 pointed out in the preceding chapter. 
 
 When the rainfall is in excess of evaporation the 
 water table may be near, or even above, the general sur- 
 face of the soil, as shown by standing puddles of water, 
 and the soil, in this saturated condition, is entirely 
 unfitted for the growth of valuable plants. In time of 
 drouth the water table is lowered, to a greater or less 
 extent, by evaporation, but in the case of heavy or loamy 
 soils this does not immediately restore the reclaimed soil 
 to a favorable condition for growing crops. Heavy and 
 loamy soils that have been saturated with water, and 
 then dried by surface evaporation, have a compact 
 arrangement of their particles, are not readily pulverized, 
 and a considerable time is required to secure the perme- 
 able and porous condition that will permit the circula- 
 tion of capillary water, or a free distribution of the roots 
 of plants, and furnish a favorable environment for the 
 beneficial microbes that are needed to prepare plant food 
 from the inert organic, or other materials, the soil may 
 contain The atmosphere is likewise excluded from the 
 soil, through its defective porosity, and the supplies of 
 oxygen, that are needed by the plants and absorbed by 
 
26 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 i 
 
 their roots, are therefore cut off. Soils that are satu- 
 rated with drainage water during the spring months, do 
 not respond to the ameliorating influences of tillage, or 
 the application of manures, from their defective physi- 
 cal and biological conditions, and the resulting changes 
 in soil metabolism may involve an actual loss of the ele- 
 ments of fertility. In favorable seasons moderate crops 
 may, perhaps, be grown, but in wet or cold seasons, or 
 when severe drouths prevail, an entire failure of remu- 
 nerative crops may be expected, and a reasonably high 
 average of productiveness cannot be secured. 
 
 Relations of Water to Soil Temperatures. The 
 marked influence of hydrostatic, or drainage, water in 
 lowering the temperature of soils, has often been 
 observed, and it may be well to inquire how this effect is 
 produced, as it will aid us in gaining clearer notions of 
 the relations of soil water to the nutrition and growth 
 of plants. In order to furnish a basis for a rational dis- 
 cucsion of the phenomena under consideration, attention 
 must be given to some of the elementary principles of 
 science relating to the various forms, and manifestations 
 of energy. 
 
 Conservation of Energy. That the forces of 
 nature appear less mysterious as the progress of knowl- 
 edge enables us to measure, and trace, their interdepend- 
 ent relations, and refer them to a common law, is strik- 
 ingly manifest in the recent extended applications of the 
 principle of the conservation of energy, in almost every 
 department of science, and the productive arts. Energy 
 has been defined as "the power of doing work, or of 
 overcoming resistance." It " can neither be created, nor 
 destroyed," but is manifest in a variety of mutually con- 
 vertible forms, in accordance with what is now recog- 
 nized as the law of the conservation of energy, which, 
 according to Faraday, is "the highest law in physical 
 science which our faculties permit us to perceive." 
 
WATER IN SOILS. 27 
 
 This law is formulated by Maxwell as follows : 
 " The total energy of any body, or system of bodies, is a 
 quantity which can neither be increased nor diminished 
 by any mutual action of these bodies, though it may be 
 transformed into any one of the forms of which energy 
 is susceptible." These forms of energy are known as 
 motion, heat, light, electricity, magnetism, chemical 
 affinity, etc., which, in the light of this law, may be 
 looked upon as correlated and convertible terms. 
 
 All forms of energy may readily be reduced to heat, 
 and this, therefore, is the standard by which they all 
 are measured. The heat required to raise the tempera 
 ture of one pound of water one degree, is adopted as the 
 unit of heat, and a unit for measuring work in terms of 
 this heat-unit, is evidently needed in tracing the mani- 
 festations of energy in its various transformations. 
 
 We are indebted to Joule for the experimental 
 demonstration of the law of conservation of energy, in 
 his experiments to determine the mechanical equivalent 
 of heat, which were carried on from 1840 to 1849, and 
 again, with more exact methods for the purpose of veri- 
 fication, from 1870 to 1877. He proved that the energy 
 expended in raising a weight of one pound 772 feet (or 
 a weight of 772 pounds one foot), was equivalent to the 
 heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of 
 water one degree, i. e., from 60 to (5i F. The unit of 
 work is, therefore, 772 foot-pounds,* the mechanical 
 equivalent of the heat unit. 
 
 The conservation of energy was shown by reversin 
 the process. When the weight of one pound falls 77 
 feet (or a weight of 772 pounds falls one foot), and its 
 motion is arrested, heat is produced that will raise the 
 temperature of one pound of water one degree ; that is 
 
 *The French unit of heat is the amount required to raise the tem- 
 perature of one kilogram of water (2.2 Ibs.) one centigrade degree 
 in temperature; and its mechanical equivalent is 424 kilogram-meters, 
 or a weight of 424 kilograms raised one meter (3.28) feet. 
 
 C" 
 
 rye;.) 
 
28 LAKD DRAINING. 
 
 to say, the heat expended in the work performed in rais- 
 ing the weight, and the heat liberated in its fall, are 
 strictly correlated and equal. The mechanical equiva- 
 lent of heat (772 foot-pounds) is the unit standard for 
 measuring work, whether it is done by a machine, by 
 animal power, or in the various operations of nature. 
 As the heat unit is equivalent to 772 foot-pounds, tho 
 various forms of energy may be measured and expressed 
 in heat-units, representing the energy expended, or, in 
 foot-pounds, representing the work done. 
 
 The applications of this law of conservation of 
 energy have led to a revolution in the physical sciences, 
 and they are now recognized as of equal importance in 
 vegetable and animal physiology, which are included in 
 the general term, biology. We can no longer look upon 
 the chemical changes, taking place in the arrangament 
 and rearrangement of the elements entering into the 
 composition of plants and animals, as the sole subjects 
 of interest in their processes of nutrition and growth. 
 More than twenty-five years ago Dr. W. B. Carpenter 
 pointed out to physiologists the importance of distin- 
 guishing between "dynamical and material conditions ; 
 the former supplying the power which does the work, 
 whilst the latter affords the instrumental means through 
 which that power operates," and the early prevailing 
 chemical theories in physiology have gradually given 
 place to broader views, in harmony with the universal 
 law of the conservation of energy. 
 
 At the present time the transformations of energy 
 are accepted by physiologists as essential and significant 
 factors in the vital activities and nutritive processes of 
 all living beings. It is now known that the building up 
 of the organic substance of plants and animals (con- 
 structive metabolism) involves an expenditure of energy, 
 and that a supply of energy is necessary for the main- 
 tenance of life. 
 
WATER IK SOILS. 29 
 
 The manifestations of energy, in the processes of 
 plant growth, have been observed under conditions that 
 fully demonstrate their significance as factors in vital 
 activities from the mechanical effect produced. Presi- 
 dent Clark, of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, 
 placed a harness on a squash, so that a lever, to which 
 weights could be attached, resting upon it, gave an 
 equable pressure to the surface, and furnished the means 
 of measuring the mechanical force exerted in its pro- 
 cesses of growth. As the squash continued to grow, the 
 weights suspended from the long arm of the lever were 
 increased, until it was found capable of overcoming a 
 resistance of 4,120 pounds.* 
 
 In walking several times a day over a well-made 
 asphalt sidewalk last summer, my attention was directed 
 to a gradually increasing elevation of two places in the 
 walk, each less than one foot in diameter, and about 
 two rods distant from a Lombardy Poplar, growing on 
 the adjacent grounds. From day to day the elevation 
 of these circumscribed areas became more marked, in 
 spite of the resisting surface and the tramping they 
 received from pedestrians, until a complete fracture of 
 the asphalt was made, and sprouts from the roots of the 
 tree, which had been pushing their way from below, 
 made their appearance above the surface, and explained 
 the apparent mystery as an incident in the "struggle 
 for existence." The force exerted by the growing tips 
 of these shoots cannot, of course, be expressed in foot- 
 pounds, but if Ave take into account their small trans- 
 verse section, and the character of the mass moved, it is 
 evident, from the resistance overcome by them, in pro- 
 portion to the area of their active surface, that the force 
 exerted must have been enormous. 
 
 Energy is not only required and expended in the 
 work of building organic substances, but it is also stored 
 
 *Mass. Ag. Rep't, 1874. p. 220. 
 
30 LAND DKAINIKG. 
 
 up as a necessary condition of their constitution, in 
 which form it is called potential energy. "A weight 
 requires work to raise it to a height, a spring requires 
 work to bend it, air requires work to compress it, etc. ; 
 but a raised weight, a bent spring, compressed air, etc., 
 are stores of energy (i. e., potential energy), which can 
 be made use of at pleasure," and in the same way the 
 stored, or potential, energy of plants must be looked 
 upon as representing the work performed in their pro- 
 cesses of construction or growth. "By taking into con- 
 sideration the amount of organic substance formed by a 
 plant from its first development to its death, it is possi- 
 ble to arrive at some idea of the amount of kinetic 
 (active) energy which the plant has stored up in the 
 potential form ; for the heat which is given out by 
 burning the organic substance is but the conversion into 
 kinetic (active) energy of the potential energy stored 
 up in its substance ; it is but the reappearance of the 
 kinetic energy which was used in producing the sub- 
 stance. The heat, for instance, which is given out by 
 burning wood or coal, represents the kinetic energy, 
 derived principally from the sun's rays, by which were 
 effected the processes of constructive metabolism, of 
 which the wood or the coal was the product. " * 
 
 Reference is here made to the active energy used in 
 the strictly constructive processes of the plant, and does 
 not include, as will be seen from what follows, the 
 much larger expenditures of energy involved in inci- 
 dental processes of plant growth. On the death and 
 decomposition of both plants and animals, the energy 
 that has been used in the constructive processes, and 
 stored up in their tissues as potential energy, is liberated 
 in the form of sensible heat. The heat developed in 
 decaying masses of manure, and other organic materials, 
 arises from the liberated potential energy of the organic 
 substances, of which they are composed. 
 
 *Art. Phys. Encyl. Brit., 9th ed., Vol. XIX, p. 56. 
 
WATEE IN SOILS. 31 
 
 The energy required in the constructive processes of 
 plants, as already pointed out, is derived chiefly from 
 the heat and light of the sun, but it is supplemented by 
 the potential energy of organic matters in the soil, which 
 is liberated as heat, through the agency of the soi; 
 microbes concerned in their decomposition. In soil 
 metabolism there is, therefore, not only an elaboration 
 of available food for the nutrition of plants, but energy, 
 in the form of heat, is liberated from the soil constitu- 
 ents, which, under favorable conditions, may be again 
 utilized in warming the soil, and in the constructive 
 processes of vegetable nutrition. 
 
 It should be remarked, however, that the potential 
 energy of all organic substances came originally from 
 the heat and light of the sun, which must be recog- 
 nized as the ultimate source of the energy of plants 
 and animals. The energy required in the processes of 
 constructive metabolism in animals, and the energy 
 expended by them in work, is derived from the potential 
 energy of the plants on which they feed, and this supply 
 of energy is quite as essential to their nutrition and well- 
 being, as the constituents of their food that are used in 
 building up their tissues. The obvious significance of 
 this fact in the philosophy of feeding we must pass with- 
 out further notice. 
 
 From what has already been presented in regard to 
 the correlated manifestations of energy, it must be seen 
 that the farmer is constantly dealing with it ? not only 
 in the constructive processes of nutrition of plants and 
 animals, but in every interest and detail of farm man- 
 agement, and that the profits of the farm must largely 
 depend upon his skill and success in directing and con- 
 trolling this prime factor in nature's operations. 
 
 Energy of the Universe. The real significance 
 of energy, as a factor in farm economy, cannot, howevc , 
 be fully appreciated, without taking broader views, t!.i;L 
 
32 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 embrace its relations to all natural phenomena. From 
 the law of conservation, as formulated by Maxwell, it 
 appears that the energy of the universe is a constant 
 quantity, that is neither increased nor diminished by 
 tlie various changes of form it undergoes, and its terres- 
 trial manifestations must therefore represent but a small 
 part of the stupendous whole. 
 
 The ubiquitous and interdependent transformations 
 of energy are tersely stated by Tyndall as follows : "As 
 surely as the force which moves a clock's hands is 
 derived from the arm which winds up the clock, so 
 surely is all terrestrial power drawn from the sun. 
 Leaving out of account the eruptions of volcanoes, and 
 the ebb and flow of the tides, every mechanical action 
 on the earth's surface, every manifestation of power, 
 organic and inorganic, vital and physical, is produced 
 by the sun. His warmth keeps the sea liquid, and the 
 atmosphere a gas, and all the storms which agitate both 
 are blown by the mechanical force of the sun. He lifts 
 the rivers and the glaciers up to the mountains, and 
 thus the cataract and the avalanche shoot with an energy 
 derived immediately from him. Thunder and lightning 
 are also his transmuted strength. Every fire that burns, 
 and every flame that glows, dispenses light and heat 
 which originally belonged to the sun. In these days, 
 unhappily, the news of battle is familiar to us, but every 
 shock, and every charge, is an application, or misappli- 
 cation, of the mechanical force of the sun. He blows 
 the trumpet, he urges the projectile, he bursts the bomb. 
 And remember, this is not poetry, but rigid mechanical 
 truth. He rears, as I have said, the whole vegetable 
 world, and through it the animal ; the lilies of the field 
 are his workmanship, the verdure of the meadow, and 
 the cattle upon a thousand hills. He forms the muscle, 
 he urges the blood, he* builds the brain. His fleetness is 
 in the lion's foot, he springs in the panther, he soars in 
 
WATER Itf SOILS. 
 
 the eagle, he glides in the snake. He builds the forest, 
 and hews it down, the power which raised the tree, and 
 which wields the axe, being one and the same. The 
 ciover sprouts and blossoms, and the scythe of the 
 mower swings, by the operation of the same force. The 
 sun digs the ore from our mines, he rolls the iron, he 
 rivets the plates, he boils the water, he draws the train, 
 lie not only grows the cotton, but he spins the fiber and 
 weaves the web. There is not a hammer raised, a wheel 
 turned, or a shuttle thrown, that is not raised, and 
 turned, and thrown by the sun. His energy is poured 
 freely into space, but our world is a halting place, where 
 this energy is conditioned. Here the Proteus works his 
 spells ; the selfsame essence takes a million shapes and 
 hues, and finally dissolves into its primitive and almost 
 formless form. The sun comes to us as heat, he quits 
 us as heat, and between his entrance and departure the 
 multiform powers of our globe appear. They are all 
 special forms of solar power the moulds into which his 
 strength is temporarily poured, in passing from its 
 source through infinitude. 
 
 "Presented rightly to the mind, the discoveries and 
 generalizations of modern science constitute a poem 
 more sublime than has ever yet been addressed to the 
 intellect and imagination of man. The natural philos- 
 opher of to-day may dwell amid conceptions which beg- 
 gar those of Milton. So great and grand are they, that 
 in the contemplation of them a certain force. of character 
 is requisite to preserve us from bewilderment. Look at 
 the integrated energies of our world the stored power 
 of our coal-fields ; our winds and rivers ; our fleets, 
 armies and guns. What are they ? They are all gener- 
 ated by a portion of the sun's energy, which does not 
 amount to ^uoooVoooTT f the whole. This, in fact, is 
 the entire fraction of the sun's force intercepted by the 
 earth, and, in reality, we convert but a small fraction of 
 3 
 
34 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 this fraction into mechanical energy. Multiplying all 
 our powers by millions of millions, we do not reach the 
 sun's expenditure. And still, notwithstanding this enor- 
 mous drain, in the lapse of human history we are unable 
 to detect a diminution of his store. Measured by our 
 largest terrestrial standards, such a reservoir of power is 
 infinite ; but it is our privilege to rise above these stand- 
 ards, and to regard the sun himself as a speck in infinite 
 extension, a mere drop in the universal sea. We analyze 
 the space in which lie is immersed, and which is the 
 vehicle of his power. We pass to other systems and 
 other suns, each pouring forth energy like our own, but 
 still without infringement of the law, which reveals 
 immutability in the miilst of change, which recognizes 
 incessant transference and conversion, but neither gain 
 nor loss. This law generalizes the aphorism of Solomon, 
 that there is nothing new under the sun, by teaching us 
 to detect everywhere, under its infinite variety of appear- 
 ances, the same primeval force. To nature nothing can 
 be added ; from nature nothing can be taken away ; the 
 sum of her energies is constant, and the utmost man can 
 do in the pursuit of physical truth, or in the applications 
 of physical knowledge, is to shift the constituents of tho 
 never-varying total, and out of one of them to form 
 another. The law of conservation rigidly excludes both 
 creation and annihilation. Waves may change to rip- 
 ples, and ripples to waves ; magnitude may be substi- 
 tuted for number, and number for magnitude ; asteroids 
 may aggregate to suns, suns may resolve themselves into 
 flor.i and fauna, and flora and fauna melt in air, the 
 flux of power is eternally the same. It rolls in music 
 through the a^es, and all terrestrial energy the mani- 
 festations of life, as well as the display of phenomena 
 are but the modulations of its rhythm."* 
 
 *Heat as a Mode of Motion, N. Y. ed., 1863, pp. 446-449. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 RAINFALL, DRAINAGE AND EVAPORATION. 
 
 The relations of evaporation and drainage to rainfall 
 must now be studied to obtain some of the data required 
 in estimating the expenditures of energy in growing 
 crops. Experiments to determine the amount of drain- 
 age and evaporation from soils have repeatedly been 
 made, but a small number of them, however, have been 
 carried on for a sufficient length of time, especially in 
 the United States, to be of assistance in settling general 
 principles. The conditions that may have an influence 
 on evaporation and drainage are so exceedingly complex, 
 that a detailed examination of the available records 
 which have been collated in the following tables, will be 
 required to obtain results of practical value. 
 
 As early as 1796 Dr. John Dalton, so well known to 
 chemists as the author of the atomic theory, made a 
 drain-gauge, consisting of a cylinder ten inches in diam- 
 eter, and three feet deep, filled with soil, with arrange- 
 ments for measuring the water passing through it. His 
 observations for three years (1796-98) showed that on 
 the average twenty-five per cent, of the rainfall was 
 removed from the soil by drainage, and seventy-five per 
 cent, by evaporation. The last two years, grass was 
 allowed to grow on the soil of the gauge, which must 
 have had an influence on the results.* The average 
 annual rainfall at Manchester, where the experiments 
 were conducted, is about thirty -six inches. This form 
 
 *Men. Lit. Phil. Soc. of Manchester, Vol. V, pt. 2, as quoted in J. R. 
 Ag. Soc., 1871, p. 130. 
 
 35 
 
36 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 of drain-gauge, known as Dalton's gauge, was adopted 
 by other experimenters, with some modifications of the 
 apparatus, for collecting the drainage water. 
 
 Mr. John Dickinson, of Abbots Hill, near King's 
 Langley, Herts, England, made experiments with a Dal- 
 ton's gauge, the results of which may be profitably 
 studied in detail. His gauge was twelve inches in diam- 
 eter, and three feet deep, filled with a sandy, gravelly 
 loam, on which grass was growing.* The rainfall was 
 measured with a common rain-gauge. The prominent 
 facts recorded by Mr. Dickinson are given in tables 3, 4, 
 5 and 6, in convenient form to illustrate the observed 
 variations in drainage and evaporation. 
 
 TABLE 3. 
 
 AVERAGE RESULTS FOR EACH MONTH FOB EIGHT YEARS WITH DICK- 
 INSON'S DRAIN-GAUGE. 
 
 Months. 
 
 Rain 
 Inches. 
 
 Drain- 
 age 
 Inches. 
 
 Evapora- 
 tion 
 Indies. 
 
 Drainage 
 per c't. of 
 rainfall. 
 
 KvapoVn 
 per c't. of 
 rainfall. 
 
 October 
 
 2.823 
 3.837 
 1.641 
 1.847 
 1.971 
 1.617 
 
 1.400 
 3.258 
 1.805 
 1.307 
 1.547 
 1.077 
 
 1.423 
 0.579 
 0.164 
 0.540 
 0.424 
 0.540 
 
 49.5 
 84.9 
 100.04- 
 70.7 
 
 78.4 
 66.6 
 
 50.5 
 15.1 
 00.0 
 2i).3 
 21.6 
 33.4 
 
 November 
 
 
 February 
 
 March 
 
 April 
 May 
 
 1.456 
 1.856 
 2.213 
 2.287 
 2.427 
 2.639 
 
 0.306 
 0.108 
 0.039 
 0.042 
 0.036 
 0.369 
 
 1.150 
 1.748 
 2.174 
 2.245 
 2.391 
 2.270 
 
 21.0 
 5.8 
 1.7 
 1.8 
 1.4 
 13.9 
 
 79.0 
 94.2 
 98.3 
 96.2 
 
 98.6 
 
 86.1 
 
 July 
 
 September 
 
 Totals and means. 
 
 26.614 
 
 11.294 
 
 15.320 
 
 42.4 
 
 57.6 
 
 The heaviest rainfall, it will be seen, was from June 
 to November, and the drainage in the summer half 
 of the year, from April to September, was very small 
 The average annual rainfall of but 26.6 inches was con- 
 siderably below the average of the locality for a longer 
 series of years. The comparatively large actual, and 
 percentage of evaporation in the summer months, will 
 likewise be noticed, with the increased drainage in the 
 
 * J. R. Ag. Soc., 1844, p. 146. 
 
DRAINAGE AND EVAPORATION. 
 
 37 
 
 winter months, notwithstanding the smaller amount of 
 rainfall. These variations must be attributed, in the 
 main, to the higher summer temperature, which would 
 increase the evaporation from the soil, and lead to a 
 more rapid exhalation of water by the grass in its more 
 vigorous growth. 
 
 In December, it will be seen, the average drainage 
 exceeded the rainfall for the month, and the evaporation, 
 which is estimated as the difference between drainage 
 and rainfall, falls to zero. Evaporation from the soil 
 undoubtedly occurred, and while the drainage records 
 may be accepted as correct, the estimated evaporation 
 needs an indefinite correction, which will again be noticed 
 in comments on another table. In table 4 the yearly 
 variations in rainfall, drainage and evaporation are given. 
 
 TABL.E 4. 
 
 ANNUAL VARIATIONS IN RAINFALL, DRAINAGE AND EVAPORATION 
 OBSERVED BY DICKINSON. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Rain Inches. Drainage Inches. 
 
 Evapo'tion Indies. 
 
 1836 
 1837 
 
 1838 
 1839 
 1840 
 1841 
 1842 
 1843 
 
 31.00 
 21.10 
 23.13 
 31.28 
 21.44 
 32.10 
 26.43 
 26.47 
 
 17.65 
 6.95 
 8.57 
 14.91 
 8.19 
 14.19 
 11.76 
 8.16 
 
 13.35 
 14.15 
 14.56 
 16.37 
 13.25 ' 
 17.91 
 14.67 
 18.31 
 
 Means 
 
 26.61 
 
 11.30 
 
 15.32 
 
 The annual rainfall varied from 21.10 inches to 
 32.10 inches, a difference of 11 inches, and in several of 
 the years there was evidently a severe drouth. The 
 annual drainage varied from 6.95 to 17.65 inches, a dif- 
 ference of 10.70 inches. The difference between the 
 rainfall and drainage is accounted for as evaporation, 
 and, on this assumption, the moisture of the soil should 
 be the same at the beginning and the close of the exper- 
 iments, which may not be the case. This element of 
 error will not, however, materially affect the general 
 averages of the above series of years. 
 
38 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 The evaporation would, of course, be influenced by 
 the mean temperature and humidity of the atmosphere, 
 especially in the summer months, and the relative vigor 
 of the growth of the grass on the soil of the gauge, 
 besides other conditions which we need not notice here. 
 The lowest evaporation recorded was 13.25 inches in 
 1840, with the very low rainfall of 21.44 inches, and 
 13.35 inches in 1836, with a rainfall of 31.00 inches. 
 The highest amount of evaporation was 18.31 inches in 
 1843, with a rainfall of but 26.47 inches, which is less 
 than the average of the eight years. If these extremes 
 (which we are unable to explain, in the absence of a 
 record of the peculiarities of these seasons, as to tempera- 
 ture, etc.) are omitted as exceptional, we find that in 
 the remaining five years, with a rainfall ranging from 
 21.10 to 32.10 inches, the evaporation varied from 14.15 
 to 17.91 inches, a difference of only 3.76 inches, while 
 the drainage varied from 6.95 to 14.91, a difference of 
 nearly eight inches, from which it appears that the 
 evaporation is less influenced by the rainfall than the 
 drainage. 
 
 The averages by months and years do not, however, 
 bring out all of the facts that are required to explain 
 the real relations of rainfall and drainage, and the record 
 is presented in another form in table 5, which will clear 
 up some of the apparently anomalous results which are 
 noticed above. 
 
 The remarkable variations in the relations of drain- 
 age and rainfall recorded in this table are suggestive. 
 In 1841, the year of highest rainfall, 32.10 inches (or 
 5.48 inches above the average), there was drainage from 
 the Dalton gauge in but four months of the year, namely, 
 slightly more than half an inch in March, and an unu- 
 sual amount in the last three months. In the first 
 eight months of the year the rainfall was not quite 1.5 
 inches above the average for the eight years, and this is 
 
DRAINAGE AND EVAPORATION. 
 
 39 
 
 Rain 
 
 ^ p p p p ! 
 O1 O H* O 
 
 oSotoro* 
 
 Drainage 
 Inches. 
 
 Rain 
 Inches. 
 
 Drainage 
 Inches. 
 
 8O5 OO O OS 
 tOOOOD 
 
 t^'Rain 
 Inches. 
 
 
 J 
 
 to * 01 Drainage 
 
 ,g?5g Inches. 
 
 - H"- to HI 
 
 fegS^ij 
 
 toto->-ioi- Rain 
 
 ^j fr Inches. 
 
 l- 
 
 o||g 
 
 Drainage 
 SS32g Inches. 
 
 Rain 
 Inches. 
 
 Drainage 
 Inches. 
 
 BLE 
 
 ALS FOB EA 
 
 ECI 
 
 5. 
 OB 
 
 MAL 
 
40 LA.ND DKAINING. 
 
 accounted for by the unusual rains of June, July and 
 August (in which there was no drainage) ; while in the 
 last four months it was more than four inches above the 
 average. In the last three months the rainfall was 2.68 
 inches above the average, and the drainage was 2.68 
 inches in excess of the rainfall, the unusually heavy rain 
 of September (without any drainage in that month), 
 having been partly accounted for as drainage in the fol- 
 lowing months, and condensation of water from the 
 atmosphere may, to some extent, have taken place. 
 
 In the years of next highest rainfall, 31.00 inches 
 in 1836, and 31.28 in 1839, there was drainage every 
 month of the year, while in the remaining six years of 
 -the record (including 1841, the year of highest rainfall), 
 drainage was entirely suspended from four to eight 
 months. It will likewise be seen that in four years 
 (1837, '38, '39 and '42) the drainage exceeded the rainfall 
 in February or March, and in five years (1838, '39, '40, '41 
 and '43) the drainage exceeded the rainfall in one or all 
 of the last three months. In May, 1843, the highest 
 rainfall in a single month (with the exception of Novem- 
 ber, 1842) was accompanied with a drainage of only 0.74 
 of an inch, the soil, from its deficiency of moisture dur- 
 ing the preceding two months, having evidently absorbed 
 and retained it. 
 
 From the percentage columns of table 3, it might 
 be inferred that a regular increase in drainage, and 
 decrease in evaporation, from summer to winter, in both 
 spring and fall, was the rule of general application ; but 
 the more detailed record, in table 5, shows that the rela- 
 tions of rainfall to drainage and evaporation are more 
 complex than the figures of averages indicate. The dis- 
 tribution of the rainfall throughout the year, the char- 
 acter of prevailing winds, the temperature and humidity 
 of the atmosphere, the capacity of soils to absorb and 
 retain moisture, and the degree of luxuriance of the 
 
DRAINAGE AND EVAPORATION. 
 
 growing crops, are all factors in determining the results, 
 that are readily recognized. As we have not the data 
 for a satisfactory discussion of these causes of variation 
 in the experiments under consideration, we can only 
 notice them and pass on to examine the table of half- 
 yearly averages. 
 
 TABLE 6. 
 
 HALF-YEARLY AVERAGES, FOR EACH YEAR. AND FOR THE TOTAL 
 PERIOD OF EIGHT YEARS, OBSERVED BY DICKINSON. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Winter half-year, October 
 to March. 
 
 Summer half-year, April 
 to September. 
 
 Rain 
 Inches. 
 
 Drainage 
 Inches. 
 
 Evapo'tn 
 Inches. 
 
 Rain 
 Inches. 
 
 Drainage 
 Inches. 
 
 Evapo'tn 
 Inches. 
 
 1836 .... 
 1837 .... 
 1838 
 1839 
 1840 
 1841 . . 
 1842 . 
 1843 .... 
 
 18.80 
 11.30 
 12.32 
 13.87 
 11.76 
 16.84 
 14.28 
 12.43 
 
 15.55 
 6.85 
 8.45 
 12.31 
 8.19 
 14.19 
 10.46 
 7.11 
 
 3.25 
 4.45 
 3.85 
 1.56 
 3.57 
 2.65 
 3.82 
 5.32 
 
 12.20 
 9.80 
 10.81 
 17.41 
 9.68 
 15.26 
 12.15 
 14.04 
 
 2.10 
 0.10 
 0.12 
 2.60 
 0.00 
 0.00 
 1.30 
 0.99 
 
 10.10 
 9.70 
 10.69 
 14.81 
 9.68 
 15.26 
 10.85 
 13.05 
 
 Means . . . 
 
 13.95 
 
 10.39 
 
 3.56 
 
 12.67 
 
 0.90 
 
 11.77 
 
 In the winter half-year the rainfall varied from 
 11.30 inches in 1837, to 18.80 inches in 1836, a differ- 
 ence of 7.50 inches, while the drainage was from 6.85 to 
 15.55 inches, a difference of 8.70 inches, and the range 
 in evaporation was but 3.76 inches, or from 1.56 to 5.32 
 inches. The average rainfall for the winter half-year 
 was more than for the summer half-year, with about the 
 same range of variation. In the summer half-year there 
 was but little drainage, and in five of the eight years the 
 rainfall and evaporation were both below the average, 
 and it is probable that the evaporation was limited by 
 the deficient supply of water in the soil, and that the 
 water exhaled by the grass, growing on the gauge, was 
 likewise diminished. The average evaporation for the 
 summer half-year is about the same as from a bare soil 
 in the Rothamsted experiments (table 9), and the aver- 
 age rainfall is nearly three inches less. With a full sup- 
 ply of water, the evaporation from the soil and growing 
 crop should have been considerably more than the aver- 
 
42 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 age recorded in the table. In the three years of highest 
 rainfall, evaporation was from more than two, to nearly 
 four, inches above the highest amount recorded in the 
 five years of deficient rainfall. 
 
 Mr. 0. Greaves made drainage experiments, at Lea 
 Bridge, near London, England, for several years, that 
 are of particular interest, as they illustrate the marked 
 difference in soils in retaining water. He had two Dai- 
 ton gauges, of slate, three feet square, and three feet 
 deep; one was filled with sand, and "the other with a 
 mixture of soft loam, gravel and sand trodden in and 
 turfed." Another tank three feet square and one foot 
 deep was used to measure the evaporation from a water 
 surface. The results of his experiments are given in 
 table 7, copied in a modified form from the Rothamsted 
 paper on "Rain and Drainage Waters."* 
 
 TABLE 7. 
 
 AVERAGE RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS IN DRAINAGE AND EVAPORA- 
 TION FOR FOURTEEN YEARS (1860-73) BY MR. c. GREAVES. 
 
 
 Rainfall 
 Inches. 
 
 Drainage. 
 
 Evaporation. 
 
 Sand 
 Inches. 
 
 Turfed 
 Soil 
 Indies. 
 
 Sand 
 Inches. 
 
 Turfed 
 Soil 
 Inches. 
 
 Water 
 Surface 
 Inches. 
 
 October . . 
 November 
 December 
 January. . 
 February. 
 March 
 
 2.730 
 2.021 
 2.422 
 2.870 
 1.596 
 1.936 
 
 2.402 
 1.963 
 2.173 
 2.734 
 1.524 
 1.605 
 
 0.515 
 0.833 
 1.508 
 2.029 
 1.085 
 0.879 
 
 0.328 
 0.058 
 0.249 
 0136 
 0.072 
 0.334 
 
 2.215 
 1.188 
 0.914 
 0.841 
 0.511 
 1.060 
 
 1.056 
 0.707 
 0.574 
 0.761 
 0.603 
 1.0f)5 
 
 Totals, h'lf-yr. 
 
 12.401 
 
 6.84'> 
 
 1.177 
 
 6.729 | 4.766 
 
 April 
 May 
 
 1.428 
 2.056 
 2.205 
 1.774 
 2.332 
 2.347 
 
 1.117 
 1.656 
 1.572 
 1.212 
 1.783 
 1.737 
 
 0.275 
 0.105 
 0.156 
 0.013 
 0.113 
 0.071 
 
 0.311 
 0.400 
 0.633 
 0.562 
 0.549 
 0.610 
 
 1.153 
 1.951 
 2.049 
 1.761 
 2.219 
 2.276 
 
 2.0!8 
 2.753 
 3.142 
 3.443 
 2.850 
 1.606 
 
 June 
 
 July 
 
 August 
 
 September 
 
 Totals, h'lf-yr. 
 Whole year. . . 
 
 12.142 
 
 !>.077 
 
 0.733 
 
 3.065 
 
 11.401) 
 
 15.892 
 
 25.717 
 
 21.478 ' 7T573~ 
 
 4:242" I^TSTTSS" '~2o:658~ 
 
 The very low water-holding power of the sand is 
 shown in the large proportion of both summer and win- 
 ter rainfall that appears as drainage water. The sum- 
 mer evaporation from the sand averaged but 3.065 
 
 * J. R. Ag. Soc., 1881, p. 325. 
 
DRAINAGE AND EVAPORATION". 43 
 
 inches, while the turfed soil averaged 11.409 inches, or 
 nearly four times as much, and the winter evaporation 
 from the sand averaged but 1.177 inches, against 6.72J 
 inches from the turfed soil, or more than four times as 
 much. With an average annual rainfall of 25. 72 inches 
 the sand evaporated, on the average, but 4.242 inches. 
 "The true amount of evaporation is probably, however, 
 greater than this, as it is not very uncommon for the 
 drainage from this gauge to exceed the rainfall, owing, 
 as Mr. Greaves supposes, to condensation of water 
 directly from the atmosphere. This excess of drainage 
 over rain occurs most frequently in January and 
 February. 
 
 "On the turfed soil the amount of evaporation from 
 January to March is very similar to that observed on the 
 bare soil at Rothamsted ; but from April to September 
 the growing season of the grass practically no drain- 
 age takes place, nearly the whole of the rainfall being 
 evaporated. Drainage- water was, indeed, collected in 
 July and August only on two, in June on three, and in 
 May and September on four, occasions during the four- 
 teen years. The average amounts evaporated from the 
 turf during summer, winter, and the whole year, 
 namely, 11.409, 6.729 and 18.138 inches, are very sim- 
 ilar to those noted at Rothamsted (for ten years, 1870- 
 1880) ; they are so, however, simply from the very mod- 
 erate amount of rainfall supplied to the soil. In the 
 wet summer of 1860, 15.608 inches were evaporated by 
 the turf in six months -, ind in the wet season of 1872, 
 the evaporation during twelve months reached 25.141 
 inches. There is, thus, but little constancy in the amount 
 of evaporation, which depends largely on the amount of 
 rainfall, and on the activity of vegetation. With a 
 heavier rainfall we should doubtless obtain more con- 
 stant figures. 
 
 'The figures representing the evaporation from a 
 water surface are full of interest. The average summer 
 
44 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 evaporation is 15,892 inches; that for the winter 4.766 
 inches; the total for the year 20.658 inches. The 
 amount of variation is considerable. In 1862 the annual 
 evaporation was only 17.332 inches; in the hot season 
 of 1868 it reached 26,933 inches. There are some obvi- 
 ous reasons why the evaporation from a water surface 
 should be more variable than that from a bare soil. On 
 a water surface, sunshine and wind must always produce 
 their full effect, while on soil, evaporation receives a 
 check as soon as the surface is dried. Another disturb- 
 ing cause in Mr. Greaves' determinations has been the 
 variable condensations from the atmosphere, making the 
 winter evaporations appear lower than they really are."* 
 The draining experiments of Mr. Dickinson, already 
 described, were continued by Mr. John Evans, with 
 "two Dalton drain gauges, consisting of cast-iron cylin- 
 ders three feet in depth and eighteen inches in diameter ; 
 one is filled with the surface soil of the neighborhood, 
 the other with fragments of chalk ; both bear a growth 
 of grass." These experiments are summarized, in the 
 Kothamsted paper quoted above, as follows: "Mr. 
 Evans' experiments are even more striking examples of 
 the disturbing action of vegetation than those of Mr. 
 Greaves. The average rainfall during fifteen years has 
 been 25.55 inches. Throughout this period the absence 
 of drainage from the turfed soil, during the summer 
 months, has been even more complete than in Mr. 
 Greaves' experiments. The summer drainage from the 
 turfed soil has averaged 0.35 inches, the evaporation 
 12.12 inches. The winter drainage has been 5.23 inches, 
 the evaporation 7.85 inches. In the whole drainage- 
 year the average drainage has been 5.38 inches, the evap- 
 oration 19.97 inches. The summer evaporation, how- 
 ever, actually ranges from 7.59 to 10.09 inches, and that 
 of the whole year from 13.20 to 26.55 inches. This 
 
 ~~*J. R. Ag. Soc., 1881, pp. S25, 326. 
 
DRAINAGE AND EVAPORATION. 45 
 
 wide range in the amount of evaporation is, in part, due 
 to the insufficient supply of rain. The full evaporating 
 power of the turf has, perhaps, not yet been shown, the 
 whole of the rainfall having been evaporated, even in 
 the wettest summer of the fifteen years. In these experi- 
 ments the distribution of the rain has a marked effect 
 on the amount of drainage. Eainfalls not sufficiently 
 heavy to penetrate the turf are probably evaporated, 
 while those passing the turf appear, more or less, as 
 drainage. "In the percolator filled with chalk the 
 average annual drainage has been 8.79 inches, and the 
 evaporation 16.76 inches. In this case the soil would 
 probably be less compact, and the growth of grass less 
 vigorous than in the percolator filled with arable soil ; 
 the drainage is, therefore, naturally larger, and the 
 evaporation less." 
 
 The Rothamsted experiments relating to drainage 
 and evaporation, which have been carried on under defi- 
 nite conditions since 1870, may be profitably studied, as 
 they furnish the most satisfactory data for tracing the 
 influence of excessive rainfall and severe drouths, on 
 the final disposition of soil water. The drainage exper- 
 iments have been supplemented with investigations of 
 the moisture retained by soils under different conditions 
 of cropping and rainfall, and the- amount of water 
 exhaled by plants in their process of growth. 
 
 In 1870 three drain-gauges were made,* each having 
 an area of one-thousandth of an acre (72x87.12 inches), 
 and respectively 20, 40 and 60 inches deep. It was well 
 known that soils that had been disturbed could not be 
 repacked, so that their normal conditions, or relations, 
 to water percolating through them could be secured. 
 This defect of the Dal ton gauges was obviated in the 
 construction of the Rothamsted drain-gauges, by build- 
 ing the walls of the gauges of bricks and cement around 
 
 * J. R. Ag. Soc., 1881, p. 269. 
 
46 
 
 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 the mass of soil, without disturbing it, so that the 
 gauges, when completed, were filled with soil in its nat- 
 ural condition. The surface soil, of "somewhat heavy 
 loam,' 7 had been cultivated to the depth of eight inches ; 
 below this was ten inches of friable clay, followed by a 
 subsoil of rather stiff clay. "The land had previously 
 been under the ordinary arable culture of the farm." 
 The soil of the gauges was "kept bare of vegetation," 
 and represented the conditions of a naked fallow. 
 
 TABLE 8. 
 
 ROTHAMSTED RAINFALL, DRAINAGE AND EVAPORATION. MONTHLY 
 
 AND ANNUAL AVERAGES IN INCHES, AND PERCENTAGE 
 
 OF RAINFALL. 
 
 
 """ [eSln^au^ll Evaporation. 
 
 Av.of preceding 19 
 , vrs. Sept., 1851 to 
 Aug. 1870. 
 
 Averages of eighteen years, Sept., 1870, 
 to Aug., 1888. 
 
 
 Indies. 
 
 Inches. 
 
 Inches. 
 
 Per ct, of 
 rainfall. 
 
 Inches. 
 
 Per ct. of 
 
 rainfall. 
 
 October 
 November 
 December 
 January 
 February 
 March 
 
 3.05 
 2.17 
 
 1.88 
 2.64 
 1.50 
 1.67 
 
 3.33 
 3.04 
 2.50 
 2.58 
 2.11 
 1.68 
 
 1.73 
 
 2.16 
 1.97 
 2.13 
 1.54 
 0.82 
 
 51.95 
 71.05 
 
 78.80 
 82.56 
 72.99 
 48.81 
 
 1.60 
 
 0.88 
 0.53 
 0.45 
 0.57 
 0.86 
 
 48.05 
 28.98 
 
 21.20 
 17.44 
 27.01 
 51.19 
 
 Totals, h'lf-yr. 
 
 12.i)l 
 
 2.16 
 2.58 
 2.82 
 2.46 
 2.95 
 
 10.35 
 
 67.91 
 
 4.89 
 
 32.09 
 
 April 
 May 
 
 1.7o 
 2.35 
 2.45 
 2.51 
 2.70 
 2.36 
 
 0.75 
 0.51 
 0.66 
 0.62 
 0.63 
 0.90 
 
 33.48 
 23.61 
 25.58 
 21.93 
 2430 
 30.51 
 
 1.4') 
 1.65 
 1.92 
 2.20 
 1.86 
 2.05 
 
 76139 
 74.42 
 78.01 
 76.61 
 
 69.49 
 
 
 July 
 
 August 
 September . . . 
 
 Annual 
 
 14T3~ 
 
 15.21 
 
 4.04 
 
 26*6 
 
 TOT" 
 
 27.04 | 30.45 
 
 14.3J 
 
 47:26 
 
 16.06 1 5277T~ 
 
 MNKTEENTH DRAINAGE, OR HARVEST YEAR, Oct., 1888, to Sept., 1889. 
 
 October . . 
 
 
 1.09 
 4.45 
 1.69 
 1.29 
 1.95 
 1.89 
 12736" 
 
 o.on 
 
 3.44 
 1.55 
 0.90 
 1.63 
 
 0.83 
 
 5.50 
 77.30 
 91.72 
 69.77 
 83.59 
 43.92 
 
 1.03 
 1.01 
 0.14 
 0.39 
 0.32 
 1.06 
 
 94.50 
 22.70 
 8.28 
 30.25 
 16.41 
 56.08 
 
 November 
 December 
 
 
 
 
 February 
 
 
 Man-l, 
 
 
 '1 citals. h'lf-yr. 
 
 
 
 68.04 
 
 338 
 
 31.96 
 
 April 
 Mav 
 
 
 2.47 
 5.00 
 1.38 
 5.67 
 2.18 
 2.44 
 
 0.37 
 3.08 
 0.47 
 2.48 
 0.05 
 0.71 
 
 14.98 
 61.60 
 
 34. (Mi 
 43.74 
 
 *> ><) 
 
 29^10 
 
 2.10 
 1.92 
 0.91 
 3.19 
 2.13 
 1.73 
 
 85.02 
 38.40 
 65.94 
 
 56.26 
 
 117.71 
 70.90 
 
 June 
 
 
 July 
 
 
 August 
 
 
 September ... 
 
 
 Totals, n'll-vr ' 18.84 
 
 TTHT" 
 
 3^.00 
 
 11.68 
 
 =H= 
 
 Year i 31.10 
 
 15.57 i 50JI6 
 
 15.53 
 
UNIVERSITY 
 
 DRAINAGE AND EVAPORATION. 
 
 %^v^; 
 
 The average results obtained with these gauges for 
 each month for eighteen years, and a separate record for 
 each month of the nineteenth drainage, or harvest year, 
 are given in table 8, together with the totals in half- 
 yearly periods, and the annual averages and percentages.* 
 
 A rain-gauge of the same area one- thousandth 
 of an acre was likewise made in the vicinity of the 
 Rothamsted drain-gauges. 
 
 It will be seen that the average annual and half- 
 yearly rainfall of the eighteen years of the drainage 
 experiments, was considerably above the average of the 
 preceding nineteen years, as recorded in the first column 
 of the upper half of the table, the average annual excess 
 being over three inches. As in the experiments of Mr. 
 Dickinson and Mr. Greaves, the average drainage in the 
 six summer months is very much less than the winter 
 drainage, but these averages do not fully represent the 
 real differences that sometimes occurred. In 1887 there 
 was practically no drainage in the months of July, 
 August and September : and in January, 1881, Decem- 
 ber, 1884, January and February, 1886, and March, 1888, 
 the drainage was in excess of the rainfall, and in other 
 winter months the drainage was "far above the normal 
 proportion of the rainfall." 
 
 The difference between the rainfall and the drainage, 
 in all of the tables, is assumed to represent the evapora- 
 tion, but it will be seen that, if the preceding period 
 had been very dry, a portion of the rainfall would be 
 retained in the dry soil, and the figures in the column 
 headed evaporation would therefore represent this 
 retained water, and the evaporation proper, or, in other 
 words, the estimated evaporation, would be too high for 
 the particular period. Notwithstanding this element of 
 error, tending to exaggerate the evaporation in a given 
 period, it appears that the estimated evaporation varies 
 but little, as compared with the rainfall and drainage. 
 
 * Memoranda ot "Field and other Experiments," June, 1890, p. 9. 
 
48 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 On the average for eighteen years, the rainfall for 
 the six summer months was 15.21 inches, and the evap- 
 oration 11.17 inches. In 1888-9, however, the rainfall 
 of the summer months was 18.84 inches, or 3.63 inches 
 above the average, and the drainage was 7.16 inches, or 
 3.12 inches above the average, while the evaporation, 
 which must have been favored by the larger supply of 
 water in the soil, was but 11.68 inches, or only half an 
 inch above the average. In the first, or winter half, of 
 the year, the rainfall and drainage were both below the 
 average, and the increased rainfall of the year was evi- 
 dently owing to the excessive rains of May and July, 
 that were more than twice the usual amount, resulting 
 in 4.43 inches of drainage above the average for the two 
 months, with an increase in the estimated evaporation 
 of only 1.26 inches. 
 
 Under the climatic conditions at Rothamsted, with 
 a mean annual temperature of about 48, and a mean 
 temperature of 61 for July and August, the estimated 
 evaporation from a bare soil, in the six summer months, 
 appears to be quite uniformly between eleven and twelve 
 inches, while the annual evaporation is about sixteen 
 inches. The amount of drainage, therefore, apparently 
 depends, in the main, on the amount of rainfall in 
 excess of this normal demand for evaporation. In table 
 9 the results for each year and half-year are given, in 
 which the relations of drainage to rainfall will be more 
 fully illustrated. For convenience of reference the years 
 are arranged in order according to the amount of annual 
 rainfall. 
 
 The wide range of rainfall from 22.94 inches in 
 1873-4, to 42.72 inches in 1878-9, with an annual aver- 
 age of 30.63 inches, shows that the period embraced in 
 the table included seasons of extreme drouth and of 
 excessive rainfall. In the winter months the rainfall 
 varied from 7.03 to 21.77 inches, with an average of 
 
DRAINAGE AND EVAPORATION. 
 
 49 
 
 cs *- - w -i -i c; -i w jo pi p< p tc pc 4* 4- H- 1 ^i 
 
 r-TJ ;j 
 
 
 
 
 C^O 1 fc ^ to 00 C5 O Ot W > ^fcCtC^-tObO^ICiO H^ -^ 
 
 ^ol^s: 
 
 - 
 
 H ^ 
 
 w 3 
 
 H > 
 
 
 
 o o 
 
50 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 15.09, and in the summer months the range was from 
 7.59 to 25.75 inches, with an average of 15.54 inches. 
 The drainage for the year varied from 4.97 to 25.86 
 inches, with an average of 14.65 inches; the winter 
 drainage varied from 3.92 to 17.77 inches, with an aver- 
 age of 10.28 inches; while the summer drainage ranged 
 from 0.71 to 12.27 inches, with an average of 4.37 inches. 
 
 The figures in the table representing evaporation 
 are obviously incorrect in several instances, when the 
 rainfall was below the average. For example, the esti- 
 mated evaporation of 19.69 inches in 1870-71, is undoubt- 
 edly too high, as the drain-gauges were built in 1870, 
 and the blocks of earth would become unusually dry 
 from exposure, by the trenches which were dug around 
 them for the construction of the walls. The difference 
 between the rainfall and drainage, in the first year of 
 the experiment, may therefore be partly accounted for 
 in the water absorbed by the soil to restore its normal 
 amount of moisture, and it could not all be fairly reck- 
 oned as evaporation. 
 
 Again, the two years in which the annual evapora- 
 tion is stated to be considerably below the average, viz., 
 11.96 inches in 1886-87, and 12.13 inches in 1884-85, 
 are years of severe summer drouth, with abnormally low 
 evaporation from deficiency of soil moisture. Neglect- 
 ing these extremes, as exceptional and readily explained, 
 we find the range of variation in the annual evaporation 
 is from 13.57 to 18.63 inches, a difference of 5.0 inches, 
 while the rainfall varies nearly 20 inches, and the drain- 
 age more than 20 inches. 
 
 Looking at the summer evaporation as the most 
 important, we find that the summer rainfall was more 
 than an inch below the average in the years 1874, '87, '84, 
 '72, '85, '73 and '83, the evaporation, according to the table, 
 ranging from 6.88 to 12.50 inches. In three of these 
 years the estimated evaporation is probably too high, 
 
DHAINAGE AND EVAPORATION. 51 
 
 from a neglect of soil absorption to supply the deficiency 
 from preceding drouths, while four of the seven years' 
 evaporation was abnormally low from a deficiency of 
 water in the soil during the summer. 
 
 In the remaining twelve years of the table the rain- 
 fall, averaging 17.53 inches (two inches above the aver- 
 age), varied from 14.43 to 25.75 inches, a difference of 
 11.32 inches; the drainage varied from 3.14 to 12.27 
 inches, a difference of 9.13 inches, and the evaporation 
 from 10.99 to 13.48 inches, a difference of only 2.49 
 inches, while the average summer evaporation for these 
 years is 11.85 inches, or only 0.68 inches above the 
 average for the nineteen years. 
 
 This agrees with the conclusions reached in remarks 
 on table 8, that the evaporation from a bare soil is a 
 comparatively constant quantity, while the variations in 
 rainfall are accompanied with corresponding variations 
 in drainage. The annual and half-yearly averages are 
 not materially affected by any corrections we can make 
 for known causes of error. 
 
 In the United States there is a wide range of cli- 
 mate, with extended areas in which the rainfall and 
 mean summer temperature is much higher than where 
 these experiments were made, and the results obtained 
 will undoubtedly be modified by the comparatively 
 intense climatic conditions that prevail here. 
 
 In the United States census report of 1880 it is 
 stated that the average annual rainfall is from thirty^ 
 five to fifty inches, where 62.7 per cent, of the wheat is 
 grown, and that 86.8 per cent, of the corn is grown 
 with an average rainfall of thirty to fifty inches, and 
 63.4 per cent, where it is from thirty-five to forty-five 
 inches. 
 
 As to temperature, more than 87.1 per cent, of the 
 wheat and corn are grown where the mean July temper- 
 ature is between 70 and 80, and 38.9 per cent, of the 
 
52 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 wheat, and 54.8 per cent, of the corn, are grown where 
 the July mean is between 75 and 80. The extent to 
 which these conditions of abundant rainfall and high 
 summer temperature influence the relative drainage and 
 evaporation from the soil, has not been definitely deter- 
 mined, but the evidence that has thus far been obtained, 
 seems to show that they are both materially increased. 
 
 In Mr. Greaves' experiments (table 7), the evapora- 
 tion from a water surface averaged 20. 66 inches annually 
 for a period of fourteen years. At Whitehaven, in- the 
 extreme northwest of England, where the annual rain- 
 fall averages 45.25 inches, and there are more cloudy 
 days than in the vicinity of London, the annual evapo- 
 ration for six years was reported to average 30.03 
 inches.* In a paper by Hon. George Geddes,f it is 
 stated, on the authority of Dalton, that the annual evap- 
 oration from a water surface, in England, is 44.43 inches, 
 but from the results of the experiments of Mr. Greaves, 
 and at Whitehaven, quoted above, this is probably 
 too high. 
 
 According to the estimates of Blodget, the annual 
 evaporation from a water surface is twice as active in 
 the United States as in England, but it must vary 
 widely in different localities. It is said to be fifty-six 
 inches at Salem, at Cambridge, and at Boston, Mass., 
 on the authority of several individuals, but whether 
 these statements are based on experiments at the three 
 places, or are estimates from the same data, does not 
 appear. It would be remarkable to obtain the same 
 exact figures in experiments on evaporation, at three 
 places, even in the same vicinity. The average rainfall 
 at Boston is about forty-seven inches. 
 
 In the paper by Mr. Geddes, a record of the rain- 
 fall and evaporation for each month of the entire year, 
 
 * Blodget's Climatology of U. S., p. 227. 
 
 fN. Y. Agl. Kept., 1854, p. 159. Farm Drainage, by French, p. 73. 
 
DRAINAGE AND EVAPORATION. 
 
 53 
 
 at Ogdensburgh, by Mr. Coffin, in 1838, and at Syracuse, 
 N. Y., by Mr. Conkey, in 1852, is of particular interest, 
 from the close agreement in the evaporation, under wide 
 differences in rainfall. These records are copied in full 
 in table 10, with the months in different order, to show 
 the seasonal variations. 
 
 TABLE 10. 
 
 RAINFALL AND EVAPORATION FROM A WATER SURFACE. OBSERVED 
 AT OGDENSBURG, AND SYRACUSE, N. Y. 
 
 
 Ogdensb'g, 
 
 N. Y., 1838. 
 
 Syracuse, 
 
 N. Y., 1852. 
 
 
 Rain 
 Inches. 
 
 Evapor't'n 
 Inches. 
 
 Ram 
 Inches. 
 
 Evapor't'n 
 Inches. 
 
 January 
 
 2.36 
 
 1.652 
 
 3.673 
 
 0.665 
 
 
 97 
 
 817 
 
 1 307 
 
 1 489 
 
 March 
 
 1 18 
 
 2 067 
 
 3 234 
 
 2 239 
 
 October 
 
 2 73 
 
 3 948 
 
 4 620 
 
 3 022 
 
 November 
 
 2.07 
 
 3.659 
 
 4.354 
 
 1.325 
 
 December 
 
 1.08 
 
 1.146 
 
 4.112 
 
 1.863 
 
 Winter months, or h'lf-yr. 
 
 TOD 
 
 13.28!) 
 
 21.300 
 
 10.603 
 
 April 
 
 40 
 
 1 625 
 
 3 524 
 
 3 421 
 
 May.-. 
 
 481 
 
 7.100 
 
 4491 
 
 7 309 
 
 
 3 57 
 
 6 745 
 
 3 773 
 
 7 600 
 
 July 
 
 1.88 
 2 55 
 
 7.788 
 5 415 
 
 2.887 
 2 724 
 
 9.079 
 6 854 
 
 September 
 
 1.01 
 
 7.400 
 
 2.774 
 
 5.334 
 
 Summer nio's, or half-yr.. 
 
 14.22 
 
 36.073 
 
 20.173 
 
 39.597 
 
 Totals for the year 
 
 24.61 
 
 49.362 
 
 41.473 
 
 50.200 
 
 It is remarkable that with a rainfall for the year of 
 24.61 inches in 1838, at Ogdensburgh, and of 41.47 
 inches in 1852, at Syracuse, a difference of 16.86 inches, 
 indicating considerable difference in the general char- 
 acter of the two seasons, the evaporation for the year 
 differs but 0.84 of an inch. 
 
 In 1838, at Ogdensburgh, evaporation from a water 
 surface was 24.75 inches more than the rainfall, or over 
 twice as much, and January and February were the only 
 months in which it was less than the rainfall ; while the 
 summer evaporation was 21.85 inches in excess of the 
 rainfall. 
 
 At Syracuse, in 1852, the evaporation for the year 
 was but 8.73 inches above the extraordinary rainfall, 
 while the summer evaporation was 19.42 inches more 
 
54 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 than the rainfall. On comparing the colder with the 
 warmer months, we find, in both years, that the winter 
 evaporation is much less, and that it varies more from 
 month to month than in the summer season. 
 
 Dr. R. C. Kedzie, of the Michigan Agricultural 
 College, found the evaporation from a water surface, 
 t'rom March 15, to November 15, 1865, was 30.85 inches, 
 the rainfall being 24.35 inches, or 6.5 inches less than 
 the evaporation. These observations on a water surface 
 all seem to indicate that evaporation is more active in 
 this country than in England, and that there is proba- 
 bly, in most localities, a larger amount of water evapo- 
 rated from soils, than in the drainage experiments we 
 have examined. Quite a number of drain-gauges have 
 been made in this country, but observations have not 
 been conducted for a sufficient length of time to estab- 
 lish any principles relating to drainage and soil evapora- 
 tion, under our peculiar climatic conditions, and general 
 principles appear to be safer guides than erratic and 
 imperfect experiments. 
 
 At the Geneva, New York, experiment station, 
 three drain-gauges, a little more than twenty-five inches 
 square, and three feet deep, were made by inclosing a 
 
 TABLE 11. 
 DRAINAGE AND EVAPORATION AT GENEVA, N. Y. 
 
 Surface condition of soil of 
 gauges. 
 
 Drainage. 
 
 Evaporation. 
 
 Inches. 
 
 Per c. of 
 
 ruin tall. 
 
 Inches. 
 
 IVr c. of 
 rainfall. 
 85.4 
 70.7 
 63.9 
 
 No. 1. Sod 
 No. 2. Bare and undisturbed. 
 No. 3. Bare and cultivated . . 
 
 3.46 
 6.95 
 8.54 
 
 14.6 
 29.3 
 36.1 
 
 20.26 
 
 Ki.77 
 15. in 
 
 Mean of the three gauges 1 6.33 
 
 26.6 
 
 17.39 ' 
 
 73.4 
 
 soil of dark clay loam, and tenacious subsoil, in its 
 natural condition. The natural turf was allowed to 
 remain on one of the gauges ; another was kept bare of 
 vegetation ; while the third was kept bare, and frequently 
 stirred with a trowel to a depth of one inch, during the 
 
DRAINAGE AND EVAPORATION. 55 
 
 open season. A detailed report of the observations 
 made with these gauges has not, so far as I know, been 
 published, but the average results for five years (1882-87) 
 are given in table 11, the average annual rainfall for the 
 five years being but 23,72 inches.* 
 
 The results here recorded were undoubtedly modi- 
 fied by the exceptional seasons embraced in the period. 
 The annual rainfall at Hobart college, Geneva, one mile 
 and a half from the station, averaged, for twelve years, 
 29.91 inches, so that the average of 23.72 inches observed 
 at the station must be considered as decidedly below the 
 normal. Two-thirds of the rain, or 15.85 inches, on the 
 average, fell in the summer months, the average for 
 July being 4.15 inches, and for August 3.03 inches, and 
 yet there was, practically, no drainage in either of these 
 months, and but 1.17 inches in the remaining summer 
 months, and in 1887 there was a rainfall of 6.37 inches 
 in July, and 3.03 inches in. August, without drainage 
 from the gauge with sod. The mean temperature of 
 April, May, June and July, in 1885, '86 and '87, was 
 above the average for the twelve years observed at Hobart 
 college, and this average is several degrees above the 
 mean of the summer months at Rothamsted, and yet 
 the evaporation at Geneva, from the bare soil, was but 
 0.79 of an inch for the entire year, and 0.96 of an inch 
 for the summer months, above th'e average at Rotham- 
 sted. In two of the five years, at least, at Geneva, the 
 rainfall of the three warmest months must have beeti 
 insufficient to supply the water required for the normal 
 amount of evaporation. Taking all of these facts 
 together, it appears probable that the evaporation 
 recorded in the table, representing the diiference between 
 t:ie rainfall and drainage, is considerably less than woul 
 appear with a more abundant rainfall. 
 
 *6th Ann. N. Y Exp. St. Kept., 1887, p. 397. 
 
56 
 
 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 The larger amount of drainage from gauge No. 3, 
 over that from gauge No. 2, may perhaps be attributed, 
 in part, at least, to an absorption of moisture from the 
 atmosphere, by the more porous surface of the soil in 
 gauge No. 3, and it is likewise probable that the evapo- 
 ration from the soil was not actually less than from 
 gauge No. 2. The influence of the sod, in diminishing 
 the drainage and increasing the apparent evaporation, 
 will also be noticed. * 
 
 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS. 
 
 The leading facts and inferences from the experi- 
 mental evidence, relating to drainage and evaporation, 
 that has been presented, may be summarized as follows : 
 The amount of water evaporated from the soil, in a 
 given case, will depend upon a variety of conditions, the 
 most important of which, in their relations to farm 
 drainage, are the uniform abundance of the soil supply 
 of water, the mean summer temperature and relative 
 
 * Since the above was written, the record of these gauges for 1889 
 has been received. The rainfall for the year was 32.90 inches, or con- 
 siderably above the average, and the drainage and estimated evapora- 
 tion was as follows: 
 
 Surface condition of soil of 
 gauges. 
 
 Drainage. 
 
 Evaporation 
 
 Inches. 
 
 Per c. of 
 rainfall. 
 
 Inches. 
 
 Per c. of 
 rainfall. 
 
 No 1 Sod 
 
 12.38 
 13.47 
 
 14.40 
 
 37.63 
 41.55 
 43.77 
 
 20.52 
 19.43 
 18.50 
 
 62.37 
 58.45 
 56.23 
 
 No. 2. Bare and undisturbed. 
 No. 3. Bare and cultivated . . 
 
 Mean of the three gauges 
 
 13.42 
 
 40.79 
 
 19.48 
 
 59.21 
 
 The drainage is decidedly increased, and the evaporation from the 
 bare soil gauges, and the average of the three gauges is more than two 
 inches higher than the five year averages in table 11 The rainfall in 
 June was 7.47 inches, and in July 4.56 inches, or very much above the 
 normal in both cases, which will, in part, account for the increase in 
 drainage. If the unusual rainfall for the year had been evenly dis- 
 tributed, a larger proportion would probably have been disposed of 
 by evaporation. 
 
DRAINAGE AND EVAPORATION. 57 
 
 humidity of the atmosphere, the capacity of the soil to 
 absorb and hold capillary water, and the luxuriance of 
 the growing crop. 
 
 Evaporation from a naked, well drained soil will be 
 less than from the same soil, on which crops are gro^v- 
 ing, and a still larger amount will be taken up from an 
 exposed water surface, or from a water-logged soil> 
 under conditions otherwise the same. In a given local- 
 ity, where the rainfall is not absolutely deficient, or, 
 approximately stated, does not fall below about thirty 
 inches in the year, the average evaporation from a bare 
 soil remains comparatively constant, while the drainage 
 varies widely with the amount of rainfall. 
 
 Under the climatic conditions in England, when 
 the rainfall is not below the average, the results of 
 recorded experiments indicate that the mean .annual 
 evaporation from a well-drained bare soil is about sixteen 
 inches ; from a soil where crops are growing, at least 
 twenty inches; and from a water surface ifc may be esti- 
 mated at about thirty inches. 
 
 In the grain-growing area of the United States the 
 mean annual temperature ranges from the mean in Eng- 
 land, to over 16 higher ; and the mean mid-summer 
 temperature, which is, of course, the most important as 
 a factor in evaporation, is from 5 to 24 higher than in 
 England. From the comparatively high mid-summer 
 temperature of the grain-growing States, it may fairly 
 be assumed that the average evaporation is considerably 
 above that observed in England, and the experiments on 
 the evaporation from a water surface seem to indicate 
 that this increase may amount to nearly, if not quite, 
 fifty per cent. 
 
 In the absence of any extended experiments, like 
 those at Rothamsted, we can only make approximate 
 estimates of the annual evaporation, under different con- 
 ditions, in our comparatively intense climate. From 
 
58 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 the evidence that is available it may, however, be safe to 
 estimate the average evaporation from a well-drained 
 bare soil at, at least, twenty inches ; from the same soil, 
 with a growing crop of average luxuriance, at about 
 twenty-four inches ; and from a water surface, or water- 
 logged soil, at from thirty-five to fifty inches, or more. 
 With a rainfall considerably below thirty inches, the soil 
 evaporation may be somewhat less, from deficiency of 
 soil moisture, but even this must depend, to some 
 extent, upon the distribution of rain throughout the 
 season, and the amount falling in single showers, or 
 within a few hours. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 ENERGY IN EVAPORATION. 
 
 A supply of energy in the form of heat has already 
 been noticed as among the indispensable conditions of 
 plant growth, and we now have to consider its relations 
 to evaporation, and the temperature of soils. The real 
 significance of the manifestations of energy that are ever 
 present in nature's operations > and especially in the 
 quiet, unobtrusive work performed in the growth and 
 nutritive activities of plants and animals, cannot be fully 
 appreciated without making a quantitative estimate of 
 the constructive forces involved in these familiar pro- 
 cesses. In order to estimate, with an approximate degree 
 of accuracy, the energy expended in these organic pro- 
 cesses, it will be necessary to consider the work per- 
 formed in several distinct operations, which are, never- 
 theless, closely correlated in producing the final result. 
 
 Evaporation of Soil Water. Water is evapo- 
 rated from all soils, more or less rapidly, and to a greater 
 
ENERGY IN EVAPORATION. 59 
 
 or less extent, and the amount so disposed of will vary 
 widely with soil and atmospheric conditions. As the 
 transformation of water into vapor involves an expendi- 
 ture of energy, in the form of heat, which, as we have 
 seen, is one of the most important factors in the growth 
 of farm crops, the problem of its control and utilization 
 in profitable production, as far as it can be made avail- 
 able, is one of the most interesting in the applications of 
 science in farm economy. 
 
 Energy in Evaporation. The amount of heat 
 used in the work of evaporating soil-water is a matter of 
 practical interest, and it will be convenient to havo some 
 simple standard by which it can be approximately meas- 
 ured. As the "heat-units" and "foot-pounds," denned 
 in a preceding chapter, are not familiar standards of 
 measurement to many of our readers, another standard 
 will be used, which, although not as definite, is suffi- 
 ciently exact for all practical purposes. 
 
 In their efforts to secure the strictest economy of 
 fuel in steam engines, engineers have made experiments 
 to determine the available potential energy of ccal, and 
 its efficiency in evaporating water under favorable con- 
 ditions. From the results of experiments in Europe 
 and America, it is stated that one pound of coal will 
 evaporate from 6.73 to 8.66 pounds of water, according 
 to the quality of the coal used. In some published 
 tables one pound of coal is said to evaporate from 7.58 
 to 9.05 pounds of water, but these figures refer to water 
 at an initial temperature of 212, and the results are 
 about one-seventh higher than with water at the freezing 
 point.* 
 
 In the absence of more definite data we may assume 
 that, under the conditions we have to deal with in agri- 
 cultural processes, one pound of coal will evaporate 8.5 
 pounds of water, which is considerably more than is 
 
 *Ency. Brit., 9th Ed., Vol. VI, p. 81, IX, p. 809. 
 
60 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 realized in ordinary steam engines. With this standard 
 of measurement we will now estimate approximately the 
 energy expended in vaporizing water in the processes of 
 plant growth. 
 
 The weight of a cubic foot of water is about 62.4 
 pounds, which is the British standard, but it will, of 
 course, vary with its temperature and other conditions. 
 The water covering an area of one acre, one inch deep, 
 will therefore weigh about 226,500 pounds, or over 113 
 tons, and the energy required to evaporate, or change it 
 to vapor, would be represented by more than thirteen 
 tons of coal. This may, however, be expressed in 
 another form, that will be readily understood. We are 
 told that "a, good condensing engine, of large size, sup- 
 plied with good boilers, consumes two pounds of coal 
 per horse power per hour." The energy expended in 
 evaporating 226.500 pounds of water, or one inch in 
 depth on one acre, will therefore represent the work of 
 three horses, day and night, with undiminished powers, 
 for six months. 
 
 Energy in Exhalation of Water by Plants. 
 Our standards for measuring energy are applicable alike 
 in estimating the energy expended in the exhalation of 
 water by plants, or in evaporation from the soil, or from 
 a water surface, as the energy required to vaporize the 
 water is the same in all of these processes. The farmer 
 is, nevertheless, interested in the manner in which this 
 circulating capital, in the form of water, is disposed of, 
 as he is directly benefited by the energy expended in 
 the exhalation from his crops, while evaporation from 
 the soil may be indirectly beneficial under favorable con- 
 ditions, or positively injurious in their absence. 
 
 The water exhaled by a good crop of Indian corn 
 we have already estimated at about 960 tons per acre, or 
 the equivalent of 8.5 inches of rainfall. According to 
 the standard we have adopted, this would involve an 
 
ENERGY IN EVAPORATION. 61 
 
 expenditure of energy represented by 226,500 pounds of 
 coal, or over 113 tons per acre, and this would represent 
 the work of more than twenty-five horses, day and night, 
 without cessation, for six months. 
 
 Energy Expended in Growing Crops. In sum- 
 ming up the results of the drainage and evaporation 
 experiments under discussion in the preceding chapter, 
 the conclusion was reached that in the grain-growing 
 States the exhalation from a crop, and the evaporation 
 from the soil on which it was growing, would amount 
 to twenty-four inches in depth of water in the course of 
 the year, or 2,718 tons per acre, and that a very large 
 proportion of this work was done in the summer months. 
 To vaporize this immense quantity of water involves an 
 expenditure of energy represented by the combustion of 
 320 tons of coal per acre, or the work of seventy-three 
 horses day and night for six months. 
 
 Astonishing as, at the first glance, it may appear, 
 this estimate of the enormous expenditure of energy in 
 the normal processes of growing crops does not, how- 
 ever, represent the whole truth, and there are good rea- 
 sons for believing that it is considerably too low. In 
 the constructive metabolism of plants, it will be remem- 
 bered, energy is expended in the direct work of building 
 organic substances, and the amount so used is stored up 
 in the potential form as an essential condition of their 
 constitution, and that it reappears as heat when the 
 plant is burned. A large, but variable, amount of 
 energy must likewise be expended in warming the soil, 
 to provide optimum conditions of temperature for grow- 
 ing crops. 
 
 In our estimate of the energy expended in growing 
 a field crop, these demands for energy have been neg- 
 lected, and attention has been exclusively directed to the 
 work performed in vaporizing the water evapomted from 
 the soil, and exhaled by the leaves of growing plants. 
 
62 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 The importance of both of these processes of vapor- 
 izing water in the economies of vegetation, and the 
 urgency of the demands for energy to carry them on, 
 should be fully recognized. The water exhaled by the 
 leaves of plants has served its purpose in the transporta- 
 tion of soluble nutritive materials, and must be disposed 
 of, and replaced by fresh supplies taken up by the roots. 
 The activity of the processes of nutrition must, there- 
 fore, depend, to a great extent, upon the constant 
 absorption of water by the roots, and its final exhalation 
 by the leaves. In like manner the evaporation of capil- 
 lary water from the soil itself cannot be looked upon as 
 involving a waste of the supplies of energy, as it is but 
 a phase of a general system of circulation that must be 
 maintained in all productive soils. It serves a useful 
 purpose, in the transportation and distribution of the 
 soluble soil constituents, which are brought from the 
 lower strata towards the surface, where they are most 
 needed by the roots of plants, and it likewise promotes 
 the diffusion of the atmosphere through the porous soil, 
 where its constituents are made available in the processes 
 of soil metabolism and plant nutrition. The capillary 
 water of fertile soils is, in fact, kept constantly in 
 motion, as its equilibrium is disturbed by the drafts 
 made upon it by the roots of growing plants, and evapo- 
 ration from the surface of the soil, and this last process 
 appears to be one of the essential conditions of fertility. 
 
 Energy and Soil Temperatures. We have seen 
 that a certain temperature of the soil must be secured 
 for growing plants, and that, according to the experi- 
 ments already cited, a minimum of about 48 and an 
 optimum of over 80 is required by our leading farm 
 crops. As the soil is not warmed by the energy expended 
 in evaporation, a supply in excess of this demand is 
 required to raise the temperature of the soil from the 
 freezing point, in our northern climate, to the tempera- 
 
ENERGY IN EVAPORATION. 63 
 
 ture that is favorable for plant growth. In growing a 
 crop, under the most favorable conditions of food sup- 
 ply, energy, in the form of heat, as we have already 
 seen, is required and expended, in the work performed 
 in the constructive processes of the plants, in the exha- 
 lation of water by their leaves, in evaporation from the 
 surface soil, and in warming the soil, and a failure of 
 the supply for either of these purposes must result in 
 diminished productiveness. To the estimate already 
 made of the energy expended in vaporizing water from 
 soil and plants, must therefore be added the amount 
 required in the constructive processes of nutrition, and 
 in warming the soil, which cannot as readily be formu- 
 lated, from the lack of experimental data. 
 
 Energy and Drainage Water. On the other 
 hand, all water in the soil in excess of what is required 
 in the above-mentioned normal processes, is injurious, 
 and should be removed by drainage. In retentive, 
 undrained soils, this surplus water can only be disposed 
 of by evaporation, and we will try to estimate the prob- 
 able expenditure of energy involved in this process. 
 
 Admitting the approximate correctness of the esti- 
 mate that the normal beneficial evaporation and exhala- 
 tion from a well drained soil and a growing crop amounts 
 to twenty-four inches of water annually, it follows that 
 with an~ annual rainfall of forty inches, which is not 
 unusual in the grain-growing States, there would be six- 
 teen inches of water to be removed from the soil by 
 drainage or evaporation, to secure the best conditions 
 for a growing crop. The energy required to evaporate 
 this mass of water is represented by two hundred and 
 thirteen tons of coal per acre, or the work of forty-eight 
 horses day and night for six months, an immense amount 
 of useless work to be drawn from, or interfere with, the 
 supplies of energy which we have considered essential 
 factors of production. In many localities the average 
 
64 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 annual rainfall is more than forty inches, and a larger 
 surplus of water would accordingly need to be removed 
 by drainage, to provide suitable conditions for growing 
 luxuriant crops. 
 
 The sun -has but little influence in warming soils 
 saturated with water, especially in the spring months, 
 as the available energy is all diverted to the work of 
 evaporating the surplus water, which might be removed 
 by draining. This diversion of energy from useful 
 work, the value of which we have estimated in tons of 
 coal per acre, not only prevents the soil from gaining a 
 proper temperature, but it retards or checks the pro- 
 cesses of soil metabolism that are required for the rapid 
 elaboration of plant food. 
 
 Besides this practical monopoly of the sun's heat, 
 in evaporating drainage water from the soil, heat is also 
 abstracted from the soil itself, so that evaporation is, in 
 effect, a cooling process. Gisborne says, "the evapora- 
 tion of one pound of water lowers the temperature of 
 one hundred pounds of soil 10. That is to say, that if 
 to one hundred pounds of soil, holding all the water 
 which it can by attraction (capillary water), but con- 
 taining no water of drainage, is added one pound of 
 water, which it has no means of discharging, except by 
 evaporation, it will, by the time that it has so discharged 
 it, be 10 colder than it would have been if it had the 
 power of discharging this one pound by filtration."* 
 
 In experiments on a peat bog in Lancashire, Eng- 
 land, Mr. Parkes found the thermometer, placed seven 
 inches below the surface, ranged from 12 to 19 higher 
 in the drained, than in the natural bog, for several days 
 in June, and on the mean of thirty-five observations in 
 the course of the month, it was 10 higher in the drained 
 bog. In observations made on various kinds of soil, in 
 the middle of the day, in August, with the thermometer 
 
 * Gisborne on Drainage, p. 90. 
 
ENERGY IN EVAPORATION. 65 
 
 at from 72i to 77 in the shade, Sclmbler found the 
 temperature of dry soils from 13 to 14 higher than the 
 same soils when wet.* 
 
 It should be noted, in this connection, that the 
 influence of draining, on the temperature of soils, is 
 exceedingly difficult to determine by direct experiment, 
 on account of the complexity of the conditions involved 
 in the problem. With increased temperature of a 
 drained soil there is, at the same time, an increase in 
 the radiation of heat, and the reading of the thermom- 
 eter, at a given time, will not represent the real saving 
 of energy in the form of heat that is effected by thor- 
 ough drainage. 
 
 The relations of evaporation to soil temperatures 
 and certain processes of plant growth have thus far been 
 considered as correlated processes, that are carried on in 
 accordance with the law of the conservation of energy, 
 which is now generally accepted as of universal applica- 
 tion, and the practical significance of these transforma- 
 tions of energy must be evident from the facts presented. 
 
 Capacity of Soils for Heat. Soils differ widely 
 in their capacity to absorb heat of low intensity, and 
 likewise in the facility with which they part with it by 
 radiation. Schubler heated equal bulks of several kinds 
 of earth to a temperature of 144 F., "and observed, in 
 a close room having a temperature of 61, the time 
 which they respectively required to cool down to 70. " f 
 Their relative capacity for heat was then calculated, 
 taking as a standard calcareous sand at 100. The 
 results may be tabulated, as in table 12. 
 
 The greater power of sand for retaining heat will 
 explain, in part, "the dryness and heat of sandy dis- 
 tricts in summer." It will be noticed, on comparing 
 tables 12 and 13, that the soils which part with their 
 
 *J. R. Ag. Soc., 1840, p. 204, How Crops Feed, p. 146. 
 t J. R. Ag. Soc., 1840, p. 201, How Crops Feed, p. 194. 
 
 5 
 
66 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 heat most rapidly when dry, have the greatest capacity 
 for absorbing and holding capillary water, which is 
 probably owing to the greater density or weight of the 
 soils that cool slowly. 
 
 TABLE 12. 
 
 RELATIVE CAPACITY OF SOILS FOR HEAT, AS DETERMINED BY 
 SCHUBLER. 
 
 
 
 Kinds of Earth. 
 
 Relative power 
 heat. 
 
 Length of time required to 
 cool down from a tempera- 
 ture of 144 to 70, with a sur- 
 rounding temperature of 61. 
 
 Calcareous sand 
 Siliceous sand 
 
 100.0 
 95.6 
 
 3 hours 30 minutes. 
 3 hours 20 minutes. 
 
 Sandy clay 
 
 76.9 
 71 8 
 
 2 hours 41 minutes. 
 
 Arable soil 
 Stiff clay, a brick earth. . . 
 Grey pure clay 
 
 70.1 
 68.4 
 66.7 
 
 2 hours 27 minutes. 
 2 hours 24 minutes. 
 2 hours 19 minutes. 
 
 Garden mold 
 
 64.8 
 
 2 hours 16 minutes. 
 
 Humus 
 
 49.0 
 
 1 hour 43 minutes. 
 
 In discussing soil temperatures, a distinction must 
 be made between heat of low and of high intensity, as 
 their effects are quite different. The dry soils that cool 
 most rapidly are likewise warmed with greater rapidity 
 when exposed to heat of low intensity, as, for example, 
 the heat radiated to the soil by a warm atmosphere. On 
 the other hand, the sands have a slight advantage in 
 the temperature gained by heat of high intensity, like 
 that from the direct rays of the sun. 
 
 As water has a greater capacity for heat than soils, 
 it not only absorbs the heat radiated to the earth, but 
 appropriates it from surrounding objects when changed 
 to vapor. Wet soils are, therefore, nearly alike in their 
 capacity to absorb and retain heat, and, as has already 
 been pointed out, they are not readily warmed. 
 
 Radiant Heat and Atmospheric Moisture. 
 Radiant heat is an important factor in the phenomena 
 presented in the immediate environment of growing 
 vegetation, and ordinary thermometers fail to indicate 
 the most significant transformations of energy that take 
 place under the prevailing conditions. A full discussion 
 
ENERGY IN EVAPORATION". 67 
 
 of its relations to vegetable imtritioD would be out of 
 place here, but attention must be called to some of the 
 known facts in regard to its behavior, that will be of 
 assistance in gaining correct notions of the philosophy 
 of thorough drainage. 
 
 Dry air is not readily warmed, and it is therefore 
 said to be transparent to heat. The small percentage of 
 the vapor of water diffused through the atmosphere, 
 more abundant near the earth, and diminishing with 
 the elevation, does, however, readily absorb heat of low 
 intensity, and the air is warmed by this indirect process. 
 The heat of high intensity, on the other hand, which is 
 emitted by the sun, is not intercepted, to any extent, by 
 the diffused aqueous vapor of the atmosphere, but passes 
 on to the earth's surface, where it is either absorbed or 
 expended in the work of evaporation. 
 
 The earth, in its turn, radiates heat of low inten- 
 sity, which is readily absorbed by the vapor of water in 
 the atmosphere, and increases its temperature. And 
 here comes in one of the compensating processes of 
 nature : "The vapor which absorbs heat thus greedily, 
 radiates it copiously," and the radiation of heat of low 
 intensity by the atmospheric envelop of aqueous vapor, 
 furnishes the soil with a supply that is more readily 
 absorbed than that received from the direct rays from 
 the sun. 
 
 Between a well-drained, porous soil, and its atmos- 
 pheric envelop of diffused vapor, there is a constant 
 interchange of energy and moisture, the two factors of 
 paramount importance in the economy of plant life. In 
 regard to the significance of these transformations Pro- 
 fessor Tyndall says : "It would be an error to confound 
 clouds of fog, or any visible mist, with the vapor of 
 water ; this vapor is a perfectly impalpable gas, diffused, 
 even on the clearest days, throughout the atmosphere. 
 Compared with the great body of the air, the aqueous 
 
68 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 vapor- it contains is of almost infinitesimal amount, 
 ninety-nine and one-half out of every one hundred parts 
 of the atmosphere being composed of oxygen and nitro- 
 gen. In the absence of experiment, we should never 
 think of ascribing to this scant and varying constituent 
 any important influence on terrestrial radiation; and 
 yet its influence is far more potent than that of the 
 great body of the air. To say that, on a day of average 
 humidity in England, the atmospheric vapor exerts one 
 hundred times the action of the air itself, would cer- 
 tainly be an understatement of the fact. " * 
 
 "The removal for a single summer night, of the 
 aqueous vapor from the atmosphere which covers Eng- 
 land, would be attended by the destruction of every 
 plant which a freezing temperature could kill. In 
 Sahara, where 'the soil is fire and the wind is a flame,' 
 the refrigeration at night is often painful to bear."f 
 
 "The power of aqueous vapor seems vast, because 
 that of the air with which it is compared is infinitesi- 
 mal. Absolutely considered, however, this substance 
 exercises a very potent action. Probably a column of 
 ordinary air ten feet long would intercept from ten to 
 fifteen per cent, of the heat radiated from an obscure 
 source, and I think it certain that the larger of these 
 numbers fails to express the absorption of the terrestrial 
 rays effected within ten feet of the earth's surface. This 
 is of the utmost consequence to the life of the world. 
 Imagine the superficial molecules of the earth trembling 
 with the motion of heat, and imparting it to the sur- 
 rounding ether ; this motion would be carried rapidly 
 away, and lost forever to our planet, if the waves of 
 ether had nothing but the air to contend with in their 
 outward course. But the aqueous vapor takes up the 
 motion of the ethereal waves and becomes thereby 
 
 *Tyndall on Radiation, p. 33. 
 tHeat as a Mode of Motion, p. 405 
 
ENERGY IN EVAPORATION. 69 
 
 heated, thus wrapping the earth like a warm garment, 
 and protecting its surface from the deadly chill whicli 
 it would otherwise sustain."* 
 
 This variable and constantly varying envelop of 
 aqueous vapor diffused through the atmosphere, that 
 serves as a blanket to conserve the earth's heat, that 
 would otherwise be lost by radiation, plays an important 
 part in the familiar processes taking place near the 
 earth's surface, and in the less readily observed changes 
 carried on in the upper strata of soils. The phenomena 
 of dew and frost are the result of a thinning of the 
 atmospheric vapor, as in times of drouth, and thus per- 
 mitting an escape of the radiant heat from the earth's 
 surface, or from objects on it, in clear nights, and the 
 condensation of moisture may extend to the upper layers 
 of the soil. 
 
 Another of nature's compensations is here evident. 
 Evaporation, as we have seen, is a cooling process, and, 
 conversely, the condensation of vapor into water is a 
 heating process. The energy expended in evaporating, 
 or vaporizing water, is liberated as heat when the vapor 
 is again transformed into water, in accordance with the 
 law of conservation. The heat radiated from the earth, 
 and causing condensation on the cooled bodies it leaves, 
 is therefore offset, in part, by the heat liberated in the 
 process of condensation, and a check is thus kept on the 
 cooling that would take place from the loss of heat with- 
 out compensation. The ameliorating influences of drain- 
 ing and tillage on soils are intimately connected with, 
 and largely dependent on, these correlated transfers of 
 energy and moisture, that are brought about by radiant 
 heat through the directing agency of atmospheric vapor. 
 
 * On Radiation, p. 34. 
 
CHAPTEE V. 
 
 ADVANTAGES OF DRAINING RETENTIVE SOILS. 
 
 As there are many farms that do not need draining, 
 it may be well to inquire under what conditions it can 
 be profitably practiced. It would certainly be a foolish 
 expenditure of money and labor, to lay drains in land 
 that has a permeable subsoil and allows the free perco- 
 lation of hydrostatic water, so that the water table is at 
 least four feet below the surface in wet seasons, or after 
 heavy rains. There are extensive tracts of open, porous 
 soils that are not fertile from lack of power to retain 
 capillary water in sufficient quantity to support vegeta- 
 tion, in which irrigation rather than draining is indicated. 
 
 Draining can only be recommended when there is a 
 retentive subsoil, which holds the drainage water for a 
 considerable time in the spring and fall months, o. after- 
 a heavy rainfall in the growing season. It will at once 
 be admitted that swamps and bogs that are saturated 
 with water for several months in the year, and lands 
 overflowed by springs, need draining, but on high lands 
 there are less obvious indications of deficient drainage, 
 wlr'ch the intelligent observer will not fail to notice. 
 
 Indications that High Lands Need Draining. 
 Where water stands on the surface after heavy showers, 
 or is seen in the furrows when plowing in the spring, 
 the soil will, undoubtedly, be improved by draining. 
 Even where water does not show itself at the surface, 
 the dark patches of soil in a recently plowed field, and 
 the growth of mosses, or molds, and aquatic plants, later 
 in the season, show that the water table must be lowered 
 
 70 
 
DRAINING RETENTIVE SOILS. 71 
 
 to provide favorable conditions for the growth of upland 
 plants of greater economic value. The accumulation of 
 water in trial pits, that may be dug to the depth of three 
 or four feet, in wet seasons, is another indication that is 
 quite conclusive. 
 
 The indications of deficient drainage are likewise 
 manifest in time of drouth, among which may be men- 
 tioned, as the most striking, the appearance of wide 
 cracks in heavy soils that have been saturated with water 
 early in the season, and then dried by evaporation. In 
 such soils there is a lack of porosity, or capillarity ; the' 
 roots of plants are not well developed, from the absence 
 of suitable conditions for their distribution throughout 
 the soil, and the rolling of the leaves indicates a deficient 
 supply of capillary water for healthy nutrition. After 
 copious showers the plants frequently have a yellowish 
 tinge, from defective assimilation arising from the pres- 
 ence of hydrostatic water in the soil, and at the close of 
 the season the crop matures, or ripens unevenly in the 
 field. Soil metabolism is not active ; the conditions do 
 not favor the free circulation of capillary water in the 
 soil, or vigorous root development, and the crop suffers 
 from the check given to its general processes of nutri- 
 tion. In contrast with these unfavorable conditions for 
 growing crops, we may summarize some of the benefits 
 that may be derived from a judicious system of farm 
 drainage. 
 
 Advantages of Draining Retentive Soils. As 
 the surface of the water table is the limit of the healthy 
 root development of farm crops, one of the most obvious 
 effects of draining is to deepen the soil, and thus fur- 
 nish a wider range for these important agents of nutri- 
 tion and growth. If the water table is within four feet 
 of the surface of the soil for any considerable time dur- 
 ing the growing season, it must materially interfere 
 with the development and distribution of the roots of 
 
72 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 most of our farm crops, as, under favorable conditions, 
 they penetrate the soil to greater depths than the limit 
 mentioned, which may be considered the minimum for 
 profitable production. 
 
 Schubert made excavations in the field six feet, or 
 more, in depth, and then laid bare the roots of plants 
 by gently washing the soil with a stream of water. He 
 found that rye, beans and garden peas had a dense mat 
 of fine fibrous roots to a deptli of four feet from the 
 surface, and wheat roots were traced to the depth of 
 seven feet forty-seven days after sowing, while other 
 crops had roots ranging to the depth of three or four 
 feet.* A greater range of root development has fre- 
 quently been reported by other observers. 
 
 There are numerous indirect advantages of thorough 
 draining which should not be overlooked. On well 
 drained land the rain falling upon the soil, in excess of 
 its capacity for absorption, or the demands of the crop, 
 percolates downwards to the level of the drains, warm- 
 ing the soil in its progress, and increasing its porosity, 
 while the air follows the descending water between the 
 particles of the soil, where its constituents are needed 
 for the nutrition of the plants, and in the processes of 
 soil metabolism. Next to carbon we find oxygen is the 
 most abundant element in the composition of plants. It 
 is freely absorbed by the roots of plants, and "deprived 
 of oxygen the movements of protoplasm, the movements 
 of the roots and of the leaves cease, other manifestations 
 of activity are put a stop to, and the plant dies of suffo- 
 cation. " f Atmospheric nitrogen, also, as we have seen, 
 is appropriated by micro-organisms in the soil, and 
 made available as combined nitrogen for the use of 
 plants. The free admission of the atmosphere between 
 the particles of soils is, therefore, important, and this 
 can only be secured on well drained land. 
 
 * How Crops Grow, p. 264. 
 
 t Plant Life on the Farm, p. 25. 
 
DRAINING RETENTIVE SOILS. 73 
 
 When the hydrostatic water of soils is discharged 
 by drainage, instead of evaporation, there is an immense 
 saving of energy in the form of heat, as has been pointed 
 out in a preceding chapter (p. 63), that may be made 
 available for other purposes, of direct advantage to the 
 growing crops. The enormous amount of heat saved 
 from useless work by drainage would be utilized in 
 warming the soil, and in the metabolic processes that 
 are essential to the healthy, luxuriant growth. of crops. 
 Soil metabolism would be promoted, the micro-organ- 
 isms concerned in the disintegration of organic matters 
 in the soil, and, in the processes of nitrification, would 
 find more favorable conditions for the exercise of . their 
 vital activities, plant food would be more rapidly elabo- 
 rated, and the power of the soil to hold water by capil- 
 lary attraction in the form best suited for the use of 
 growing plants, would be materially increased. The 
 enhanced porosity of the soil would not only favor bene- 
 ficial metabolic activities in the soil itself, but, from the 
 improved biological conditions, the roots of plants would 
 be more widely distributed, as they could readily pene- 
 trate the soil in all directions, so that its entire mass 
 would be utilized. 
 
 Heavy soils, when saturated with water, are injured 
 by working, or by the treading of cattle, as the process 
 of "puddling," as it is technically called, takes place 
 and renders them more retentive and compact. When 
 the water absorbed by such soils is removed by evapora- 
 tion they become hard and tongh, and they do not read- 
 ily absorb water again, or allow it to percolate through 
 them. In drying they shrink and crack, to the injury 
 of the feeble roots that may have been formed near 
 the surface. They are difficult to work, from their 
 tenacity, and are not easily pulverized, so that thorough 
 tillage, or the preparation of a good seed bed, is made 
 impracticable, These " heavy" soils weigh least, 
 
74 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 The sum of the ameliorating effects of draining such 
 soils is to lengthen the season, as they can then be 
 worked earlier in the spring and later in the fall, plants 
 have a longer period of active growth, and a thorough 
 preparation of the soil for seeding can be secured, with 
 economy and increased efficiency in the labor expended. 
 
 Among the incidental advantages of draining we 
 should not omit to notice that the surface soil is not 
 washed by heavy rains ; and water furrows, that interfere 
 with cultivation and the use of harvesting machinery, 
 may be dispensed with ; that crops are not injured by 
 the heaving of the soil by frost ; that they are of better 
 quality, and ripen evenly, which is an important consid- 
 eration in harvesting. It is only on well drained land 
 that manures produce their full effect, either as supplies 
 of plant food, or through their indirect action of increas- 
 ing soil metabolism. 
 
 There are retentive, undrained soils, which yield 
 fair crops in the exceptional seasons, that furnish the 
 most favorable conditions of temperature and distribu- 
 tion of rainfall for their special requirements, while in 
 bad seasons the total failure of the crop, or the decidedly 
 low yield in ordinary seasons, tends to reduce the average 
 below the point of profitable production. 
 
 Drainage and Drouths. In localities where the 
 average annual rainfall considerably exceeds the amount 
 required by crops, drouths are liable to occur from an 
 unequal distribution of rain throughout the year, and 
 an absolute deficiency in the growing season. Tr.c 
 influence of drainage in promoting the growth of crops 
 in time of drouth should, therefore, receive particular 
 attention. 
 
 On well drained land, of fair quality, plants have a 
 vigorous habit of growth that enables them to resist, or 
 overcome, to a certain extent, the injurious influences 
 which, under less favorable conditions, would be mam- 
 
DRAINING RETENTIVE SOILS. 
 
 75 
 
 fest from a scanty supply of moisture in the soil. Their 
 widely extended and deep range of root distribution 
 enables them to appropriate the capillary water from all 
 parts of the soil, and when this is exhausted, they may 
 even take up a considerable portion of hygroscopic water, 
 which is less readily parted with by the particles of soil, 
 and which less vigorous and aggressive plants would not 
 be likely to obtain. The soil itself, from its improved 
 porosity, will bring moisture from below by capillary 
 attraction, and will also condense it from the atmos- 
 phere, and thus add to the aggregate of the supply. 
 The results of experiments relating to the capacity of 
 soils for absorbing and holding moisture, and the extent 
 to which it may be appropriated by plants will be of 
 interest in this connection. 
 
 Amount of Capillary Water in Soils. Schub- 
 ler made experiments to determine the capacity of soils 
 
 TABLE 13. 
 
 CAPILLARY AND HYGROSCOPIC WATER RETAINED BY SOILS. 
 SCHUBLER'S EXPERIMENTS.* 
 
 
 Percent. 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 Pounds | Trmc _ 
 of water Tons ? er 
 
 Inches 
 
 Kinds of Earth. 
 
 of 
 weight. 
 
 of 
 volume. 
 
 in 1 cubic 
 toot of 
 soil. 
 
 depth of 
 4 feet. 
 
 of 
 rainfall. 
 
 Silicious sand 
 
 25 
 
 37.9 
 
 27.3 
 
 2,370 
 
 21 
 
 Calcareous sand 
 
 29 
 
 441 
 
 31.8 
 
 2,770 
 
 24 
 
 
 40 
 
 51.4 
 
 38.8 
 
 3,380 
 
 30 
 
 Loamy clay 
 
 50 
 
 57.3 
 
 41.4 
 
 3,600 
 
 31 
 
 Stiff or brick clay 
 
 61 
 
 62.9 
 
 45.4 
 
 3,950 
 
 35 
 
 Pure grey clay. . . 
 
 70 
 
 66.2 
 
 48.3 
 
 4,200 
 
 37 
 
 AVI lite pipe clay 
 
 87 
 
 66.0 
 
 47.4 
 
 4,120 
 
 36 
 
 Humus 
 
 181 
 
 69.8 
 
 50.1 
 
 4,360 
 
 38 
 
 Garden mold 
 
 89 
 
 67.3 
 
 48.4 
 
 4,210 
 
 37 
 
 
 52 
 
 57.3 
 
 40.8 
 
 3,550 
 
 31 
 
 Slaty marl 
 
 34 
 
 49.9 
 
 35.6 
 
 3,100 
 
 27 
 
 Gypsum powder 
 
 27 
 
 38.2 
 
 27.4 
 
 
 
 for retaining capillary and hygroscopic water, by sat- 
 urating them with water, and then allowing them to 
 drain until the hydrostatic water had been discharged, 
 with results given in the second and third columns of 
 table 13, on which are based the estimates of the last 
 three columns. 
 
 * J. R. Ag. Soc., 1840, p. 184. 
 
76 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 Before commencing these experiments, the soils 
 were dried at a temperature of 144|, until they ceased 
 to lose weight, so that hygroscopic, as well as capillary, 
 water, was parted with. The water absorbed was, there- 
 fore, hygroscopic, as well as capillary. Experiments 
 like these can, however, give only approximate results, 
 as the same soil, in different degrees of fineness, will 
 vary widely in its capacity to absorb water, the capillar- 
 ity being increased as the size of the particles diminish. 
 
 In 1878, Dr. R. 0. Kedzie, of the Michigan Agri- 
 cultural college,* made an analysis of thirty-one soils, 
 from different localities in Michigan, and tested their 
 capacity to absorb and retain capillary water, by a modi- 
 fication of Schubler's method. Two-thirds of these soils, 
 including prairie soils and heavy clay loams, had a 
 capacity for absorbing water of from 40.20 to 73.20 per 
 cent., seven of them ranging above 50 per cent. ; and 
 one-third of them, among which were samples of the 
 sandy "plain land" in the northern part of the lower 
 peninsula, had a capacity for holding from 29.20 to 
 39.60 per cent, of capillary water. Allowing for the 
 difference in weight of these soils, one acre to the depth 
 of one foot may be estimated to weigh from three to 
 four million pounds, according to the relative proportion 
 of sand, clay and organic matters they contained. On 
 this basis, the capacity of these soils for retaining capil- 
 lary water to the depth of four feet would be, for the 
 first group, from 3,000 to 4,000 tons per acre, and for 
 the last group, from 2,300 to 3,100 tons per acre, amounts 
 that are, in most cases, very much in excess of the prob- 
 able requirements of a crop. 
 
 These results, by Schubler's method of determining 
 the capacity of soils to absorb water, even in the modi- 
 fied form adopted by Kedzie, are probably higher than 
 would be obtained with the same soils in their natural 
 
 *Mich. Ag Rep't., 1878, p. 386. 
 
DRAINING RETENTIVE SOILS 77 
 
 condition in the field, and they may be interpreted as 
 representing the maximum capacity of soils for holding 
 water under the best possible physical conditions,, that 
 are not likely to be realized, even with well-drained and 
 thoroughly cultivated soils. As indications of the wide 
 margin for possible improvement in the capacity of soils 
 for moisture, by judicious management they are valu- 
 able, and they should lead to further investigations 
 relating to the physical properties of soils. 
 
 In 1888, Dr. Kedzie made experiments under some- 
 what different conditions, to determine the capacity of 
 soils to absorb and hold water, which were suggested by 
 the statement that was widely circulated in the agricul- 
 tural papers, that floods were increased and the effects 
 of drouths intensified by tile draining that in some 
 localities had been quite extensively practiced. These 
 experiments were made with tin tubes two inches in 
 diameter and twenty indies deep, that were weighed in 
 a delicate balance, and then filled with air-dried, sifted 
 garden and other soils, to which water was added until 
 they were saturated with capillary water. Some of the 
 tubes had a tight bottom, to secure the conditions of an 
 undrained soil, and others had a perforated bottom, to 
 secure thorough drainage. By weighing the tubes, 
 under the different conditions of the experiment, the 
 amount of the soil, and the water retained by it, could 
 be readily determined. 
 
 He found that, on the average, 36 inches in depth 
 of garden soil retained 12.5 inches in vertical depth of 
 water, which would be equivalent to over 1,415 tons per 
 acre. A fact of still greater importance was likewise 
 demonstrated. When this drained soil was thoroughly 
 saturated with capillary water, "the tubes were left, 
 freely exposed to the air in a room well ventilated, for 
 thirty-three days of hot drying weather." The loss of 
 water by evaporation from the drained soil was nearly 
 
78 LAND DE AIDING. 
 
 two inches in depth, but, on adding water again to the 
 soil, it was found that its capacity for holding water had 
 increased, as it retained more water than before the 
 period of evaporation, while the imd rained soil had a 
 diminished capacity for holding water. It was estimated, 
 from the results of these experiments, that the drained 
 soils had an increased capacity for holding water amount- 
 ing to about 12.6 per cent.* The evaporation of water 
 from the surface of well drained soils has already been 
 noticed, as serving a useful purpose in various ways, and 
 these experiments seem to indicate that increased capil- 
 larity, or power to hold water, must be included in the 
 sum of its ameliorating influences. 
 
 Moisture in Cropped and Uncropped Soils. 
 As growing crops exhale large quantities of water in 
 their processes of nutrition, the experimental evidence 
 relating to the influence of this draft of water upon the 
 retained moisture of the soil will be found suggestive. 
 At Rothamsted, experiments have been made to deter- 
 mine the amount of capillary water retained in cropped 
 and uncropped sails under the normal conditions of field 
 cultivation, that are of great practical interest in their 
 bearing on the supplies of water available for crops in 
 time of severe drouths. 
 
 In the experiments with wheat grown continuously 
 on the same land, under different conditions of manur- 
 ing, and with a tile drain through the middle of each 
 plot at a depth of about thirty inches, "the three years 
 of highest produce, both corn (grain) and total produce, 
 were 1854, 1863 and 1864, and all three were seasons of 
 less than the average fall of rain during the four months 
 of active growth. The two seasons of lowest fall of rain 
 during April, May, June and July, were 1868 and 1870 ; 
 and both gave, with each of the three conditions as to 
 manure, more than the average of corn (grain) over the 
 
 *Proc. Soc. for the Pr. of Agr'l Science, 1888, p. 49. 
 
DRAINING RETENTIVE SOILS. 
 
 70 
 
 W '"""""' 
 : : 
 So : : 
 
 I 
 
 
 H 
 
 M 
 
 M 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 tO H^ bi 
 
 W CO CO 
 
 o- Plot without 
 r manure. 
 
 e 
 | 
 
 s 
 1 
 
 42.13 
 38.00 
 
 ^ Barnyard 
 ? manure pl't. 
 
 w 
 
 a 
 
 e 
 
 >C 85 
 
 c rT 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 *e 
 
 afcjs 
 
 Mineral ma- 
 
 cr 1 nure and 
 ? ammonia 
 salts, plot 8a. 
 
 3 
 
 p.~ 
 
 CO 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 9 
 
 H 
 
 O 
 
 3? 
 
 3 ^ 
 
 ^11 
 
 o- Mean of the 
 = 3 plots. 
 
 CO 
 
 a 
 
 3- 9 
 
 II 
 
 g 
 
 ^11 
 
 Plot without 
 jo manure. 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Ss 
 
 s 5 
 
 * S| 
 
 ^ w 
 
 IB g 
 
 6,794 
 5,092 
 6,016 
 
 Barnyard 
 ? manure pl't. 
 
 produce, j 
 
 I s & 
 1? S 
 
 W X * 
 
 w ^ 
 
 7,477 
 6,627 
 7^088 
 
 Mineral ma- 
 nure and 
 j ammonia 
 salts, plot 8a. 
 
 CB 
 
 p 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^^ 
 gfe 
 
 ^ 
 
 03 O 
 
 ^1 
 
 $ Mean of the 
 3 plots. 
 
 straw. 1 
 
 S ^ 
 
 g s 
 
 So ^ 
 
 ?g 
 
 Jig 
 
 5' April. 
 
 
 S 
 H 
 
 fca M e 
 
 ? May. 
 
 bj 
 
 p 
 
 1 
 
 o3 " 
 
 r June. 
 
 s. 
 
 3' 
 
 Hj 
 P 
 
 f 
 
 g 
 
 MI^W 
 
 ? July. 
 
 
 g 
 
 ^11 
 
 ? Total. 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
80 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 nineteen years ; and in 1808, though not in 1870, there 
 was even more than the average of total produce also, 
 under each of the manured conditions."* With the 
 great deficiency of rain in the growing season, the yield 
 of grain was above, and that of the straw and total pro- 
 duce was below, the average in both years on the imma- 
 nured plot. For convenience of reference in discussing 
 the water supply of crops in time of drouth, the yield of 
 wheat for these years, and the averages for nineteen 
 years, are given in table 14, together with the rainfall 
 for the growing months. 
 
 " Such were the drouth and heat of May, June and 
 July, 1868, that it is hardly possible to suppose condi- 
 tions more calculated to induce extreme dryness of soil 
 than those preceding the harvest of that year. Accord- 
 ingly, toward the end of July, just before the crop was 
 ripe, samples of soil were taken from three plots of the 
 experimental wheat-field, with the special view of deter- 
 mining the amount of moisture retained at different 
 depths. For comparison with these samples, taken at a 
 time of extreme dryness, others were collected from the 
 same plots in January, 1869, after much rain during the 
 preceding ten days ; the drains were running, and it 
 was supposed that the ground was quite saturated."! 
 The samples were six inches square, and three inches 
 deep, "down to a total depth of thirty-six inches, or, 
 rather, below the pipe drains." The results of their 
 investigations are given in table 15. 
 
 In the July sample of the first three inches from 
 the unmanured plot there was considerably less moisture 
 than in either of the other plots, which may be attrib- 
 uted to more active surface evaporation from the less 
 dense shade of its smaller crop, and the inferior capacity 
 of the soil for holding water. In the next nine inches 
 
 ~~*J. R. Ag. Soc., 1871, p. 107. 
 tJ.R.Ag Soc., 1871, p. 108. 
 
DRAINING RETENTIVE SOILS. 
 
 81 
 
 00 -q 05 Ot *> CO to Hi 
 
 3"SP 
 
 {3 CO 
 
 ,<& 
 
 Ct> 89 
 
 d g, 
 
 > 03 pi ri^ w HI p oo ^ ji. y ^ 
 
 i - 
 
 I 
 
 ft 
 <D 
 
 ^S^^^SSgg^S^^Sg 
 
 _-_ _ ^ i ^ r : :: 
 5Oi-^^rf^COOCTI-'!XOt 
 
 uary 
 1869 
 et. 
 
 w a 
 
32 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 of soil (the average percentage of moisture hi samples 
 2, 3 and 4, from the three plots, being respectively 8.92, 
 7.51 and 7.06) there is the least moisture in the mineral 
 manure plot, the barnyard manure plot has nearly one- 
 half per cent, more, and the unman ured plot has the 
 highest, as might be expected, from the smaller amount 
 of water exhaled by its small crop. From this point 
 downwards there is a gradual increase in the percentage 
 of moisture in all of the plots. With the exception of 
 the first and last samples of three inches, the barnyard 
 manure plot had decidedly less water at every level than 
 the unmannred plot, and it must have exhaled very 
 much more water in its larger crop, and, therefore, 
 pumped the soil drier than the small crop of the unma- 
 nured plot. 
 
 When we come to compare the barnyard manure 
 and the mineral manure plots, there is, however, evi- 
 dence of some other condition than the exhalation of 
 water by the crops that determined the relative amounts 
 of soil moisture in the dry summer. The crop of the 
 mineral manure plot was considerably larger, and there- 
 fore exhaled more water than that of the barnyard 
 manure plot, but below the depth ot nine inches the 
 samples of the latter, in every case, contained less moist- 
 ure than the former, that had parted with more water. 
 The only apparent explanation of this difference is the 
 probable better condition of capillarity in the soil of the 
 mineral manure plot which enabled it to bring larger 
 supplies of water from the lower strata of the soil. 
 
 In the winter, after heavy rains, we find the unma- 
 nured plot had a comparatively limited capacity for 
 holding water. The barnyard manure plot, with its 
 abundant stores of organic matter, contains very much 
 more water in the first nine inches of soil than either of 
 the other plots, but below this the mineral manure plot, 
 at every level (with a single exception), holds consider- 
 
DRAINING RETENTIVE SOILS. 83 
 
 ably more. The barnyard manure plot, on the whole, 
 has the greatest capacity for holding water, especially in 
 the cultivated and manured strata near the surface ; 
 while the mineral manure plot was probably less reten- 
 tive near the surface, and allowed the rain falling on 
 the soil to gravitate more rapidly to the lower strata, 
 and this same condition of porosity may have facilitated 
 the appropriation of moisture from below in the dry 
 season. 
 
 In regard to the greater capacity of the barnyard 
 manure plot to retain water, it is remarked by Drs. 
 Lawes and Gilbert, in their paper on the drouth of 
 1870,* "that while the pipe-drains from every one of 
 the other plots in the experimental wheat-field run 
 freely, perhaps, on the average, four or five times annu- 
 ally, the drain from the dungei plot seldom runs at all 
 more than once a year; in. lee J, it has not, with cer- 
 tainty, been known to run, though closely watched, 
 since about this time last yoar." The capacity for 
 holding water does not, therefore, seem to depend solely 
 upon the capillarity, but rather upon the combined 
 influence of capillarity and the accumulation of hygro- 
 scopic organic substances in the soil. In this latter con- 
 dition the mineral manure plot seems to have been 
 deficient. 
 
 The aggregate differences of the three plots will be 
 best seen when the contained water is estimated in tons 
 per acre. In table 16 the long English tons have been 
 reduced to tons of 2,000 pounds, and the estimated 
 amount of water exhaled by the three crops is given in 
 tons per acre, and their equivalent in inches of rainfall, 
 together with the yield of grain in bushels per acre. 
 
 In the third and fourth columns of the table the 
 water exhaled by the crops is estimated on the supposi- 
 
 * J. R. Ag. Soc. 1871, p. 115. 
 
84 
 
 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 tion that 85.5 per cent, of the total produce was dry 
 substance, and that three hundred pounds of water was 
 exhaled for each pound of dry substance formed and 
 
 TABLE 16. 
 
 TONS OF WATER PER ACRE IN THE SOIL OF THREE OF THE EXPERI- 
 MENTAL WHEAT-PLOTS AT ROTHAMSTED, IN SUMMER AND 
 WINTER, WITH YIELD, AND ESTIMATED EXHA- 
 LATION BY THE CROPS. 
 
 Plots and 
 manures. 
 
 Yield of 
 grain in 
 bu. pei- 
 acre. 
 
 Water exhaled by 
 crop per acre. 
 
 Tons of water per acre in 
 soil to depth of 36 inches. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Inches. 
 
 July, '68 
 in 
 drouth. 
 
 Jan., '(;i), 
 after- 
 heavy 
 rains. 
 
 Differ- 
 ence. 
 
 Unmanured .. 
 Barnyard ma- 
 mire ... 
 
 16.62 
 42.12 
 44.91 
 
 260 
 871 
 959 
 
 2.30 
 7.70 
 8.49 
 
 746 
 
 662 
 
 777 
 
 1,564 
 1,803 
 
 i ,7:;r> 
 
 818 
 1,141 
 958 
 
 Min'l manures 
 and am. salts 
 
 MANURED PLOTS OVER (or under) UNMANURED PLOT 
 
 Barnyard ma- 
 nure 
 Min. manure & 
 ammonia salts 
 
 25.50 
 28.29 
 
 611 
 699 
 
 5.44 -84 
 6.19 II 31 
 
 239 
 171 
 
 323 
 140 
 
 stored in the crop. From this estimate, which must be 
 approximately correct, it appears that the difference in 
 the amount of water in the soil in July and January 
 was sufficient to supply the amount exhaled by the crops 
 of the unmanured and barnyard manure plots, and leave 
 a fair margin for soil evaporation; but in the case of 
 the mineral manure plot the water exhaled by the crop 
 is equal to the difference in the soil water at the two 
 periods of sampling, leaving nothing for soil evaporation, 
 which must have been considerable. The 3.66 inches 
 of rain falling in the course of the four growing months 
 (see table 14), would aid in restoring the balance, but 
 this would, probably, not be equal to the evaporation 
 from the soil itself. Moreover, the indications are that 
 the soil, at the beginning of the growing period, did not 
 contain as much water as when it was sampled in Janu- 
 ary. If we accept the estimate of Drs. Lawes and Gil- 
 bert, that it contained -only two-thirds as much, the 
 
DRAINING RETENTIVE SOILS. 85 
 
 supply would be sufficient for the crop of the unmanured 
 plot, while the remaining two plots must have drawn 
 upon supplies by condensation from the atmosphere, 
 and by capillary attraction from the lower strata of the 
 soil, and the amount required by the mineral manure 
 plot must have beeu quite large. 
 
 In the Rothamsted experiments, "a great deficiency 
 of rain," during the period of active growth, was found 
 to be "more adverse to the spring-grown barley than to 
 the winter-sown wheat," and yet more than average 
 crops of grain were grown in seasons of drouth, while 
 the lighter yield of straw would reduce the amount of 
 total produce. In the unusually dry season of 1870, the 
 yield of barley on the barnyard manure plot, where it 
 had been grown continuously for nineteen years, was 
 52% bushels of grain, and 4,949 pounds of total produce, 
 while the average for nineteen years was 50 bushels of 
 grain, and 5,856 pounds of total produce. 
 
 In 1870, barley was grown in the field where the 
 drain-gauges were made, as described on page 45 (the 
 first records of which were made in September, see tables 
 8 and 9). "As the excavations proceeded, barley roots 
 were observed to have extended to a depth of between 
 four and five feet, and the clayey subsoil appeared to be 
 much more disintegrated, and much drier, where the 
 roots had penetrated, than where they had not. Accord- 
 ingly, it was decided to make careful notes on the sec- 
 tions under the two conditions, and also to take samples 
 of soil and subsoil to a depth below that at which roots 
 were traced, with a view to the determination of the 
 amounts of moisture at the different depths in the two 
 cases. Portions of the barley ground and the fallow 
 ground closely adjoining the drain -gauge plots, but 
 undisturbed by the excavations in connection with them, 
 were selected, and from each, six samples 6x6 inches 
 superficies, by 9 inches deep that is, in all, to a depth 
 
86 
 
 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 of 54 inches were taken," on the 27th and 28th of 
 June.* These were carefully dried and weighed. 
 
 The percentage of moisture in the different samples 
 is given in table 17, together with the mean for the 
 entire depth of 54 inches, and the mean of the tirst 36 
 inches, for comparison with the wheat soil in table 15. 
 
 TABLE 17. 
 
 PERCENTAGE OF MOISTURE, AT DIFFERENT DEPTHS, IN CROPPED 
 AND UNCROPPED LAND, AT ROTHAMSTED, JUNE 27 AND 28, 1870. 
 
 Depth of Sample. 
 
 Fallow land. 
 
 Bill-ley hind. 
 
 Difference. 
 
 First 9 inches 
 Second 9 inches 
 
 20.36 
 29 63 
 
 11.91 
 1932 
 
 8.45 
 10 21 
 
 Third 9 inches 
 
 34 84 
 
 22 83 
 
 12 01 
 
 Fourth 9 inches 
 
 34 32 
 
 25 09 
 
 9 23 
 
 Fifth 9 inches 
 
 31 31 
 
 26 98 
 
 4 33 
 
 Sixth 9 inches 
 
 33.55 
 
 26.38 
 
 7.17 
 
 Mean to depth of 54 inches . . . 
 Mean to depth of 36 inches . . . 
 
 30.65 
 29.76 
 
 22.09 
 19.79 
 
 8.56 
 9.97 
 
 For the rainfall of the three preceding months see 
 table 14. "It should be stated that ten days previous 
 to the collection of the samples, about two-thirds of an 
 inch of rain had fallen, and only three days before the 
 collection about one-tenth of an inch ; and hence, per- 
 haps, may in part be accounted for the somewhat high 
 percentage of moisture in both soils near the surface at 
 that period of a season which was, upon the whole, one 
 of unusual drouth. Further, for a few days, during the 
 interval since the heavier rainfall, some soil, thrown out 
 from the excavations near, had laid upon the spot 
 whence the samples from the uncropped land were taken, 
 and hence, again, may be accounted for part of the 
 excess near the surface in the uncropped as compared 
 with the cropped land." 
 
 There is not only a marked difference in the per- 
 centages of moisture in the fallow and the barley hind, 
 but in this time of drouth the fallow soil, to the depth 
 of three feet, contained a higher percentage of moisture 
 than either of the wheat-plots, to the same depth, after 
 
 * J. R. Ag. Soc., 1871. p. 120. 
 
DRAINING RETENTIVE SOILS. 
 
 87 
 
 the heavy rains of January, and the barley soil contained 
 nearly as much as the immanured wheat plot in January. 
 The significance of these relations will best be seen by 
 estimating the soil moisture in tons per acre and inches 
 of rainfall. 
 
 TABLE 18. 
 
 TONS PER ACKE OF CAPILLARY WATER IN FALLOW AND BARLEY 
 
 LAND, AND THEIR EQUIVALENT IN INCHES OF RAINFALL 
 
 AT ROTHAMSTED, JUNE, 1870. 
 
 
 Fallow land. 
 
 Barlej 
 
 Tons 
 per 
 acre. 
 
 ' land. 
 Indies 
 of 
 rainf'l. 
 
 Difference. 
 
 Tons 
 per 
 acre. 
 
 Inches 
 of 
 rainf'l. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Inches. 
 
 To depth of 54 inches 
 To depth of 36 inches 
 
 3,220 
 
 2,084 
 
 28.50 
 18.44 
 
 2,185 
 1,304 
 
 19.34 
 11.54 
 
 l,03a 
 
 780 
 
 9.15 
 
 6.90. 
 
 If a liberal allowance is made for the possible check 
 to evaporation from the fallow land, by the soil laying 
 upon it for a few days previous to the time of sampling, 
 to which reference has been made, there is a difference 
 in the two samples of soil of about 1,000 tons of water 
 per acre, to the depth of 54 inches, and over 750 tons, 
 to the depth of 36 inches, which can only be accounted 
 for by the exhalation of water by the crop, as the evapo- 
 ration from the shaded soil of the barley land must have 
 been decidedly less than from the bare soil of the fallow. 
 
 The dry substance of the crop was estimated at 
 "under, rather than over," 4,480 pounds per acre, and 
 the indications are that the crop exhaled more than 300 
 pounds of water for each pound of dry substance formed 
 by the plants, which would amount to but 672 tons per 
 acre, or considerably less than the observed difference in 
 the water of the two soils to the depth of only 36 inches. 
 It might, however, be assumed that the condensation of 
 \v:itcT from the atmosphere ^\as more active on the bare 
 soil of the fallow, than on the protected barley soil, 
 Avhcn radiation from the soil at night would be inter- 
 cepted by the shield of vegetation, and the cooling of 
 the soil and consequent condensation would be dimin- 
 
88 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 ished. These soils evidently had a greater capacity for 
 storing water than the wheat soils, as will be seen, on 
 comparing the amount of water in the fallow land in 
 time of severe drouth, with that of the experimental 
 wheat plots (table 16), after copious rains in January, 
 and they are nearly equal to the best Michigan soils 
 tested by Kedzie, and the arable soil of Schubler's 
 experiments. 
 
 Absorption of Atmospheric Moisture by Soils. 
 Soils are, more or less, hygroscopic, and from this prop- 
 erty, moisture, under certain conditions, is absorbed 
 from the atmosphere. There is a dearth of experimental 
 evidence relating to this important property of soils, 
 under conditions that approximate to those which obtain 
 in the field. 
 
 Schubler* placed air-dried soils under an inverted 
 glass receiver, and over a reservoir of water, the vapor 
 of which was thus brought in contact with the soils. 
 With a mean temperature of 59 to 66, the soils absorbed 
 the following amounts of water from the atmosphere in 
 twenty-four hours, for each one hundred parts of soil. 
 
 TABLE 19. 
 
 Kinds of Earth. 
 
 Per cent, of water absorbed in 
 24 hours. 
 
 Silicious sand 
 
 
 
 
 0.3 
 
 
 2 6 
 
 
 3.0 
 
 Stiff clav 
 
 3.6 
 
 
 4.2 
 
 Humus 
 
 9.7 
 
 
 4.5 
 
 Arable soil 
 
 2.2 
 
 Slaty marl 
 
 2.9 
 
 It may be said that these experiments were made 
 under exceptional conditions, the soil being dry, and 
 the air saturated with the vapor of water, and that they 
 do not furnish indications of what would take place in 
 the field. On the other hand, it must be seen that they 
 
 * J. R. Ag. Soc., 1840, p. 195. 
 
RETENTIVE SOILS. 89 
 
 were continued but twenty-four hours, and that the soil 
 was dry only at the beginning of the process, while in 
 the field, soils are dried upon the surface in the day time, 
 and cooled at night by radiation, which favors the con- 
 densation of atmospheric vapor, and that this process is 
 almost daily repeated during the growing season, so that 
 a much smaller percentage of absorption than was 
 obtained in these experiments, would, in the aggregate, 
 form a considerable item of consequence in the soil sup- 
 plies of moisture. 
 
 The power of soils to absorb moisture from the 
 atmosphere seems to be closely related to their capacity 
 for holding capillary water, as they both evidently 
 depend, to a great extent, upon the hygroscopic proper- 
 ties of organic matters and clay, thus placing the humus 
 and garden mold at the head of the list, closely followed 
 by the heavy clays. The accumulation of root residues 
 in well drained soils, resulting from tlieir greater fertil- 
 ity and wider range of root distribution, will therefore 
 increase their capacity for holding capillary water, and 
 for absorbing atmospheric vapor, as well as the improved 
 physical conditions, to which reference has been made. 
 
 In the brief notice of radiant heat, in a preceding 
 chapter, attention was called to the compensations of 
 nature in the reciprocal interchanges of energy and 
 moisture between the soil and the atmosphere that were 
 constantly going on, and in this place a further applica- 
 tion of the same principle must be made. As wet soils 
 part with their moisture by evaporation, and dry soils 
 are able to absorb moisture from the atmosphere, there 
 must be frequent exchanges of water, in some form, 
 between the soil and the atmosphere, and the direction 
 in which the transfer is made will depend on their rela- 
 tive humidity and temperature. The capacity of the 
 atmosphere to absorb and retain the vapor of water 
 varies with its temperature. From the high tempera- 
 
90 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 ture of a summer day the capacity of the air for moisture 
 is increased, evaporation is rapid, and the surface soil 
 becomes dry. With the lower temperature at night the 
 capacity of the air for moisture is diminished, and the 
 dried soil may then regain a portion of the water it had 
 parted with in the daytime. But this is not all, as the 
 transformations of energy are quite as significant in the 
 alternated processes of evaporation and condensation. 
 
 We have seen that evaporation is a cooling process, 
 as heat is abstracted from surrounding objects to per- 
 form the work of converting the liquid water into vapor. 
 From the law of the conservation of energy, when this 
 vapor is again changed to the liquid form, the same 
 amount of heat is liberated that was originally required 
 in the work of evaporation, and in the appropriation of 
 the aqueous vapor of the atmosphere, the soil not only 
 obtains water, but it is warmed by the heat that is thus 
 made available. This alternation of the processes of 
 evaporation and condensation must be of immense 
 importance in our intense and variable climate, as it 
 tends to diminish the extremes of temperature in the 
 soil which would otherwise occur. The cooling process 
 of evaporating water from the soil in a hot summer day, 
 prevents an excessive rise of the temperature of the soil, 
 that would be injurious to vegetation, which is so fre- 
 quently observed in arid regions. 
 
 Schubler * found that, with a temperature of 77 in 
 the shade, dark colored dry soils, when exposed to the 
 sun, had a temperature of from 120 to 124, the sandy 
 soils ranging the highest, which is much above the opti- 
 mum temperature for growing crops. With a tempera- 
 ture of 80 to 90, or more, in the shade, the direct heat 
 of the sun would undoubtedly be injurious to crops, 
 when not counteracted by the evaporation of wnter from 
 the soil, and the capillarity of the soil must bo an 
 
 * J. R. Ag. Soc., Vol. 1, p. 208. How Crops Feed, p. 196, 
 
DRAINING KETENTIVB SOILS. 9i 
 
 important factor in renewing and maintaining the supply. 
 On the other hand, the condensation of the moisture 
 from the atmosphere at night liberates heat, that retards 
 the rapid fall of temperature that would otherwise take 
 place in the soil, in clear nights, from radiation. At 
 certain seasons of the year this is also an important 
 agency in preventing the occurrence of frosts when the 
 temperature of the atmosphere approaches the freezing 
 point, and a clear sky promotes the rapid radiation of 
 heat from the soil. Under such conditions, this con- 
 servative influence should be especially manifest in the 
 most productive soils, which have the greatest capacity 
 for water, as they part with heat more rapidly by radia- 
 tion (see table 12), which would soon lower their tem- 
 perature to the freezing point, were it not for their 
 greater power to absorb and condense atmospheric vapor 
 and utilize its potential energy, which is liberated in 
 the form of heat. 
 
 Hygroscopic Water Used by Plants. By a 
 modification of Schubler's experiment, above mentioned 
 (table 19), Sachs proved that the hygroscopic moisture 
 absorbed by the soil from the atmosphere, may be util- 
 ized by plants in their processes of nutrition. A bean 
 plant, growing in a pot of retentive soil, was allowed to 
 remain without watering until the leaves began to wilt. 
 "A high and spacious glass cylinder, having a layer of 
 water at its bottom, was then provided, and the pot con- 
 taining the wilting plant was supported in it, near its 
 top, while the cylinder was capped by two semicircular 
 plates of glass, which closed snugly about the stem of 
 the bean. The pot of soil and the roots of the plant 
 were thus inclosed in an atmosphere which was con- 
 stantly saturated, or nearly so, with watery vapor, while 
 the leaves were fully exposed to the free air. It was 
 now to be observed whether the water that exhaled from 
 the leaves could be supplied by the hygroscopic moisture 
 
92 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 which the soil should gather from the damp air envelop- 
 ing it. This proves to be the case. The leaves previ- 
 ously wilted recovered their proper turgidity, and 
 remained fresh during the two months of June and 
 July."* 
 
 From other experiments, it was proved that the 
 roots of plants not in contact with the soil, could not 
 absorb moisture from damp air, and we thus have a 
 demonstration "that the clay soil, which condenses 
 vapor in its pores, and holds it as hygroscopic water, 
 yields it again to the plant, and thus becomes the 
 medium through which water is continuously carried 
 from the atmosphere into vegetation." The absorption, 
 or condensation of the diffused vapor of water in the 
 atmosphere by soils, and its utilization by crops, is facil- 
 itated by the minute subdivision and porosity of the 
 surface, that can only be secured by thorough drainage 
 and tillage, and when these ameliorating agencies are 
 supplemented by the accumulation of organic matters 
 from the root residues of previous crops, or the applica- 
 tion of manures, the atmospheric supplies of water in 
 time of drouths must be of considerable importance. 
 
 Air-dried soils may contain from "0.5 to 10 or 
 more per cent." of hygroscopic water, but we do not 
 know what proportion of this may be absorbed by plants, 
 under average conditions, when other sources of supply 
 are exhausted. In the last-mentioned experiment by 
 Sachs the percentage of hygroscopic moisture in the 
 soil probably remained nearly constant, the loss arising 
 from exhalation by the leaves being replaced at once by 
 fresh supplies from the atmosphere. Under less extreme 
 conditions the moisture condensed by soils from the air 
 serves to supplement and conserve the capillary water of 
 the soil that is more readily appropriated by plants, and 
 constitutes, as has already been stated,- their chief source 
 
 *How Crops Feed, p. 208. 
 
DRAINING KETENTIVE SOILS. 93 
 
 of supply. Sachs made experiments with tobacco plants 
 in three kinds of soil, to determine the extent to which 
 the capillary and hygroscopic water contained in them 
 could be used by plants, with the following results : 
 
 TABLE 20. 
 
 PERCENTAGE OF SOIL WATER ABSORBED BY TOBACCO PLANTS, IN 
 SACHS' EXPERIMENTS. 
 
 Soils. 
 
 Percentage of 
 water the soil 
 could hold. 
 
 Percentage 
 remaining in 
 the soil when 
 the plants 
 failed to grow. 
 
 Difference, or 
 percentage 
 used by the 
 plants. 
 
 Black humus and sand. . 
 
 46.0 
 52 1 
 
 12.3 
 8.0 
 
 33.7 
 44.1 
 
 Coarse sand 
 
 20.8 
 
 1.5 
 
 19.3 
 
 From this table it appears that soils not only differ 
 in their capacity to absorb water, which has already been 
 noticed, but they likewise differ widely in the amount 
 they are enabled to retain, or withhold from plants when 
 most needed by them. The sandy soil had the least 
 capacity for moisture, taking up but 20.8 per cent, of 
 its own weight, but it gave up all but 1.5 per cent, for 
 the benefit of the plants. The loam had the greatest 
 capacity for absorbing water, and it withheld but 8.0 
 per cent, from the plants, while the humus and sand, 
 with less capacity for absorption, refused to give up 12.3 
 per cent, of its contained water. 
 
 It should likewise be remarked that different species 
 of plants present great differences in their power to take 
 up hygroscopic water from a given soil, as shown in 
 their relative ability to withstand the effects of drouth. 
 By draining retentive soils, and the practice of thorough 
 tillage, and the judicious application of manures, these 
 differences in the soils themselves, and in the plants 
 growing on them, are reduced to a minimum, and there 
 is greater uniformity and certainty in the growth of 
 crops of different kinds, especially in seasons of severe 
 drouth. 
 
 Drained Soils are Reservoirs for Holding 
 Water. We have seen that crops, in their processes of 
 
94 LAJSD DRAINING. 
 
 growth, require several hundred tons of water per acre, 
 in the course of the season, for their perfect develop- 
 ment, and the results of experiments show that retentive 
 soils that are thoroughly drained to the depth of four 
 feet have a capacity for storing water, that is often in 
 excess of the requirements of the crop which they are 
 otherwise fitted to grow. Moreover, this store of capil- 
 lary water is supplemented by supplies obtained from 
 the subsoil by capillary attraction, and from the diffused 
 vapor of water in the atmosphere by surface condensa- 
 tion. When retentive soils are thoroughly drained, the 
 mass of soil above the level of the drains becomes, in 
 effect, a storage reservoir for retaining capillary water 
 for the use of plants in time of drouth, and if this stored 
 water is not, in itself, sufficient for the requirements of 
 the crop, the improved porosity or capillarity of the soil 
 provides means of increasing it by considerable supplies 
 from other sources. 
 
 The advantages of draining, then, are not limited 
 to the removal of the hydrostatic water that interferes 
 with the growth of plants on soils naturally wet, or the 
 discharge of the rainfall that may be in excess of the 
 wants of vegetation ; they are alike manifest in prevent- 
 ing injury to crops from the extreme conditions pre- 
 sented in seasons of prevailing drouth and excessive 
 rainfall. Capital expended in draining retentive soils 
 may, therefore, be considered, in part at least, 'as a per- 
 manent insurance investment against losses from unfa- 
 vorable seasons, and to secure a reasonably uniform and 
 remunerative yield of crops. 
 
 Crop Statistics of Good and Bad Seasons. 
 One potent factor in reducing the profits of agriculture, 
 is the low yield of crops obtained in unfavorable seasons, 
 which must be largely attributed to insufficient drainage, 
 in connection with its unavoidable concomitant of imper- 
 fect tillage. At the present time there is, in fact, no 
 
DRAINING RETENTIVE SOILS. 95 
 
 problem in practical farm economy of greater import- 
 ance than that of diminishing the losses that are so fre- 
 quently caused by adverse climatic conditions, and 
 securing a uniform return for tbe capital invested and 
 labor expended in crop production. 
 
 The statistics of Indian corn, in two of the leading 
 States in its production, in the years 1880 and 1889, 
 compared with the years 1881 and 1887, will be sufficient 
 to illustrate the significance of seasonal variations in 
 crops in determining the average profits of farming. In 
 five years of the preceding decade the average yield per 
 acre was higher than in 1880 or 1889, and these seasons 
 are selected as representing not more than the average 
 yield of good seasons. Between these years was a period 
 of low production, only two years (1885 and 1888), giv- 
 ing an average yield, and the lowest yield was in 1881 
 and 1887. 
 
 The difference in the average yield of corn per acre 
 in 1880 and 1881, was in Iowa, 12.2 bushels ; in Illinois, 
 7.8 bushels ; and in the United States, 9 bushels ; which 
 represents an aggregate loss in the unfavorable season of 
 1881, of 81,864,000 bushels in Iowa; 70,953,000 bushels 
 in Illinois ; and 578,358,000 bushels in the United 
 States. The difference in average yield of corn per acre 
 in 1887 and 1889, was in Iowa, 14.0 bushels; in Illinois, 
 13.1 bushels; and in the United States, 0.9 bushels; 
 which represents a loss from the unfavorable season of 
 1887, of 100,746,000 bushels in Iowa; 96,257,000 in Illi- 
 nois, and 500,509,000 bushels in the United States. 
 The highest yields per acre in 1880 and 1889, on which 
 the above estimates are based, were 39.5 bushels in Iowa, 
 32.3 bushels in Illinois, and 27.6 bushels in the United 
 States, or considerably below what is realized by the 
 best farmers in average seasons. When we consider, in 
 connection with this, that all farm crops are subject to 
 the same fluctuations in yield, to which attention has 
 
96 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 been called in the case of corn, it must -be seen that the 
 influence of unfavorable seasons in diminishing the 
 profits of agriculture are not likely to be overestimated. 
 Moreover, the effects of bad seasons on undrained 
 retentive soils, resulting from either an excess or defi- 
 ciency of rainfall are not limited to the low yield of pro- 
 duce for the year, as their impaired physical and biolog- 
 ical conditions are not readily corrected and they have 
 a marked influence in diminishing the yield of crops in 
 the most favorable seasons. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY AND INVENTION. 
 
 The history of agriculture is but a repetition of fre- 
 quently recurring cycles of empirical methods of prac- 
 tice, which have culminated, from time to time through 
 the teachings of experience, on the same ultimate level, 
 with few indications of real progress aside from what 
 have arisen from the improved implements furnished by 
 the mechanic artsj which have economized labor and 
 made it more efficient. In each age we find the same 
 practical problems presented, which are viewed by farm- 
 ers from the same standpoint, and, ignoring the lessons 
 of the past, the same means of solving them are suggested 
 by experience, with the result that the familiar methods 
 of former times are repeated and announced as new dis- 
 coveries, that are evidence of material improvement in 
 the practice of the art. 
 
 Even the achievements of science, in its applications 
 to agriculture, in the past half century, have not been 
 sufficient to correct the tendency to a recurrence of 
 these cycles of discovery and apparent progress, from 
 
DISCOVERY AND INTENTION. 97 
 
 the attempt on the part of many investigators to solve 
 all problems that may arise, by the results obtained in 
 superficial experiments, made from the standpoint of a 
 single line of investigation, without taking into account 
 the complexity of the phenomena under discussion, and 
 their dependent relations to other departments of science 
 that are quite as significant. 
 
 A review of some of the leading facts in the history 
 of land draining will aid us in gaining a rational knowl- 
 edge of the principles on which the best methods of 
 practice are founded, while it serves to illustrate the 
 cycles of progress in agriculture. The draining of wet 
 lands must have been practiced long before we have any 
 written records of agriculture. There can be no doubt 
 that the first drains were open ditches for removing 
 water from swamps and low grounds that could not 
 otherwise be made to grow useful crops, and water-fur- 
 rows to discharge surf ace- water from fields, or to protect 
 them from being overflowed by water from adjacent land. 
 The defects of a system of draining by open ditches 
 were so obvious that covered drains were at once sug- 
 gested, where they were thought to be admissible, and 
 directions are given for making both open and covered 
 drains, by the earliest writers on agriculture, whose 
 works have been preserved. The construction of 
 embankments as a protection from floods, and the prac- 
 tice of irrigation in time of drouths, had their origin, 
 likewise, in the pre-historic period. 
 
 Cato, who wrote in the second century before the 
 Christian era, gave the first specific directions for drain- 
 ing that we are acquainted with, but there is evidence 
 that extensive embankments and irrigation works for 
 the control of water, in the interests of agricuUure, 
 were made by the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians 
 many centuries before his time. Cato says, "In the 
 winter it is necessary that the water be let off from the 
 7 
 
98 LAND DRAIN-ING. 
 
 fields. On a declivity it is necessary to have many 
 drains. When the first of the autumn is rainy there is 
 the greatest danger from water; when it begins to rain 
 the whole of the servants ought to go out with sarcles, 
 and other iron tools, open the drains, turn the water 
 into its channels, and take care of the corn fields, that 
 it flow from them. Wherever the water stagnates 
 amongst the growing corn, or in other parts of the corn 
 fields, or in the ditches, or where there is anything that 
 obstructs its passage, that should be removed, the flitches 
 opened, and the water let away." W^hen treating of the 
 culture of olives, he says, "If the place is wet, it is 
 necessary that the drains be made shelving, three feet 
 broad at the top, four feet deep, and one foot and a 
 quarter wide at the bottom. Lay them in the bottom 
 with stones. If there are no stones to be got, lay them 
 with green willow rods, placed contrary ways; if rods 
 cannot be got, tie twigs together."* 
 
 In the next century Varro repeats Cato's directions 
 for draining, and Virgil refers to the importance of irri- 
 gation in drouths. Columella and Pliny, the best 
 known writers on agriculture in the first century of the 
 Christian era, lay down rules for draining, in which 
 some details are mentioned that were not noticed by the 
 earlier writers. They both recommend open ditches in 
 heavy soils, "but where the ground is more loose, some 
 of them are made open, and others of them are also shut 
 up and covered ; so that the gaping mouths of such of 
 them as are blind may empty themselves into those that 
 are open."f They follow Cato in making open ditches, 
 wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, "for such of 
 them whose sides are perpendicular, are presently spoiled 
 with the water, and filled up with the falling down of 
 the ground that lies uppermost.";); 
 
 *Dickson's Husb. of the Anc.ients, Vol. I, pp. 358, 366. 
 t Columella "Of Husbandry," Book 2, Chap. 2. Pliny's Nat. Hist. f 
 Book 18, Chap. 8. 
 J Columella, 1. c. 
 
DISCOVEKY AND INVENTION. 90 
 
 Pliny, however, makes the additional suggestion 
 that a hedge on the banks of an open ditch will 
 "strengthen it," and "when these drains are made on 
 a declivity, they should have a layer of gutter tiles at 
 the bottom, or else house tiles with the face upwards," 
 to prevent washing. These covered drains are trenches 
 half filled with stones or gravel, or "a rope of sprays 
 tied together," and fitted in the bottom, and the whole 
 covered with the earth that had been thrown out. The 
 depth, however, recommended by Columella, is but 
 three feet. That these open and covered drains, from 
 three to four feet deep, were only made in swampy 
 places, or where the soil was saturated with water from 
 springs, is evident from the frequent directions given 
 for making water-furraws, to protect the crops from sur- 
 face water, particularly in the fall and winter months.* 
 
 Columella, however, displays a knowledge of the 
 principles of thorough drainage, when he calls attention 
 to the treatment of the "broad plots of ground," on 
 which the crops fail to grow. "It is proper that marks 
 should be set on these bare spots, that, at a proper time, 
 we may cure diseases of this kind ; for when either this 
 ousiness, or any other pest, entirely kills the corn, then 
 we ought to spread pigeons' dung, or, if this cannot be 
 had, Cyprus leaves, and then plow them into the ground. 
 But the principal remedy of all is to make a deep furrow, 
 and thereby drain and convey from thence all moisture; 
 otherwise the aforesaid remedies will be useless and have 
 no effect. "\ 
 
 Palladius, in the third or fourth century, repeats the 
 maxims of the earlier writers on draining, and, with 
 Columella, gives three feet as a proper depth for drains. 
 These old Romans were the sole authorities on draining, 
 
 * Columella, 1. c., Book 2, Chap. 9, Book 11, Chap. 2, etc. Pliny, 1. c., 
 Book 18, Chaps. 49 and 64. 
 tL.c., Book 2, Chap. 9. 
 
100 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 and their methods were practiced, without any improve- 
 ment, for more than a thousand years. A new era in 
 draining literature was begun with the publication of a 
 "broadside/' by an anonymous writer in England, in 
 1583, with the claim, " Herein is taught, even for the 
 capacity of the meanest, how to drain moores, and all 
 other wet grounds or bogges, and lay them dry forever ; " * 
 and the appearance in France, in 1600, of the " Theatre 
 of Agriculture" by Oliver de Serres, the Lord of Pre- 
 del, in Languedoc. f 
 
 In the last mentioned work, drains four feet deep 
 are recommended, "in order to cut off the source of 
 springs, which is the special aim of this business." The 
 trenches are half filled with stones, and the excavated 
 earth packed above them, making a covered drain "for 
 the commodiousness of tillage." When stones cannot 
 be obtained, an open water-way is secured, by contract- 
 ing the trench one foot from the bottom, and leaving a 
 shoulder on each side, on which bundles of straw are 
 placed to support the earth with which the trench is 
 filled. This appears to be the only improvement sug- 
 gested in the construction of drains, since the time of 
 the Romans. 
 
 It is evident that deep open, or covered drains were 
 not in common use at this time, as they are only inci- 
 dentally mentioned in the ponderous folio of over 700 
 pages, published in London in 1616, called "Maison 
 Rustique, or The Countrey Farme, compyled in the 
 French Tongue," by Stevens and Liebault, and trans- 
 lated into English by Richard Surflet, "with divers 
 large additions out of the works of Serres, his agricul- 
 ture," etc., "and the Husbandrie of France, Italic and 
 Spaine, reconciled and made to agree with ours here in 
 England, By Gervaise Markham." 
 
 *Gisborne Agricultural Drainage, p. 74. 
 
 tKlippart's Land Drainage, p. 7. London's Enoyel. of Ag'l, p. 1214. 
 
DISCOVERY AND INVENTION. 101 
 
 In this elaborate work, covering the entire field of 
 agriculture, as then practiced, including many "secrets" 
 of veterinary practice, the references to draining are 
 brief, and confined, in the main, to directions for throw- 
 ing land in ridges, and the opening of water-furrows. 
 "Meadow grounds must also be verie well drained from 
 water, if they be subject thereunto, and sluces and 
 draines made either by plough, spade, or other instru- 
 ment, which may convey it from one sluce to another 
 till it fall into some ditch or river." " Like wise, if 
 there be anie marish or dead water in anie part of your 
 meadow, you must cause the same to runne and drayne 
 out by some Conduits and Trenches ; for without all 
 peradventure, the super-aboundance of water doth as 
 much harme as the want scarcitie, or lacke of the same." 
 If the soil "be within any daunger of water, or subject 
 to a spewing and moist qualitie ; then you shall lay your 
 lands high, raising up ridges in the middest and furrowes 
 of one side, and according as the moisture is more or 
 lesse, so you shall make the ridges high or low, and the 
 descent greater or lesse ; but if your ground, besides the 
 moisture, or by meanes of the too much moisture, be 
 subject to much binding, then you shall make the lands 
 a great deale lesse, laying everie four or five furrowes 
 round like a land, and making a hollowness between 
 them, so that the earth may be light and drie."* 
 
 While the knowledge relating to draining, and the 
 prevailing practice of the best farmers at the beginning 
 of the seventeenth century were, in all probability, fairly 
 presented in these books, there is evidence that at about 
 this time, or soon afterwards, important improvements 
 were made in the construction of drains by individuals, 
 which, from the lack of means of communication, were 
 not made public, and of which we have no written 
 records. 
 
 * Maison Rustique, pp. 494, 498, 530. 
 
102 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 The garden of the monastery of Maubeuge, in 
 France, had been noted for its fertility and the quality 
 and earliness of its fruit. This was finally accounted 
 for by the discovery of a system of pipe drains that had 
 been laid at a depth of four feet "throughout the whole 
 garden," and the indications were that this had been 
 uone previous to 1620. The pipes were "about ten 
 inches long and four inches in diameter," one end of 
 which was flaring, or funnel-shaped, and the other made 
 tapering, to fit the expanded end of the adjoining pipe. 
 These pipe-tile drains antedate any others of which we 
 have any knowledge, more than two hundred years, but 
 the history of the invention was lost, and it had no influ- 
 ence on the development of the art of draining.* 
 
 In the period from 1645 to 1655, a foundation was 
 laid for an improved agriculture in England, through 
 the influence of Sir Richard Weston, Samuel Hartlib 
 and Capt. Walter Blith. The introduction of clover, 
 and other green crops, including turnips, from "Brabant 
 and Flanders," by Sir Richard Weston (1645), the 
 industry of Hartlib, in collecting and publishing the 
 experience of farmers in new methods, and with new 
 forage crops (1645-55)), and Blith's advocacy of a diver- 
 sified agriculture, in connection with a system of drain- 
 ing low lands (1649-52), mark this as one of the most 
 important epochs in the history of English agriculture, 
 which we can only notice in its relations to draining. f 
 
 " The English Improver, or a new System of Hus- 
 bandry," published by Blith, in London, 1649, was the 
 first work in England in which a system of deep and 
 thorough draining was recommended. A new edition 
 soon appeared, and in 1652 "The Third Impression, 
 
 *Klippart, I.e., pp. 9, 12. 
 
 t London, Eneyel. of Ag'l, p. 46. Donaldson's Ag'l Biography, pp. 
 21. 25. Copeland, Ag'l An. and Mod., Vol. 1, pp. 101, 107. Birth's Survey of 
 Husb. Surveyed, 1652. Hart lib's Legacy of Husbandry, 1655. 
 
DISCOVERY AND INVENTION. 103 
 
 much Augmented, with a Second Part containing Six 
 newer Peeces of Improvement," was published under 
 the imposing title of " The English Improver Improved, 
 or the Survey of Husbandry Surveyed, Discovering the 
 Improveabloness of all Lands ; some to be under a double 
 and Treble, others under a Five or Six Fould. And 
 many under a Term fould, yea some under a Twenty 
 fould Improvement. By Wa : Blith, a lover of Inge- 
 nuity," which is dedicated in a lengthy epistle, "To the 
 Right Honorable the Lord General Cromwell." 
 
 The drains recommended by Blith are essentially 
 the same as those described by the early Roman writers 
 on agriculture. Stones, " green faggots, Willow, Alder, 
 Elm or Thorn," being used to provide a water way in 
 covered drains, and his system is confined to the 
 improvement of low lands He is, however, entitled to 
 credit for improved implements for cutting trenches, 
 and his earnestness in urging the importance of deep 
 and thorough drainage, in accordance with a definite 
 plan. After urging the necessity of deep drains in 
 boggy ground, he says, "But for these common and 
 many Trenches, ofttiines crooked, too, that men usually 
 make in their Boggy grounds, some one foot, some Two, 
 never having respect to the cause or matter that maketh 
 the Bog, to take that way, I say away with them as a 
 great piece of Folly, lost labor and spoyl; which I 
 desire as well to preserve the Reader from, as to put 
 him upon any profitable experiment ; for truly they do 
 far more hurt than good, destroy with their Trench and 
 Earth cast out, half their Land, danger their Cattell, 
 and when the Trench is old it stoppeth more than it 
 taketh away, & when it is new, as to the destroying the 
 Bog it doth just nothing, onley take away a little water 
 which falles from the heavens, and weakens the Bog 
 nothing at all, and to the end it pretends is of no 
 use, for the cause thereof lyeth beneath and under the 
 
104 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 bottom of all their workes, and so remaines as fruitf ull to 
 the Bog as before, and more secure from reducement 
 than if nothing was done at all upon it." Blith found 
 few followers in his methods of draining, and more than 
 a century elapsed before any improvements in the art 
 were made. 
 
 Elkington's System. Joseph Elkington, a War- 
 wickshire farmer, practiced draining for more than 
 thirty years, with considerable success, by a secret pro- 
 cess which he claimed to have discovered in 1764. At 
 the request of the Board of Agriculture in 1795, Parlia- 
 ment made a grant of 1,000 to Elkington for his secret. 
 In 1796 Mr. John Johnston was sent out to accompany 
 Mr. Elkington and learn his methods of practice, the 
 results of which were published in 1797.* 
 
 Dr. James Anderson, of Aberdeen, Scotland, had, 
 however, published an " Essay on Agriculture and Rural 
 Affairs," in 1775, in which he describes a method of 
 draining by ef tapping the springs," which is essentially 
 the same as that practiced by Elkington, and we arc 
 informed by Oopeland that the same method had been 
 practiced in Italy "from a very ancient date." | This 
 method is only applicable in special cases, where the 
 water of springs is held back by impervious strata, that 
 can be perforated by boring in the bottom of the ditch, 
 so that the water, rising through the auger hole, is dis- 
 charged by the drain, which may be left open or covered. 
 Elkington adopted the methods of making covered 
 drains, that had been practiced in several counties in 
 England, which consisted in partly filling the trenches 
 with stones, brush or straw, and in some cases channels 
 
 * 'An Account of the most Approved Mode of Draining Land, 
 According to the System Practiced by Mr. Joseph Elkinglon," Edin- 
 burgh, 1797, pp. v-x and 5-6. 
 
 t A Practical Treatise on Draining Bogs and Swampy G rounds, by 
 James Anderson, London, 1797, p. 4. Copeland, Ag'l Ancient and Mod- 
 ern, Vol. 1, p. 664. 
 
DISCOVERY AND INVENTION. 105 
 
 for water were built with bricks of peculiar form made 
 for. the purpose ; or horse-shoe tiles, with a broad flange 
 at the bottom, were sometimes used, as shown in fig. 5. 
 Stones were, however, preferred, when they could be 
 readily obtained, as they cost less. 
 
 Elkington's system of draining must not be con- 
 founded with the method of boring, or digging pits in 
 the bottom of ditches, to discharge water to a lower 
 pervious stratum of soil, which had been practiced many 
 years before. Dr. Nugent, in his travels in Germany, 
 in 1766, described this method of draining marshes that 
 had no available outlet. "A pit is dug in the deepest 
 part of the moor, till they come below the obstructing 
 clay, and meet with such a spongy stratum as, in all 
 appearance, will be sufficient to imbibe the moisture of 
 the marsh above it." * Covered drains are then made, dis- 
 charging into the pit, which is protected with flat stones 
 and covered with earth. 
 
 In the first quarter of the present century tiles of 
 better form than those previously used were brought 
 into notice, but, on the whole, the practice of draining 
 had made but little progress since the time of Cato, as 
 attention was exclusively directed to the draining of 
 swamps and low lands, or the removal of the water of 
 springs from higher lands, and, in most cases, the rude 
 methods of making a water way with stones and brush 
 in covered drains, were essentially the same as described 
 by the Eoman writers on agriculture. The better 
 methods which, from time to time, had been adopted by 
 individuals who appeared to be in advance of the age in 
 which they lived, were not widely known, and they, in 
 fact, had been neglected and forgotten. The tile drains 
 in the garden of the Monastery of Maubeuge, already 
 mentioned, are not the only illustration of a lost art in 
 the history of draining. George Stephens, in The Prac- 
 
 * Elkington's Draining, 1797, p 56. 
 
106 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 tical Irrigator and Drainer, published in 1834, says : 
 "In draining the park at Grimsthorpe, Lincolnshire, 
 about three years ago, some drains, made with tiles, 
 were found eight feet below the surface of the ground ; 
 the tiles were similar to what are now used, and in as 
 good a state of preservation as when first laid, al thong' i 
 they must have remained there above one hundred years." 
 Old methods were blindly copied, or, perhaps, in somo 
 cases, they were re-invented, as the most obvious expe- 
 dients for removing water from low lands by means of 
 materials already at hand, but there was no indication 
 of a knowledge of the principles on which the best mod- 
 ern practice is founded. 
 
 Deanston System. The time was, however, ripe 
 for the development and general adoption of a better 
 system of draining, even at the beginning of the century. 
 The Board of Agriculture had just completed agricul- 
 tural surveys of the counties of Great Britain, and 
 increased attention was given to improvements in the 
 practice of agriculture. Among those who were taking 
 an active interest in the progress of agriculture, Mr. 
 Buchanan, a retired manufacturer of Deanston, in 
 Perthshire, Scotland, is entitled to especial notice, for 
 his success in draining the heavy clays on his farm, at 
 Catrine Bank, in the humid climate of Ayrshire, which 
 proved to be the prelude of our present system of 
 draining. 
 
 His nephew, James Smith, when gaining a univer- 
 sity education, spent his vacations with his uncle on the 
 Ayrshire farm, where he witnessed and became inter- 
 ested in the ameliorating influence of frequent drains 
 (eighteen inches deep) on the retentive clay soils, which, 
 under other management, had been unproductive. "At 
 the ear'y age of eighteen years (1807) Mr. Smith was 
 appointed manager of the Deanston works, that had 
 become the property of a company of which his uncle 
 
DISCOVERY AND INVENTION. 107 
 
 was partner."* His energy and successful business 
 methods, and the provisions made for the education and 
 comfort of his "work-people," soon gained for the 
 Deanston Cotton Works the reputation of a model indus- 
 trial establishment. 
 
 In 1823 his early interest in the improvement of 
 clay soils by drainage was revived, and he began to 
 improve the farm of two hundred acres connected with 
 the property, by thorough draining with "parallel drains 
 sixteen to twenty feet apart, and twenty-seven inches 
 deep." In March, 1833, he first published the results 
 of his experience in an article on " Thorough Draining 
 and Deep Ploughing," contributed to a local agricultural 
 report, which was favorably received, and "Smith of 
 Deanston" became widely known as the originator of a 
 new departure in farm draining. 
 
 In 1836, he gave "a more lucid exposition" of his 
 methods, in another article, " On Thorough Draining 
 and Dee}) Ploughing " \ in which he says : "The prin- 
 ciple of the system is the providing of frequent oppor- 
 tunities for the water rising from below, or falling on 
 the surface, to pass freely and completely off, and there- 
 fore the most appropriate appellation for it seems to 
 be 'The Frequent Drain System."' His uncle, Mr. 
 Buchanan, made his drains in Ayrshire eighteen inches 
 deep and twelve feet apart. Mr. Smith's drains, at 
 Deanston, were at first made twenty-seven inches deep 
 and sixteen to twenty feet apart, but in his final paper, 
 giving the results of his more extended experience, he 
 says: "The main should be, at least, three feet, and, 
 if possible, three and one-half or four feet under the 
 surface," and the laterals from ten to forty feet apart, 
 according to the retentiveness of the subsoil. 
 
 * Donaldson's Ag'l Biog., p. 123. 
 t Farmers' Magazine, Vol. V, p. 37 
 
108 LAND DEALING. 
 
 Mr. Smith was the first writer to recommend the 
 thorough draining of high lands, and his reasons for the 
 practice are therefore of interest. After a brief refer- 
 ence to Elkington's system, he says : "The portion of 
 land wetted by water springing from below bears but a 
 very small proportion to that which is in a wet state 
 from the retention of the water which falls upon the sur- 
 face in the state of rain, and a vast extent of the arable 
 land of Scotland and England, generally esteemed dry, is 
 yet so far injured by the tardy and imperfect escape of 
 the ivater, especially in winter and during long periods 
 of wet weather in spring and summer, that the working 
 of the land is often difficult and precarious, and its fer- 
 tility much below what would uniformly exist under a 
 state of thorough dryness. A system of drainage, there- 
 fore, generally applicable, and effecting complete and 
 uniform dryness, is of the utmost importance to the 
 agricultural interests, and through them, to all the inter- 
 ests of the country. By the system here recommended 
 this is attained, whilst the expense is moderate, and the 
 permanency greater than on any other system yet 
 known." -The distinctive features of the Smith of 
 Deanston system may be summed up as follows : 
 
 1st. Main drain in bottom of chief hollow at least 
 three feet, or, if possible, three and one-half to four feet 
 deep, with a uniform slope. 
 
 2d. Frequent drains ten to forty feet apart. 
 
 3d. Drains parallel, at regular distance over the 
 whole field, without reference to the wet or dry appear- 
 ance of portions of the field. 
 
 4th. Drains running directly down the slope. 
 
 5th. Stones preferred to tiles on the grounds of 
 cheapness and permanency. 
 
 Notwithstanding Mr. Smith's originality and inde- 
 pendence, he was apparently biased by the popular prej- 
 udice against tiles, on account of the assumed difficulty 
 
DISCOVERY AND INVENTION. 
 
 109 
 
 of the entrance of water to the drains, and when tiles 
 were used he placed a layer of stones over them, as 
 shown in the following figures, copied from his paper 
 of 1836. 
 
 flagged Main Arched Main 
 
 SmaJlTile DoubleTile UigeTile Inverted Couple 
 
 FIG. 4. SECTIONS OF DRAINS, AFTER SMITH OF DEANSTON. 
 
 The layer of stones over the tiles do no good, and 
 needlessly increase the expense of draining, and they 
 should not be considered as a characteristic feature of 
 the Dean st on system, but rather a conformity to a com- 
 mon practice that had its origin in a misconception of 
 the manner in which water enters drains, which will be 
 discussed in another chapter. 
 
110 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 In " The Practical Irrigator and Drainer " 1834, 
 by George Stephens, we are told that stones are, better 
 than tiles, and where the latter are used they should be 
 covered with, at least, six or eight inches of stones, and, 
 "in any case, however, where tiles are used, the space 
 above them must be filled to the surface of the ground 
 with some porous material, otherwise the drains will be 
 useless, and the undertaking will prove a complete fail- 
 ure." From Mr. Smith's knowledge of general princi- 
 ples, and his sound judgment in other particulars, it is 
 strange that he should have followed the common prac- 
 tice, which was founded in error. 
 
 "Smith, of Deanston," was an earnest advocate of 
 the advantages of deep plowing and thorough tillage, in 
 connection with his system of draining, as the title of 
 his papers indicate. He invented a subsoil plow, that 
 was used with the best results, on his farm of two 
 hundred acres, stirring the soil to the depth of sixteen 
 inches. Among the incidental advantages of draining 
 high lands, he made the suggestion that the "absence 
 of ridges and prevalence of a uniform and smooth sur- 
 face," would facilitate the use of reaping machinery, 
 which he predicted would very soon be employed on 
 every farm. 
 
 In the industrial arts, the great discoveries, or 
 inventions, are so often made, at about the same time, 
 by a number of individuals acting independently, that 
 they seem to be the result of the development of the 
 age, rather than the prerogative of individual genius. 
 The progress made in the common stock of intelligence 
 and knowledge, apparently determines the possibilities 
 and direction of the work of discovery and invention. 
 The system of draining invented by Smith, of Deanston, 
 furnishes another illustration of this well-known fact, 
 but it does not, in the least, diminish his well-earned 
 reputation as the exponent of an improved system of 
 
DISCOVERY AND INVENTION. Ill 
 
 great practical value. Mr. Ph. Pusey, M. P., in 1842, 
 informs us that he had obtained conclusive evidence 
 that a system of draining, essentially t e same as th t 
 described by Mr. Smith, had been practiced in Suffolk 
 for more than forty years (some of his correspondents 
 say 100 years), and that for a long time it had likewise 
 been practiced in Essex, "so much so as to be called 
 the Essex system, even in Scotland."* It likewise 
 appears to have been known quite as long in Norfolk 
 and Hertfordshire. 
 
 At the beginning of the present century, when Mr. 
 Buchanan was draining the tenacious upland clays of 
 his Ayrshire farm, the farmers of Essex, Suffolk and 
 Norfolk, and other counties of England, were using the 
 same means of ameliorating retentive soils, but they 
 had no Smith of Deanston to formulate their improved 
 methods as a system of general application, and they 
 were soon neglected, and finally only known through 
 tradition, or the exposure of their work in subsequent 
 excavations, under conditions that indicated the time of 
 its performance. These improved methods, like the 
 tiles in the garden of the monastery of Maubeuge, and 
 in the park in Lincolnshire, which we have noticed, 
 were forgotten, as there was no written record of their 
 history, and the time had not come for a general appre- 
 , ciiition of their value as a means of agricultural improve- 
 ment. The history of agriculture abounds in illustra- 
 tions of the re-discovery of old methods that are dressed 
 up and announced as representing the latest development 
 of the art, without any marked advance in the funda- 
 mental principles of a correct practice. 
 
 In 1842, the interest taken by farmers in the subject 
 of draining, as the Smith of Deanston system became 
 better known, led the Royal Agricultural Society to 
 offer a prize of "Fifty Sovereigns, or a piece of Plate 
 
 * J. R. Ag. Soc., 1842, Vol. Ill, p. 170. 1843, Vol. IV : pp. 23-49. 
 
112 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 of that value," for an essay on "the best mode of Under 
 Draining Land."* The prize was awarded to Thomas 
 Arkell, a Wiltshire farmer, in the following year, but 
 the essay contained nothing of permanent value, as his 
 methods of draining were the results of his own personal 
 experience, uninfluenced by what had already been done 
 by others, and the discussion of principles did not fairly 
 represent the best practice of the time. 
 
 Deanston System Improved. Mr. Josiah Parkes, 
 consulting engineer of the Royal Agricultural Society, 
 was the first to suggest any improvement on the Smith 
 of Deanston system. In 1843 he made a "Report on 
 Drain Tiles and Drainage," the society having offered a 
 "premium of ten sovereigns for the drain tile which 
 should fulfill certain specified conditions," in which he 
 describes the different forms of tiles exhibited, f He 
 urges the advantages of pipe-tiles, which, he says, were 
 first made thirty-five years before in Kent, " by bending 
 a sheet of clay, as usually prepared for the common 
 drain-tile, over a wooden cylindric mandrel. In conse- 
 quence of the imperfect union of the two faces of the 
 clay, a narrow slit was left throughout the length of the 
 tile, which served, and was then thought necessary, to 
 admit the water." The pipe- tiles exhibited were from 
 one inch to two and one-fourth inches in diameter, and 
 the sole tiles from one and one-half to two and three- 
 fourths inches, and Mr. Parkes cites the experience of 
 several farmers to show that the small pipes of one inch 
 had a sufficient capacity for thoroughly draining the land. 
 
 In remarks on the use of these small pipes, he says : 
 "the principle that less frequent but very deep drains 
 are equally effective with more numerous and shalloiver 
 ones, is recognized by these intelligent and practical 
 farmers. It must also be considered as a discovery of 
 
 * J. R. Ag. Soc., 1843, p. 319. 
 t J. R. Ag. Soc., 1843, p. 369. 
 
DISCOVERT AND INVENTION. 113 
 
 no slight national importance,, that experience has proved 
 a very much smaller area of drain to suffice for passing 
 the water filtrating through an acre of land, than has 
 hitherto been imagined ; for it is mainly owing to the 
 substantiation of this fact, that the pipe- tile of the 
 eastern counties, and Mr. Etheredge's small tiles and 
 covers (horse-shoe tiles with a sole) can be supplied with 
 such a remarkable economy, in comparison with the old 
 tile, and with most other materials hitherto employed 
 in drainage." 
 
 Another decided improvement brought out by Mr. 
 Parkes, was in the method of covering the tiles. For- 
 mer writers, as we have seen, insisted that a covering of 
 stones or other porous material was necessary when tiles 
 were used. The fallacy of this assumption is shown, by 
 Mr. Parkes, in the experience of Mr. John 'Taylor, of 
 Kent, who used tiles one and one-half inches in diame- 
 ter. He says, "I have my drains dug from three feet six 
 inches to four feet deep ; the bottom of the drain is left 
 for the pipe to quite Jill it, so that it is impossible for the 
 pipe to move after it is put into the drain. Clay is then 
 well rammed over the pipes to two feet in depth, which 1 
 prefer to anything else when it can be got to cover the 
 tiles.'" Mr. Taylor, who was a tenant farmer, then 
 remarks, "I have thoroughly drained forty acres, and 
 have many other fields partly drained. I should be 
 glad to drain the whole farm, which contains about 
 three hundred acres, provided my landlady would find 
 tiles ; or I would gladly pay five per cent, upon the out- 
 lay, but I am sorry to say, she discontinues to support 
 that first step of improvement, land-draining "* 
 
 In 1844, in a letter to " Ph. Pusey, Esq., M. P." 
 "I. On the Influence of Water on the Temperature of 
 Soils. 2. On the Quantity of Rain-water and its Dis- 
 charge by Drains," Mr. Parkes made a valuable contri- 
 
 * J. R. Ag. Soc., 1843, p. 378. 
 
114 LAKD 
 
 bution, to our knowledge, of the principles of draining, 
 and pointed out improvements on the Smith of Deanston 
 system that led to the development of the best modern 
 practice. He made a judicious and consistent applica- 
 tion of the known facts of science at the time, and gave 
 the results of his own experiments on the temperature 
 of drained and midrained soils, in connection with the 
 experiments of Mr. Dickinson, on the relations of rain- 
 fall to drainage and evaporation, which we have quoted 
 in a preceding chapter. He recommends the use of 
 small pipes for laterals, and "parallel drains consider- 
 ably deeper and less frequent than those commonly 
 advocated by professed drainers, or in general use." 
 After a review of the actual and relative cost and effi- 
 ciency of drains that had been made at different distances 
 and depths in retentive soils, he sums up the results in 
 the following table : 
 
 TABLE 21. 
 
 MASS OF SOIL. DRAINED AND COST OF DRAINING FOR DIFFERENT 
 DEPTHS AND DISTANCES OF TILES. 
 
 Depth of 
 drains in 
 feet. 
 
 Distance be- 
 tween the 
 drains in feet. 
 
 Mass of soil 
 drained per 
 acre in cubic 
 yards. 
 
 Mass of soil Surface of soil 
 drained for Irf draii.dd for Id 
 in cubic yards, iin square yds. 
 
 2 
 3 
 4 
 
 24 
 33J 
 50 
 
 3226 
 4840 
 6453 
 
 4.10 
 8.93 
 12.00 
 
 6.27 
 8.93 
 8.% 
 
 This table represents the results of the experience 
 of Mr. Thomas Hammond, of Kent, who made many 
 experiments in draining, to which Mr. Parkes frequently 
 refers in his papers. An experiment made on the influ- 
 ence of depth on the discharge from tile drains was 
 reported as follows: With reference to "the quantity 
 of water discharged from different drains, after rain, 
 in the same time," Mr. Parkes says: "I have only 
 succeeded in obtaining sufficiently exact information 
 from Mr. Hammond, whose intelligence had led him to 
 make the experiment without any suggestion from me. 
 
DISCOVERY AND INVENTION. 115 
 
 He states, ' I found, after the late rains (Feb. 17, 1844), 
 that a drain four feet deep ran eight pints of water in 
 the same time that another three feet deep ran five pints, 
 although placed at equal distances.' The circumstances 
 under which this experiment was made, as well as its 
 indications, deserve particular notice. The site was the 
 hop-ground before referred to, which had been under- 
 drained thirty-five years since to a depth varying from 
 twenty-four to thirty inches, and though the drains 
 were laid somewhat irregularly and imperfectly, they 
 had been maintained in good action. Mr. Hammond, 
 however, suspecting injury to be still done to the plants 
 and the soil by bottom water, which he knew to stagnate 
 below the old drains, again underdrained the piece in 
 1842 with inch pipes, in part to three feet, and in part 
 to four feet in depth, the effect proving very beneficial. 
 The old drains were left undisturbed, but thenceforth 
 ceased running, the whole of the water r ising below 
 them to the new drains, as was to be expected. The 
 distance between the new drains is twenty-six feet, their 
 length one hundred and fifty yards, the fall identical, 
 the soil clay. The experiment was made on two drains 
 adjoining each other, i. e., on the last of the series of 
 the three feet, and the first of the series of the four feet 
 drains. The sum of the flow from these two drains, at 
 the time of the trial, was nine hundred and seventy-five 
 pounds per hour, or at the rate of nineteen and one-half 
 tons per acre in twenty-four hours ; the proportionate 
 discharge, therefore, was twelve tons by the four-feet, 
 and seven and one-half tons by the three-feet, drain. No 
 springs affected the results."* 
 
 The system of draining recommended by Mr. 
 Parkes differs from that of Smith of Deanston, in the 
 greater distance between the drains, and the greater 
 
 * J. R. Ag. Soc., 1844, p. 154. The discharge is given in long tons of 
 2,240 pounds. 
 
116 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 uniform depth, with the exclusive use of pipe tiles (one 
 inch in diameter for laterals), covered directly with the 
 earth thrown from the ditch. 
 
 In 1846 Mr. Parkes presented further details in 
 regard to his system of draining, in a lecture before the 
 Eoyal Agricultural Society, in which he says, in regard 
 to his own practice at that time : " drains are being 
 executed at depths of from four to six feet, according to 
 soil and outfall, and at distances varying from twenty to 
 sixty-six feet ; complete efficiency being the end studied, 
 and the proof of such efficiency being that, after a due 
 period given for bringing about drainage action in soils 
 unused to it, the water should not stand higher, or 
 much higher, in a hole dug in the middle between a 
 pair of drains, than the level of those drains."* 
 
 He gives a number of examples illustrating the 
 advantages of deep draining, discusses the causes of 
 obstruction in drains, including deposits of oxide of 
 iron, and claims that pipe tiles should alone be used, on 
 the score of economy, efficiency and durability. Since 
 that time but little has been ridded to our knowledge of 
 principles, or methods of construction, by the numerous 
 books on draining that have been published. 
 
 Mr. John Johnston, of Geneva, N. Y., is entitled 
 to the credit of making the first practical demonstration, 
 in this country, of the advantages of thorough draining. 
 In 1835 he imported sample tiles (of the horseshoe 
 form) from Scotland, and began making them for his 
 own use by hand, as all draining tiles were then made. 
 In 1838 handmade tiles were manufactured at Water- 
 ford, N. Y., and sold for twenty-four dollars per 
 thousand. 
 
 EVOLUTION OF DRAIN TILES. 
 
 A brief description of the various forms of tiles that 
 have been used in draining, and the reasons that have 
 
 * J. R. Ag. Soc., 1846, p. 256. 
 
DISCOVERT AND INTENTION. 117 
 
 led to a succession of modified forms, and the final adop- 
 tion of the round, or pipe-tile, as the only satisfactory 
 one, will serve to illustrate some of the principles 
 involved in the construction of permanent and efficient 
 drains. 
 
 From the house, or roofing tiles, used by the ancients, 
 to prevent the washing of the earth in the bottom of 
 drains, to the horseshoe form, made by bending a sheet 
 of clay over a rounded surface, the transition is quite 
 natural. The horseshoe form was, in fact, the original 
 type of draining tile which came into common use, and 
 it was the only form practically known in England and 
 the United States for several years. The change from 
 the roofing tiles, which only served the purpose of pro- 
 tection from washing, to the horseshoe tile, which fur- 
 nished an open channel for the water, was not, however, 
 made at once. Bricks of a peculiar form, for building a 
 water way, or hollowed out on one side, to provide a 
 channel for the water, were used in many localities, par- 
 ticularly for the larger drains, before the invention or 
 general introduction of horseshoe tiles, that now appear 
 
 FIG. 5. DRAINING BRICKS AND TILE, LATTER PART OF THE LAST 
 CENTURY. 
 
 to be the simplest device for the purpose. In the time 
 of Elkington, bricks and tiles of the forms shown in fig. 
 5 were used, to a limited extent, but they were too 
 expensive for farm drainage. When the bottom of the 
 ditch was firm they were used as represented in the fig- 
 ure, but in soft ground, the right and left hand forms 
 
118 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 were inverted, and another placed on top of them, to 
 form a closed channel. 
 
 The cheaper and simpler horseshoe tile, fig. 6, soon 
 superseded these crude and clumsy devices for conduct- 
 ing drainage water. The 
 defects of the popular horse- 
 shoe tile were numerous, 
 and various plans for cor- 
 recting them were tried. 
 When there was but little 
 fall in the course of the 
 drain, obstructions were of 
 
 common occurrence from Tm , . HolisESHOB TILES , SHOW . 
 the rising of the soft earth *NO MANNER OF FORMING 
 in the bottom of the drain, JUNCTIONS. 
 
 from the hydrostatic pressure of the soil water, until 
 the tiles were completely filled with earth, or, when the 
 fall was considerable, the tiles were undermined by the 
 current of water, and displaced. 
 
 From the mistaken notion that the tiles settled into 
 the bottom of the drain, from the pressure above them, 
 and thus became filled with earth, the lower edges of 
 the sides of the tile were made thicker, forming a broad 
 foot for the tiles to rest on. This was a common form 
 of the horseshoe tile in this country, but it did not pre- 
 vent the drains from filling with earth, and it could not, 
 of course, remedy any other of the defects of this form 
 of tile. In England, the 
 
 two most obvious defects of Ifip ^\ ^ 
 this form of tiles were both 
 correct t'd by flat sheets of ^= 
 burned clay, or soles, as Fm 7 HORSESHOE TILES AND 
 
 they were popularly called, SOLES, AFTER HENRY 
 laid, as represented in fig. 
 
 7, and "tiles and soles," or "tiles and covers," were 
 quite generally adopted. As the expense and inconven- 
 
DISCOVERY AND INVENTION. 119 
 
 ience in handling and laying were increased by making 
 the tiles in two pieces, the next step in the evolution of 
 tiles was naturally suggested, and the sole was made a 
 part of the tile itself, as represented in figs. 8 and 9, 
 called "horseshoe pipe tiles" in England, and D, or "flat- 
 soled tiles," in the United States. 
 
 FIG. 8. HORSESHOE PIPE TILE, FIG. 9. FLAT-BOTTOMED PIPE TILE 
 AFTER HENRY STEPHENS, 1848. AFTER FRENCH, 1859. 
 
 This form of tiles was claimed to be a decided 
 improvement on the horseshoe tiles, with a separate sole, 
 but it had inherent defects that more than offset its 
 assumed advantages. In the process of burning, the 
 curved, or upper side of the tiles, was found to shrink 
 more than the flat, or under side, and when they were 
 laid on a true grade there were, more or less, wide open 
 spaces at the top of the joint between two tiles, when 
 their soles were in contact. Silt was readily admitted 
 to the drain through these open joints, and its accumu- 
 lation on the broad and flat bottom of the tiles was a 
 frequent cause of obstruction. In the old form of tiles, 
 with separate soles, the joints between the tiles were not 
 as open, and obstructions from an accumulation of silt 
 were not as liable to occur. 
 
 The broad flat bottom in both kinds of tile was, 
 however, a defect of considerable importance, especially 
 when they were carelessly laid. When the fall was 
 slight, and but little water was running in the drain, 
 the force of the diffused current was not sufficient to 
 move the particles of silt that happened to gain admis- 
 sion at the imperfect joints; while, with the same fall, 
 when the water is confined to a narrow direct channel, 
 the silt would be carried along and discharged at the 
 
120 
 
 LAtfD DRAINING. 
 
 outlet of the drain. Moreover, in laying the flat-bot- 
 tomed tiles, any inequality in the surface on which they 
 rested tilted them to one side or the other, and produced 
 irregularities in the bore of the drain that diminished 
 its capacity, by checking the current of water. 
 
 Judge French sums up the defects of the flat-bot- 
 tomed tiles as follows : "On the whole, solid tiles with 
 flat-bottomed passages may be set down among the 
 inventions of the adversary, 
 even of the horseshoe form 
 to respect, because they do 
 not admit water better 
 than round pipes, and are FIG 10 EGG . SHAPED PIPE TlLE 
 
 not united by a Sole on AFTER STEPHENS, 1848. 
 
 which the ends of the adjoining tiles rest. They com- 
 bine the faults of all other forms, with the peculiar vir- 
 
 They have not the claims 
 
 FIG. 11. THE SMALL PIPE 
 
 TILE DRAIN, AFTER 
 
 STEPHENS, 1848. 
 
 FIG. 12. THE TILE AND STONE 
 DRAIN, AFTER STEPH- 
 ENS, 1844. 
 
 tues of none." Tiles with an oval, or egg-shaped bore 
 were at once suggested to obviate the most obvious 
 defect of the flat-soled tiles. 
 
DISCOVERY AND INVENTION. 12-1 
 
 Henry Stephens, in the article on draining, in his 
 Book of tlie Farm, published in 1844, does not mention 
 the "horseshoe pipe," the "egg-shaped pipe," or the 
 "round-pipe" tiles, but in the edition of 1848 all three 
 forms are described, and of these he says: "the most 
 perfect form of the orifice for a pipe- tile is egg-shaped 
 (fig. 10) ; the narrow end of the egg making a round and 
 narrow sole, the water will run upon it with force, and 
 carry any sediment before it ; while the broad end pro- 
 vides a larger space for the water when it rises to the 
 top after heavy rains." He thinks the bottom may be 
 thought too narrow for "security against sinking," but 
 he obviates this by making the bottom of the trench nar- 
 row and tapering, to fit the tile, as represented in fig. 11. 
 This trench, he says, may be filled with earth, "but the 
 best form of drain, in my opinion, is constructed with 
 the egg-shaped tile and small broken stones, or clean 
 large gravel," filled in to the depth of twelve inches, as 
 
 FIG. 13. OVAL SOLE TILE, AFTER FRENCH, 1859. 
 
 in fig. 12, the horseshoe and sole of his first edition (fig. 
 12) being replaced with the improved, or oval form of 
 tile of fig. 11. The practical difficulty of making a 
 trench, as in fig. 11, to secure a reasonable degree of 
 accuracy in the alignment of the tiles, prevented the 
 general adoption of this method, that looked so well on 
 paper, and, moreover, it was found that the uneven 
 shrinking of the clay in burning made the joints quite 
 as imperfect as with the flat-bottomed solid sole. To 
 give the egg-shaped tiles a more stable foundation the 
 sole was widened, to give a broad foot, as shown in 
 
122 
 
 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 fig. 13, but even this did not prove to be an advantage. 
 Judge French says these sole-tiles are "much used in 
 America, more, indeed, than any other, except perhaps, 
 the horseshoe tile ; probably because the first manufac- 
 turers fancied them the best, and offered no others in 
 'the market." Theoretically, this appeared to be a per- 
 fect form of tiles, but practically they were open to 
 most of the objections to the D sole tiles, as it was dif- 
 ficult to lay them to secure uniformity in the bore of 
 the drain, and the open joints at the top readily 
 admitted silt. 
 
 Stephen*? Boole of the Farm was for many years 
 looked upon as an authority on all subjects relating to 
 agriculture, and his directions for draining were closely 
 followed by writers on that subject, notwithstanding 
 
 FIG. 14. AFTER DEMPSEY, 1869. 
 
 FIG. 15. AFTER DEMPSEY, 1869. 
 
 the better methods advocated by Parkes. As late as 
 1869, an English writer* recommends the form of 
 drains represented in figs. 14 and 15, and the latter he 
 considers " the most complete and undoubtedly perma- 
 nent form of drain." 
 
 *Deinpsey, On Drainage, p. 128. 
 
DISCOVERY AND INVENTION. 123 
 
 There can be no excuse for these survivals of igno- 
 rance, as the best farmers had been practicing better 
 methods for more than twenty-five years. The influ- 
 ence of Stephens and his followers kept alive the 
 unfounded prejudices against round pipe tiles and 
 retarded their general introduction as the only perfect 
 form, as Parkes had clearly demonstrated. Stephens* 
 devotes nearly two pages to an enumeration of the 
 "practically objectionable" defects of round pipes, and 
 to remedy some of the gratuitous difficulties his fancy 
 suggests, he figures a number of devices for connecting 
 the ends of the tiles, among which is the perforated col- 
 lar, fig. 16, and 
 he fully indorses 
 the popular no- 
 tion that water 
 
 FIG. 16. PERFORATED COLLAR TO CONNECT _ nT| n 4. rpp ^ ] 
 ROUND PIPE TILES, AFTER STEPHENS, 1848. > 
 
 gain access to a 
 
 round pipe drain. With a better knowledge of correct 
 principles, and improved methods of construction, we 
 can now safely lay down the rule that round tiles should 
 alone be used, as they have none of the defects of other 
 forms, and they can be laid with greater accuracy and 
 rapidity, and, on the whole, make much the best drain. 
 Collars have frequently been looked upon as desira- 
 ble by modern writers, especially when small tiles are 
 used, but they serve no useful purpose, increase the 
 expense, and they are now seldom used, as a better and 
 more reliable drain can be made without them. 
 
 TILE DRAINING IMPLEMENTS. 
 
 The draining tools recommended from time to time 
 by different writers have, with few exceptions, proved to 
 be worthless, and it mav be well to notice some of the 
 
 *A Manual of Practical Draining, 1848, pp. 91 92. 
 
124 
 
 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 obsolete forms, as well as those that have a practical 
 value in economizing labor. 
 
 The importance of diminishing, as far as possible, 
 the amount of earth moved, by narrowing the trench 
 towards the bottom, was at once recognized, when exten- 
 sive draining opera- 
 tions were in progress, 
 and special tools were 
 invented for that pur- 
 pose. The really im- 
 proved implements 
 
 FIG. 17. DRAINING SPADES. 
 
 were, in most cases, 
 the outcome of the re- 
 sults of experience in 
 the digging, and fin- 
 ishing of the bottom 
 of narrow trenches, 
 but, unfortunately, 
 many of the draining tools placed in the market, and 
 figured in works on draining, were evidently invented 
 
 by persons who had no 
 practical know^dge of 
 what was required to ac- 
 complish the end in view, 
 and they have proved to be 
 useless. Spades of dif- 
 ferent widths, and some- 
 what tapering in the blade, 
 to be used in succession to 
 narrow the trench, were 
 among the first improve- 
 ments that proved to be 
 In fig. 
 
 17 is represented the spades 
 used in making the trench for flat-bottomed tiles, and 
 a slight change in form, fig. 18, was adopted in laying 
 
 FIG. 18. ROUND-POINTED DRAINING o f practical value. 
 SPADES. 
 
DISCOVERY AND INVENTION. 
 
 125 
 
 round, or pipe tiles, the rounded point aiding in forming 
 
 a groove in the bottom of the trench, in which the tiles 
 are bedded. The draining spades now in 
 use for cutting the lower part of a narrow 
 trench, are of this same pattern, but the 
 blade is made longer, which increases their 
 efficiency. 
 
 From the tapering form of these spades, 
 they cannot be used to throw out the earth 
 from the narrow trench which is cut with 
 them, and scoops were invented for this pur- 
 pose, and for smoothing the bottom of the 
 trench, and preparing a suitable bed for the 
 tiles. 
 
 In figs. 19 and 21 are 
 two forms of scoop, figured 
 by Stephens in his Boole of 
 the Farm in 1844. The draw, 
 or pull scoop, fig. 19, was in- 
 tended to be used for smooth- 
 ing the bottom of the ditch 
 
 FIG. 19. PULL for flat-bottomed and horse- 
 
 DKAIN SCOOP. S h e tiles, and it was changed 
 
 to the form represented in fig. 20, for 
 
 laying round pipe tiles. It will be seen 
 
 that earth cannot readily be thrown out 
 
 of the ditch with this form of scoop, 
 
 and the push scoop, fig. 21, was invented 
 
 for that purpose. These scoops are, 
 
 however, practically worthless in the 
 
 hands of an ordinary workman ; the pull 
 
 scoops, unless very heavy, tremble, and 
 
 are not readily guided; the push scoops DRAIN SCOOP, FOR 
 
 are heavy on the point when loaded, and ROUND TlLES - 
 
 roll in the hands when raised to the surface of the 
 
 ground, and from the attachment of the shank at the 
 
126 
 
 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 end of the blade they are easily broken. On account 
 of these, and many other defects which might be enu- 
 merated, they have not been used, to any 
 extent, in draining. After a thorough trial 
 of these scoops in a variety of soils, at the 
 Michigan Agricultural College, several years 
 ago, they were found to be useless, 
 and finally consigned to the mu- 
 seum of obsolete implements. As 
 a scoop was evidently needed to 
 supplement the draining spades in 
 excavating narrow trenches, I suc- 
 ceeded, after a number of experi- 
 ments, in inventing a combined 
 pull and push scoop, that was free 
 from the defects of the old forms, 
 a description and figure of which 
 were published in the Report of the 
 Michigan Board of Agriculture for 
 1873. After an experience of sev- 
 eral years, in all kinds of soils, this 
 scoop (fig. 22) has proved to be a 
 satisfactory tool, in every respect, 
 for removing earth from the trench 
 and preparing a bed for the tiles ; 
 as it is light and well balanced, and, from the 
 FlG ^ A f^ SH position of the shank in the middle of the 
 SCOOP, blade, it is much stronger than the old forms. 
 An improved method of using this scoop will be given 
 in the chapter on construction. A set of draining tools, 
 copied from Gisborne's Agriculture, 1854 (fig. 23), fur- 
 nishes a good illustration of forms that cannot be used 
 with advantage. The scoops and the tile-layer are 
 intended for use from the banks of the ditch, but they 
 are awkward and heavy tools, and it is almost impossible 
 to lay tiles with them on a reasonably true grade. 
 
DISCOVERY AND INVENTION. 
 
 FIG. 23. OBSOLETE DRAINING TooLi. 
 
128 
 
 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 In directions for " opening the ditches," in Drain- 
 ing for Profit and for Healthy Col. Waring gives a fig- 
 ure of a "finishing scoop" (fig. 24), and of a finishing 
 spade, (fig. 25), which, according to 
 my own experience, are quite as defec- 
 tive as the tools in the preceding figure. 
 The curved sole of the scoop is not the 
 best form for jointing a true 
 grade, and the curved shoul- 
 der and square point of the 
 spade do not recommend it 
 as the best tool for making a 
 narrow cut for round tiles. 
 Modified forms of my drain- 
 ing scoop, which have been 
 made and placed on the mar- 
 ket, are represented in figs. 
 26 and 27. They are, how- 
 ever, too heavy for the in- 
 tended purpose ; the sides of 
 the form, fig. 26, are too high 
 for convenient use in adhe- 
 sive soils, and there appears 
 to be no practical advantage 
 in the adjustable arrange- 
 ment of the blade, repre- 
 sented in fig. 27, while it 
 increases the weight of the 
 scoop, which is a serious ob- 
 jection. The shovel scoop, Fl - 25 - FIN - 
 
 , ., , . ISHING 
 
 described in chapter nine, SPADE. 
 FIG. 24. FINISHING for five or six inch tiles, and the lighter 
 
 porvp 
 
 and simpler form of better proportions, 
 figs. 22 and 30, for smaller sizes, will be found, in every 
 respect, much more convenient and satisfactory than 
 these heavier implements. 
 
DISCOVEKY AND INVENTION". 
 
 129 
 
 The large handles and heavy blades of the so-called 
 improved draining scoops in the market are defects that 
 materially diminish their value, without any compensat- 
 ing advantages. A few ounces of unnecessary weight in 
 a tool with a long handle, to move earth in the bottom 
 
 FIG. 26. DRAINING SCOOP. FIG. 27. ADJUSTABLE DRAINING SCOOP. 
 
 of the ditch, will be found a severe tax upon the muscu- 
 lar energies of the workman in the course of the day, 
 and diminish his efficiency accordingly. The weight 
 must be raised on the long arm of the lever, and the 
 effective force required to lift it is proportionately 
 increased. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 LOCATION AND PLANS OF FARM DRAINS. 
 
 To secure efficiency and economy in the construc- 
 tion of farm drains the work should be planned, and the 
 location of the drains decided upon over the entire area 
 that may need draining, in accordance with a definite 
 and well-matured system, in which every condition that 
 may influence the results has been fully considered and 
 provided for. When but part of the work can be done 
 in a single season, the advantages of a complete plan for 
 the drainage of all lands that can discharge water at a 
 common outlet, before any drains are made, must be 
 obvious, as each line of tiles laid will then form a con- 
 sistent link in the general system, and the losses that 
 are likely to arise from a change of plan in the progress 
 of the work will be avoided. There are certain princi- 
 ples to be kept in mind in planning a system of drainage 
 that it may be well to notice before discussing other 
 details. 
 
 Direction of Drains. In the first place, all drains 
 should run directly down the slope, in the line of steep- 
 est descent, in order to secure the greatest efficiency in 
 the discharge of water, in connection with the widest 
 distance between the drains that can be made, and at 
 the same time secure thorough drainage over the entire 
 area to be drained. Any considerable variation from 
 this rule should only be made for good and sufficient 
 reasons, to secure other advantages that fully compen- 
 sate for any faults that may arise in deviating from the 
 most direct course. 
 
 130 
 
LOCATION AND PLANS OF DRAINS. 131 
 
 It will readily be seen that when parallel drains are 
 laid directly across the slope, a drain can receive no 
 water from the space immediately below it, and that it 
 must receive water from the whole width of the space 
 between it and the next drain above. Moreover, when 
 the slope of the field is considerable, these transverse 
 drains allow water to escape at the joints of the tiles 
 and wet the soil of the space below them, and thus add 
 to the duty of the next drain. Many instances have 
 come under my observation, where water from springs 
 has escaped from drains laid across the slope, and satu- 
 rated land which before was comparatively free from 
 drainage water, the drains only serving to transfer the 
 springs from one locality to another. 
 
 On the other hand, when drains run directly down 
 the slope, they receive water from but one-half of the 
 space between adjacent drains ; impervious strata that 
 bring water to the surface to form springs, are cut across ; 
 the water table is uniformly lowered; and the flow of 
 water from one drain to another does not take place. 
 The drains can then be laid at wider intervals, and the 
 cost of thorough draining materially diminished. Par- 
 allel drains at equal distances are desirable, but when 
 the slope of the field is not uniformly in the same direc- 
 tion they cannot be so made, and at the same time run 
 directly down the slope in the line of the most rapid fall. 
 Good judgment will then be required to secure a happy 
 mean between the conflicting requirements, that will 
 give the best results, but, as a general rule, the line of 
 greatest descent should be the dominant factor in deter- 
 mining the location of the drains. 
 
 Main Drains. A sufficient outlet must be secured 
 for the main drain, and it should then be laid in the 
 lowest ground, without any abrupt changes in fall, to 
 check the flow of water passing through it, and it may 
 be necessary to lay it at a greater depth from the sur- 
 
132 LAKD DRAINING. 
 
 face in some places, to secure the desired uniformity in 
 its slope or rate of fall, and,- if possibb, there should be 
 an increase in fall towards the outlet. When the fall in 
 the upper course of a drain is considerable, and but a 
 slight fall can be secured in its lower course, a larger 
 tile will be required where the fall is diminished, to 
 carry the water received from above, and prevent it from 
 being forced out at the joints by the pressure from the 
 head of water in the upper course of the drain, and thus 
 undermining and displacing the tiles. 
 
 If the valley through which the main is to be laid 
 is broad and nearly level from side to side, a sub-main 
 should be laid on each side of it, near the foot of the 
 slope, to avoid the rapid decrease in the fall of the lat- 
 eral drains, that would be made if they were continued 
 to the middle of the valley, and the space between the 
 sub-mains may then be drained by laterals of smaller 
 tiles. When a change in the direction of a main, or sub- 
 main, is necessary, it should be made gradually, or with 
 a gentle curve, as abrupt angles check the current of 
 water and materially diminish the capacity of the drain. 
 This fact should be kept in mind in all cases, but in 
 the upper course of laterals, laid with two inch tiles, 
 this is not as important, as they are not as likely to 
 run full. 
 
 Depth of Drains. It is important that the depth 
 at which drains are to be laid should be decided upon 
 before laying out, or determining their location in the 
 field. Those who have had no experience in draining 
 land are liable to fall into the error of laying the tiles 
 too near the surface, from mistaken notions of economy. 
 Practically the depth of retentive soils, as we have seen, 
 is limited by the surface of the water table, and the 
 drains should, therefore, be laid at sufficient depth to 
 secure a free range of root distribution throughout the 
 largest mass of soil that can be made available, with 
 reasonable economy in construction. 
 
LOCATION AND PLANS OF DRAINS. 133 
 
 The roots of nearly all of our cultivated crops pen- 
 etrate the soil, under favorable conditions, to the depth 
 of, at least, four feet, and this may safely be recom- 
 mended as a desirable depth for laterals, while the 
 mains, if possible, should be laid at least their own 
 diameter deeper. There can be no doubt that drains 
 four feet in depth have a number of advantages over 
 those that are shallower, that must more than compen- 
 sate for a considerable increase in cost, but it does not 
 follow, however, that the draining of a field to the depth 
 of four feet is necessarily more expensive than draining 
 to the depth of three feet. 
 
 On the ground of efficiency, it appears that when 
 heavy rainfalls occur after a season of drouth, the dis- 
 charge of water begins sooner and continues longer ; a 
 larger mass of soil, with its supplies of nutritive mate- 
 rials, is made available for growing crops by the pro- 
 cesses of metabolism; a wider range of root distribu- 
 tion is secured ; and there is an increased capacity for 
 holding capillary water for the purposes of vegetation in 
 time of drouths. The extreme climatic conditions of 
 excessive rainfall and intense drouth are, therefore, 
 more completely corrected, and a greater uniformity in 
 productiveness may reasonably be expected. The item 
 of economy in the construction of four-foot drains will 
 be considered in the next paragraph. 
 
 Distance Between Drains. No absolute rule 
 can be laid down as to the proper distance between 
 drains, to secure the best results at the least expense. 
 Good judgment in the application of general principles 
 will be found the best guide in each particular case. 
 The conditions that have an influence in determining 
 the most desirable distance between drains are, the 
 depth at which they are laid, the character of the soil, 
 and the amount of rainfall that is likely to occur in sin- 
 gle showers, or within a few days, which is of greater 
 importance than the annual rainfall. 
 
134 LAHD DRAINING. 
 
 In order to secure the same efficiency in removing 
 water from the soil, drains but three feet deep must be 
 laid nearer together than when they are four feet deep, 
 and the expense of draining a given area may, therefore, 
 be less with the deeper drains, as the cost of digging the 
 additional foot in depth of the four-foot drains will be 
 compensated for by a saving in tiles, and in the number 
 of ditches that are required. On the score of economy, 
 as well as efficiency, the four-foot drains will undoubt- 
 edly prove most satisfactory. Mr. Parkes' table 21, 
 (page 114), may be profitably studied in this connection. 
 
 The character of the soil should be carefully studied, 
 and its behavior, as the drains are laid, should be closely 
 observed. In the most retentive soils, when the drains 
 are four feet deep, it will seldom be necessary to make 
 the distance between them less than twenty-five or thirty 
 feet, and in many soils, that need draining, a distance of 
 fifty to sixty feet may give satisfactory results. The 
 amount of rainfall should be considered, in connection 
 with other conditions, as it may be of assistance, in 
 some cases, in deciding upon the most desirable distance. 
 The depth of drains is, however, a more important fac- 
 tor in preventing injury to crops from excessive rainfall 
 than the distance between them. 
 
 Map of the System of Drainage. In all cases it 
 will be desirable to make a map of the field, or the area 
 to be drained, on which the location and depth of every 
 drain is accurately recorded. The general details of the 
 map should be in black ink, an:l the proposed drains 
 laid down with dotted red lines. As fast as the drains 
 are finished the dotted line can readily be changed to a 
 continuous red line, and a record may thus be conven- 
 iently kept of the progress of the work. When the 
 work is not all done in a single season, the importance 
 of an accurate map of the drains already made, as a 
 means of definitely locating them, in order to form June- 
 
LOCATION AND PLANS OF DKAINS. 135 
 
 tions with the drains in process of construction, will be 
 obvious. When the drains are all completed it may be 
 necessary to find a particular drain, in case of obstruc- 
 tion, or for other reasons, and the map will then be 
 found a great convenience and a saving of labor. 
 
 Locating Drains and Making the Map. There 
 are two methods of locating the drains and plotting 
 them on the map, each of which has its advantages. 
 An engineer, to secure accuracy and conformity to a 
 definite plan in all parts of the work, would make a 
 topographical survey of the area to be drained, by taking 
 levels at frequent and regular intervals over the field, 
 which would be represented on the map. by contour 
 lines, or lines of equal elevation, to indicate the shape of 
 the surface. These would serve as guides in locating 
 the drains so that they would run directly down the 
 slope, or perpendicular to the contour lines, and the 
 depth and rate of fall would be marked on the line of 
 each drain. The entire system of drainage would, there- 
 fore, be first laid down on the map, and the drains in 
 the field would be staked out from this record, as the 
 work of construction was carried on. There are cases, 
 perhaps, in which the expense involved in this method 
 would be saved in economy of construction, if the engi- 
 neer making the surveys was an expert in land draining. 
 
 Farmers who lay out the drains on their own farms, 
 and carry on the work of construction as labor can be 
 spared for the purpose, will, however, prefer a simpler 
 and less expensive method, which answers quite as well, 
 if a reasonable degree of intelligence or common sense is 
 exercised in its application. Instead of making a plan 
 on paper to serve as a guide in the field, the drains will 
 be first staked out in the field from time to time, as 
 required in the progress of the work, and they can then 
 be plotted on a map with sufficient accuracy to serve all 
 practical purposes of a convenient and permanent record, 
 
136 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 without making use of ,any expensive surveying or engi- 
 neering instruments. 
 
 All that is absolutely required in the field work is 
 the means of accurately measuring the lines of drains, 
 and their distance from certain land marks. A survey- 
 or's chain, or tape, will be found convenient, but in 
 their absence a rod pole, divided in feet and inchea, will 
 serve the purpose of providing the data for making a 
 record of the work on the map. The cheap measuring 
 tapes in common use should be discarded, as they are 
 not always accurate, and if wet they are liable to stretch 
 and vary in length, and the results obtained with them 
 are often misleading. 
 
 When the surface of the field is undulating there 
 will be no difficulty, in most cases, in deciding upon the 
 location and course of the proposed drains by the eye 
 alone, without taking levels with an instrument, but 
 the precaution should always be taken when the fall is 
 slight, to look over the proposed line from both ends of 
 it before deciding upon its exact location, as appearances 
 are sometimes deceitful if we look in one direction only. 
 A farmer who is familiar with his fields, and observes 
 the direction water flows over the surface in the spring, 
 will seldom hesitate in regard to the direction of the 
 slope and the course of lines running directly down hill. 
 In cases of doubt as to the fall, on land that is nearly 
 level, a simple and convenient method of determining 
 the slope, or grade, of the drain, will be given in the 
 chapter on construction. 
 
 Writers on draining have, with few exceptions, 
 given directions for digging and finishing the ditches 
 throughout their entire length before any tiles are laid, 
 and when this is done, directions are given to lay the 
 first tiles at the upper end of the drain and continue the 
 work towards the outlet. This method is, however, 
 impracticable, if there is water running in the ditch, or 
 
LOCATION AND PLANS OF DRAINS. 137 
 
 if quicksand is found anywhere in its course, and in all 
 cases better work can be done by beginning at the outlet 
 to lay the tiles, and the ditch should only be finished as 
 the tiles are laid. The main drain should always be laid 
 first, to furnish an outlet for the discharge of water that 
 may be running in the ditches in the progress of the 
 work of construction. 
 
 In laying out and mapping the drains, attention 
 will, therefore, be first directed to the main, and the 
 laterals, or branches, will then follow in the order of 
 their importance. Haying placed stakes in the field to 
 mark the line of the main drain, its place on the map 
 may be determined, as follows. To facilitate the 
 description of the different steps in the process, let us 
 suppose a case in which the main drain crosses the north 
 line of the field at, or near, the outlet. 
 
 Set a stake marked A at the point where the drain 
 crosses or intersects the north line of the field, and deter- 
 mine its position by measuring on the boundary line of 
 the field, in either direction, as may be most convenient, 
 to the corner of the field, or to some permanent object, 
 and make a record of this distance and position of the 
 stake on the map, which should, of course, be drawn to 
 a definite scale. Then set a stake marked B at the 
 upper end of the proposed drain, or at the point where 
 a change in direction will be necessary. Measure the 
 distance from A to B, and to determine the exact course 
 take the range of the two stakes, and ascertain where 
 the line between them would, if continued, strike the 
 opposite side of the field, and drive a stake marked ~b to 
 mark the place. The position of b can now be deter- 
 mined by its distance from the corner of the field, or 
 some permanent object, measured on the south line of 
 the field, as was done to fix the point A on the north 
 line. The drain A-B can now be plotted on the map 
 by marking the point A on the north boundary of the 
 
138 LAND DBAINDSTG. 
 
 field, and the point b on the south boundary, and a rule 
 touching the two points will give the course and position 
 of the drain. The point B is then fixed by laying off 
 the proper distance from A on this lice. 
 
 If the main drain is now to be continued in a differ- 
 ent direction, place a stake G at the end of the next 
 course, ascertain where the line B-C, if continued, 
 would intersect the boundary of the field, by taking the 
 range of the two stakes, and mark the place with a stake 
 c, the position of which is determined by its distance 
 from #, or from any other known point, as in fixing the 
 position of A and b. In plotting, place the rule on the 
 map touching the points B and c, and measure on the 
 line indicated the proper distance from B to C. 
 
 To locate the laterals proceed in the same way, tak- 
 ing as the starting point their junction with the main 
 drain. If, for example, they are branches of the drain 
 A-B, fix the point of junction by measuring the distance 
 from A, or, if on the line B-C, determine the distance 
 of the starting point from B. The laterals are then 
 plotted on the map, by measuring their length from the 
 main, and fixing their course, by ascertaining the point 
 at which the line, if continued, would intersect the 
 boundary of the field, and proceed as before. If there- 
 are several parallel laterals, the course of one may be 
 fixed as above, and this may be taken as a base line from 
 which the others may be laid out or located. 
 
 The whole process of locating and mapping the 
 drains by this empirical method is so simple, that any 
 one of average intelligence should be able to perform the 
 work without any technical knowledge of surveying <;r 
 engineering ; and if the measurements are accurately 
 made and the figures representing distances are entered 
 on the map in their proper place, the record will be 
 sufficiently accurate, even if the greatest exactness is 
 not secured in drafting the lines on the map. A con- 
 
LOCATION AND PLANS OF DRAINS. 139 
 
 venient scale for the map is fifty feet to the inch, but a 
 scale of one hundred feet to the inch will give satisfac- 
 tory results when there are but few drains to be recorded. 
 As the drains are all located and staked out in the field, 
 the map may consist simply of an outline of the field 
 drawn to a definite scale, on which the lines of drains, 
 as decided upon, may be drawn, with figures represent- 
 ing all distances, and letters or numbers to indicate each 
 particular drain. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 QUALITY AND SIZE OF TILES. 
 
 There are a number of particulars in regard to the 
 selection of tiles, that should receive careful attention, 
 as the best for the purpose are the cheapest, if the drain- 
 ing of land is made, as it should be, a permanent 
 improvement. 
 
 Round Tiles. In describing the different kinds 
 of tiles the conclusion was reached that round tiles 
 should be exclusively used, as they have none of the 
 defects of other forms, and it may be well to notice more 
 particularly some of their most important advantages. 
 When but little water is running in a drain of round 
 tiles, it is confined to a narrow channel, and the force of 
 the current is thereby increased, so that obstructions 
 from silt are not likely to occur. The ends of the tiles 
 vary but little from a right angle to the axis, and close- 
 fitting joints can be secured in laying them, by turning 
 them in their bed, if necessary, as it is a matter of indif- 
 ference which side of the cylinder is up. When laid in 
 the groove prepared for them by a draining scoop of 
 proper size, they are not liable to be displaced by firmly 
 
140 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 packing the soil with which they are covered. They 
 can be laid more rapidly on a true grade than any other 
 form of tile, which is a matter of importance where 
 there is but little fall. 
 
 Quality of Tiles. Tiles should be smooth and 
 straight, with a uniform bore, and well burned, so that 
 they give a clear ring when struck with a hammer. A 
 permanent drain cannot be made with soft and porous 
 tiles, as they readily yield to pressure when saturated 
 with- water, and when near the outlet they crumble in 
 pieces, from the action of frost. On the other hand, 
 tiles that have been "melted," or "over-burned" in the 
 kiln, are to be avoided, as they shrink more than well- 
 burned tiles, and the bore is, therefore, contracted, and 
 they are usually more or less warped, so that they can- 
 not be accurately laid in the trench. If used at all, 
 they should be placed at the upper end of laterals, where 
 they cannot check the current from any considerable 
 length of the drain above them. On the whole, it is 
 better, in buying tiles, to reject the over -burned as 
 defective, as they not only impair the efficiency and 
 durability of a drain by their contracted bore, but they 
 add to the expense of laying them, from the difficulty of 
 matching them to form good joints, and keeping a rea- 
 sonably uniform grade in their course. 
 
 The weakest link in a chain is the measure of its 
 strength, and the most defective tile in a drain is an 
 index of its reliability throughout its entire course. 
 Tile drains should be made on the plan of the "Deacon's 
 One Hoss Shay," each part being as perfect as every 
 other part, with no weak place to give out. Glazed 
 tiles are now made in some localities, and they are 
 always to be preferred when they can be obtained at the 
 oame price as the unglazed pipes. 
 
 How Does Water Enter Tile Drains? The 
 popular notion that porous tiles are necessary to insure 
 
QUALITY AKD SIZE OF TILES. 141 
 
 the free access of water to a drain is founded in error, 
 and it has led to serious mistakes in construction. Its 
 absurdity must be seen by reversing the conditions and 
 considering the prospects of successfully conveying 
 water from a spring, for any distance, in pipes that have 
 open joints every twelve or thirteen inches in their 
 course. It would at once be said that failure would 
 surely follow, as the water would leak out at the joints. 
 That water must leak in through similar joints in a tile 
 drain, should likewise be obvious, and serve as a ready 
 explanation of the manner in which water finds its way 
 into drains. A simple experiment, which I have made 
 before my classes for several years, should be tried by 
 those who have any doubts in regard to the leakage of 
 the joints of tile drains. Put a plug of soft wood, or 
 cork, in one end of an ordinary unglazed tile, and then 
 fill it with water. If the tile is then allowed to stand 
 for an hour, it will be seen that the surface of the water 
 is lowered but little by the amount absorbed by the walls 
 of the tile, and that this would be insignificant in its 
 effects in draining land. Then place another tile on top 
 of the one containing water, and turn it around, to make 
 as tight a joint as possible at their junction, and again 
 pour in water to fill the second tile. It will then be 
 found that the water escapes from the joint between the 
 two tiles quite rapidly, and that a continuous stream of 
 water is required to keep the second tile full, and that 
 when the supply is cut off the leakage empties it in a 
 few seconds. If the attempt is made to keep water out 
 of a tile drain as laid in the soil, great care must be exer- 
 cised in cementing the joints to make them water tight. 
 Gisborne,* on the authority of Parkes, makes the 
 following statement : "If an acre of land be intersected 
 with parallel drains twelve yards apart, and if on that 
 acre should fall the very unusual quantity of one inch 
 
 * Essays on Agriculture, p. 108. 
 
142 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 of rain in twelve hours, in order that every drop of this 
 rain may be discharged by the drains in forty-eight 
 hours from the commencement of the rain (and in a less 
 period that quantity neither will, nor is it desirable that 
 it should, filter through agricultural soil), the interval 
 between two pipes will be called upon to pass two-thirds 
 of a tablespoonful of water per minute, and no more. 
 Inch pipes, lying at a small inclination, and running 
 only half-full, will discharge more than double this 
 quantity of water in forty-eight hours. The mains, or 
 receiving drains, are, of course, laid with larger pipes." 
 Having arrived at the conclusion that water enters 
 drains at the joints between the tiles, and that what 
 soaks through the walls of the most porous tiles is not 
 worth considering, we may turn our attention to other 
 points of practical interest relating to the behavior of 
 drainage water in the soil. 
 
 How Does the Rainfall Reach the Tiles ? Let 
 us trace the course of the rain falling on the soil until 
 it reaches the tiles, in a field that has drains four feet 
 deep, at regular intervals of forty feet. The water 
 would at once be absorbed by the soil of a well drained 
 field, and percolate directly downward by gravitation to 
 the water table, which we will suppose, at the beginning 
 of the shower, is just below the bottom of the drains. 
 Over the entire field the water must then filter through 
 more than four feet of soil before it reaches the water 
 table, which will then gradually rise until it is above the 
 bottom of the drain. The water will leak into the drain 
 at the lower part of the joints between the tiles, and be 
 / discharged towards the outlet. In the case of moderate 
 rains, that reach the water table, it must be evident that 
 but a slight rise of the water table will take place when 
 the drains begin to run, as the discharge and the supply 
 will soon be equal, and it must likewise be seen tlnit 
 the water enters the drain from below, and it is only 
 
QUALITY AKD SIZE OF TILES. 143 
 
 when the rain is sufficient to raise the water table to the 
 top of the tiles that water can leak in on all sides of the 
 joints of the tiles. 
 
 From the failure to recognize these facts the mis- 
 take has often been made of filling the ditch immedi- 
 ately above the tiles with permeable materials, as small 
 stones, or gravel, to facilitate the percolation of water to 
 the top of the drain, as shown in figs, 4, 12, 14 and 15. 
 This does more harm than good, to say nothing of the 
 unnecessary expense, as silt is liable to be washed into 
 the drain at any defective joint, by water entering freely 
 at the top of the tiles, and care should be taken to pack 
 the earth firmly above the tiles, so that water may be 
 forced to continue its downward course through the soil 
 to the water table, before entering the drain. 
 
 When the discharge from the drains equals the sup- 
 ply of water from above, the water table does not rise 
 any higher, and this marks the maximum flow of water 
 through the drains ; and when the rain ceases the water 
 table soon begins to fall, and the flow from the drains 
 diminishes. Moreover, as soon as the drains begin to 
 run there must be a movement of the drainage water in 
 the soil towards the drain, to replace that discharged 
 through the tiles, and this lateral movement gradually 
 extends to the distance of twenty feet on each side of 
 the drain, in the case supposed above, or one-half the 
 distance to the adjoining drains. The rain, falling 
 directly over the drain, reaches the water table and leaks 
 into the tiles, with but slight lateral percolation through 
 the soil ; while that falling half way between the drains 
 makes a vertical descent of four feet to the water table, 
 and is then carried, by the lateral movement of the 
 drainage water, to the drain, having percolated through 
 the soil a total distance of twenty-four feet. From the 
 extent of this filtration of the rain through the soil, 
 some time must elapse before the water, falling on the 
 
144 LAND DEAINING. 
 
 surface of the soil, can begin to escape by the drain, and, 
 after the rain has ceased, the drains must continue to 
 run until the water table subsides to the level of the 
 bottom of the bore of the tiles, which must take place 
 gradually, from the lateral distance a large proportion 
 of the water must percolate through the porous soil 
 before reaching the drain. 
 
 There is another factor that has an influence on the 
 time required by the rain-water to reach the drain, that 
 must not be overlooked. The capillary capacity of the 
 soil must be satisfied before any of the rainfall assumes 
 the form of drainage water. Soils have, as has already 
 been pointed out, a certain capacity for retaining or 
 holding capillary water, and, in the intervals between 
 rains, in the growing season, this store of water is drawn 
 upon by exhalation from plants, and surface evaporation 
 from the soil. When rain falls it is, in the first place, 
 appropriated by the soil to replenish its stock, or normal 
 reserve, of capillary water, and it is only the rain in 
 excess of this demand that appears as drainage water. 
 In the wheat experiments at Eothamsted, it was stated 
 that the drains of the barnyard manure plot, on the aver- 
 age, run but once in the year, and quite heavy rains in 
 the growing season, under ordinary conditions, fre- 
 quently fail to bring about a discharge from the drains. 
 
 Direct observations have repeatedly shown that the 
 mass of drained soil above the tiles has a marked influ- 
 ence, in retarding the flow of drainage water and in 
 diminishing its volume. After a rainfall of nearly half 
 an inch in twelve hours, Mr. Parkes found that the dis- 
 charge of drainage water, by Mr. Dickinson's Dalton 
 gauge, and by Mr. Hammond's inch pipes, laid three 
 and four feet deep in a field, continued forty-eight hours 
 after the commencement of the rain. 
 
 With heavy rainfalls on retentive soils, a consider- 
 ably longer time is required for the discharge of the 
 
QUALITY AND SIZE OF TILES. 145 
 
 drainage water. In Central Park, New York, soon after 
 the drainage of "the Green" was completed, comprising 
 an area of about ten acres of wet land, Col. George E. 
 Waring, the engineer in charge, made frequent estimates 
 of the volume of water discharged by the main drain, 
 from July 13th to Dec. 30th, to ascertain the relations 
 of drainage to rainfall. The results of these observations 
 for the first month (July 13th to Aug. 14th), given in 
 the following table, will sufficiently illustrate the grad- 
 ual discharge of the drainage water, without copying 
 the record in full.* 
 
 It will be seen that three remarkable rains occurred 
 in the course of the month recorded in the table, viz. : 
 July 12th and 16th, and Aug. 5th, and that the total fall 
 of rain for the entire period was 171,052 gallons per 
 acre (7.57 inches), of which but 45,252 gallons per acre 
 (2.00 inches), or 26.46 per cent, was discharged by the 
 drains. A large proportion of the first rainfall of 2.20 
 inches (July 12th) must have been retained by the soil, 
 as the maximum recorded discharge from the drain 
 (July 14th) was at the rate of only 9.95 per cent, of the 
 rainfall in twenty-four hours, or about one-fifth of an 
 inch, and the discharge the next two days was at the 
 rate of less than three per cent, of the rainfall in twenty- 
 four hours. The total discharge from the drains in 
 three days was less than fifteen per cent, of the rainfall, 
 and the soil at the depth of two feet was still saturated 
 with (capillary) water. The second heavy fall of rain 
 occurred July 16th, followed by a decided increase in 
 drainage, but even then the rate of maximum discharge 
 was only at the rate of 23.25 per cent, of the rainfall, or 
 a little over one- third of an inch in twenty-four hours. 
 The drainage then rapidly diminished, but the effects of 
 these two rains of over three and one-half inches was evi- 
 dent until the 3d of August, or more than two weeks. 
 
 * Draining for Profit and Health, p. 87. 
 
 10 
 
146 
 
 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 H 
 
 PQ 8 
 
 S S 
 
 s s 
 g 
 
 
 ft! 
 
 p| 
 
 o 
 
 ii 
 
 $3 
 
 2 
 
 <K <D 
 SH^ 
 
 c^: 
 
 lft* 
 
 ^|S^23 
 
 S^ase 
 
 bjo?oo 
 
 ^=^^=2 
 
 .S5.S.S.S 
 
 
 <N t-;0q < 
 
 It-trHi-lT-lOOC^OOOO'*! 
 
 00 ggJO JO TJH< 
 
 iSISi: 
 
 I* '^>OCO 
 
 = 1 I 
 
 II 'S 
 
 .S a ^ 
 
 ,3 
 
 *o.< 
 
 00 CO I 
 
 <& 
 "Q'gqo^ 
 
 II 
 
QUALITY AND SIZE OF TILES. 
 
 147 
 
 The slight rains of July 23d and Aug. 3d had 
 little, if any, influence on the drainage, and there was 
 but a slight increase from the rain of over half an inch 
 on the 4th of August. We find, likewise, that the 
 greatest discharge from the drains did not follow the 
 heaviest rainfall, and that the smallest of the three 
 heavy rains gave the largest percentage of drainage. 
 This is best shown in the tabular form as follows : 
 
 TABLE 23. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Rainfall in inches. 
 
 Maximum dis- 
 charge by drains in 
 24 hours in gallons 
 per acre. 
 
 Per cent, of rainfall 
 in maximum drain- 
 age in 24 hours. 
 
 July 13th 
 Aug. 5th 
 July 16th 
 
 2.20 
 2.00 
 1.48 
 
 4,968 
 8,280 
 7,764 
 
 9.95 
 18.28 
 23.25 
 
 The maximum rate of discharge of water by the 
 drains, after a rainfall of 2.20 inches, is but sixty per 
 cent, of the discharge after a rainfall of two inches, and 
 less than sixty-four per cent, of that following a rainfall 
 of but 1.48 inches, and the drainage is not, therefore, 
 determined solely by the amount of rainfall. 
 
 The tables of drainage and evaporation, in chapter 
 three, may be profitably consulted in this connection. 
 The relations of drainage and evaporation to rainfall 
 show that it is not necessary to provide drains to carry 
 off all of the heaviest rainfalls. The stores of capillary 
 water in the soil are materially diminished by evapora- 
 tion from the surface soil, and exhalation by plants, in 
 the growing season, and quite copious rains may be 
 required to replace what has thus been disposed of. 
 
 It is, however, evident that the influence of soils in 
 retarding the discharge of drainage water, must vary 
 with their capacity to absorb and retain water, in con- 
 nection with their previous condition of dryness, and 
 the observations made at Central Park, and in other 
 drainage experiments, must be interpreted as represent- 
 ing a conformity to the general law that determines the 
 
148 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 percolation of water through soils, under the special 
 conditions presented in each case. The known facts in 
 regard to the comparatively small proportion of the aver- 
 age rainfall that is discharged as drainage water from 
 well drained retentive soils, on which a crop is growing, 
 and the time required for it to reach the drains, must 
 then be recognized, as important factors for considera- 
 tion, in deciding upon the capacity of drains that are 
 needed to secure thorough drainage. 
 
 Size of Tiles. As the prices of tiles increase rap- 
 idly with their size, and their cost forms an important 
 cash item in the expense of draining, it will be desirable 
 to use the smallest sizes that will serve the purpose of 
 promptly discharging the drainage water that may reach 
 them after heavy rains, under ordinary conditions. 
 
 The tables, in works on draining, giving the capac- 
 ity of pipes at different inclinations, for discharging 
 water, are of no practical value as aids in determining 
 the size of tiles required to carry off the surplus water of 
 a given rainfall, as they do not take into account the 
 different ways soil water is disposed of, or the many con- 
 ditions that prevent its rapid percolation through a 
 drained soil on its course to the drains. The principles 
 of hydraulics are applied in estimating the required 
 capacity of sewers for removing a given amount of water, 
 which they receive directly through the open mouths of 
 their branches, but they do not have the same signifi- 
 cance in land drainage, from the indefinite and con- 
 stantly varying factors intervening between the fall of 
 rain upon the surface of the soil, and the access of drain- 
 age water to the tiles ; so that it is impossible to formu- 
 late the direct relations of drainage to any given rainfall. 
 
 Most of the empirical rules that have been given 
 for estimating the required capacity of tiles for draining 
 a given area, will lead to the selection of sizes consider- 
 ably larger than are actually needed, and thus unneces- 
 
QUALITY AND SIZE OF TILES. 149 
 
 sarily increase the expense. For example, Gisborne* 
 lays down the rule "that a three-inch pipe will discharge 
 the water of nine acres, four of sixteen, and so on ; the 
 quantity of acres being equal to the product of the diam- 
 eter of the pipe in inches multiplied into itself." War- 
 ing makes the following estimate, which is, undoubtedly, 
 a safe one, under average conditions. "In view of all 
 the information that can be gathered on the subject, the 
 following directions are given as perfectly reliable for 
 drains four feet, or more, in depth, laid on a well regu- 
 lated fall of even three inches in a hundred feet : 
 
 For 2 acres 1 inch pipes. 
 
 For 8 acres 2J inch pipes. 
 
 For 20 acres 3^ inch pipes. 
 
 For 40 acres two 3J inch pipes. 
 
 For 50 acres 6 inch pipes. 
 
 For 100 acres 8 inch pipes. 
 
 "It is not pretended that these drains will immedi- 
 ately remove all the water of the heaviest storms, but 
 they will always remove it fast enough for all practical 
 purposes, and, if the pipes are securely laid, the drains 
 will only be benefited by the occasional cleaning they 
 will receive when running 'more than full/"f 
 
 The size of the main should be determined with 
 reference to the area to be drained, without taking into 
 consideration the combined capacity of the laterals con- 
 nected with it. In a well-planned system of drainage 
 the combined capacity of the laterals will almost always 
 considerably exceed the capacity of the main required 
 for a given area. So far as their capacity to discharge 
 water is concerned, one-inch pipes are sufficient for lat- 
 erals under average conditions, and they have been exten- 
 sively used in Great Britain, where they seldom run 
 more than half full after heavy rains. From their small 
 
 * Essays on Agriculture, p. 109. 
 
 t Draining for Prortt and Health, p. 88. 
 
150 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 section, however, they are liable to displacement, and 
 any slight irregularities in the fall on which they are 
 laid will check the flow of water through them and 
 interfere with their efficiency, and for this reason later- 
 als of one and one-half to two inches are, on the whole, 
 to be preferred. In many localities two-inch tiles are 
 uniformly used for laterals, as they are the smallest size 
 made in the vicinity. When the fall is over six inches in 
 one hundred feet, with a uniformly hard bottom, a slight 
 saving might be made by using one and one-half inch 
 laterals, but with a less fall, or when the bottom of the 
 ditch is not firm, two-inch laterals have advantages, 
 which, in my opinion, more than compensate for the 
 difference in cost. In peaty soils, that are liable to set- 
 tle, more or less, and thus interfere with the alignment 
 of the tiles, three-inch laterals may be used with econ- 
 omy, but, on upland soils, where the tiles, when properly 
 laid, are not likely to be displaced, they have no advan- 
 tages over two-inch laterals under any conditions, or 
 even over one and one-half inch tiles that have a fall 
 exceeding five or six inches in one hundred feet. 
 
 An illustration of the capacity and efficiency of 
 drains in actual practice may be of interest in this con- 
 nection. Mr. A. F. Wood, of Mason, Michigan, has 
 tile drains of four, five and six inches in diameter on his 
 farm, which, in an experience of several years, have 
 proved satisfactory as mains for the drainage of larger 
 areas than the same sizes have been credited with in the 
 above estimates. The first six-inch main was laid to 
 take the place of a large open ditch that had failed as an 
 outlet for the drainage of about one hundred and twenty- 
 five acres. At the upper end of this main a well, or silt 
 basin, was made, opening above the surface, so that the 
 working of the drains could be readily observed. Sub- 
 mains of three, four and five inches in diameter were 
 laid in different directions from this well, and their 
 
QUALITY AtfD SIZE OF TILES. 151 
 
 combined capacity, therefore, considerably exceeded that 
 of the six-inch main, the ratio being about fifty to 
 thirty-six. 
 
 The five-inch sub-main, sixty rods long, has branches 
 of three and four inch tiles, connecting with about two 
 miles of two-inch laterals, draining fifty acres. The 
 four-inch sub-main receives the drainage from about 
 twenty acres, on which there is more than three-fourths 
 of a mile of two-inch laterals. On the whole, the six- 
 inch main receives the drainage from more than three 
 miles in length of lateral drains. Another six-inch 
 main, seventy rods long, receives the discharge from 
 forty rods of five-inch, and one hundred and forty rods 
 of four-inch branches, with two-inch laterals to make up 
 an aggregate of five miles of drains on an area of seventy- 
 five acres. The fall of the several drains is approxi- 
 mately as follows : Th first six-inch main seven inches 
 in one hundred feet ; the five-inch sub-main six inches 
 in one hundred feet, and its laterals an average of two 
 inches in one hundred feet; the second six-inch main 
 four inches, and its laterals from one to one and one-half 
 inches in one hundred feet. From observations at the 
 well at the upper end of the first six-inch main, it 
 appears that it runs full after heavy rains in wet seasons, 
 or taken all together for three or four days in the course 
 of the year, but it has never failed to remove the drain- 
 age water, so that the land could be worked within a 
 few hours after the heaviest rains. In some years it has 
 not been known to run full, although closely watched. 
 On the whole, Mr. Wood informs me that the drainage 
 of his farm has proved satisfactory in every respect, and 
 he has do doubt as to the sufficient capacity of the 
 main drains. 
 
 The nearest point at which a record of the rainfall 
 has been kept since the drains were laid, is the Michigan 
 Agricultural college, ten miles north in a direct line. 
 
152 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 At that place the animal rainfall has varied from 23.78 
 to 48.36 inches, with an average of 34.15 inches for the 
 ten years preceding 1890. From four to fifteen rains of 
 one inch, or over, in twenty-four hours, have occurred 
 in a year, or an annual average of nine for the entire 
 period. Of these heavy rainfalls, in the course of ten 
 years, there were thirty-five of one and one-half inches, 
 or over; thirteen of two inches, or over ; five of two and 
 one-half inches, or over ; one of three inches, and one of 
 three and one-half inches. 
 
 Collars. We have already expressed the opinion 
 that collars for tiles are not necessary, but it may be 
 well to examine in detail the claims that have been made 
 for their use. They have been recommended for the 
 smaller sizes of tiles to prevent any danger of displace- 
 ment, and it has even been claimed that small round 
 tiles should not be laid without them. An extended 
 experience has, however, proved to my satisfaction that 
 collars should never be used, as, from their first cost 
 (about two-thirds as much as tiles), and the additional 
 labor required in laying tiles with them, the expense of 
 draining is materially increased, without any compensat- 
 ing advantages. The theoretical advantages of collars 
 must be limited to holding the end of the tiles, to pre- 
 vent displacement in the process of laying, in order to 
 secure uniformity and continuity in the bore of the 
 drain, but, t-> secure this desirable accuracy in alignment, 
 the collars must fit the tiles closely, as they seldom do ; 
 and it must be seen that when the tiles are once covered 
 and bedded in the earth, there is no further danger of 
 displacement. In the finished drain collars can serve 
 no useful purpose, as the assumption that they add to 
 the security of the joints and prevent the entrance of 
 silt may, with good reason, be questioned. Practically, 
 the collars simply serve to conceal the defects arising 
 from careless methods of construction, and with suitable 
 
QUALITY AKD SIZE OF TILES. 153 
 
 tools, in the hands of an intelligent workman, a better 
 drain can be made without them. 
 
 Of the many objections which might be urged 
 against the use of collars, we will only notice the most 
 obvious. In burning tiles and collars, the heat to which 
 they are subjected is not the same, at different times, or 
 even in different parts of the kiln, and there is, conse- 
 quently, marked differences in shrinkage, so that uni- 
 formity in size cannot be obtained. ^From this fact it is 
 difficult to select collars to fit the tiles as they are laid, 
 which seriously retards the progress of the work. In 
 the next place, there is no certainty that close joints 
 between the ends of the tiles are made, as they are con- 
 cealed by the collars, and when an open joint is made 
 under a loose-fitting collar, silt readily finds its way into 
 the drain, and may cause an obstruction. 
 
 Sometimes the tiles are laid without touching the 
 bottom of the ditch, their ends being, supported by the 
 collars, and, whon the drain is finished, there is a space 
 under the tiles to be filled by the subsequent washing in 
 of the earth. In such cases the tiles are liable to be 
 broken by the pressure of the soil above them, or by 
 carelessness in packing the earth with which they are 
 covered. If, to avoid accidents of this kind, an excava- 
 tion is made to receive the collar, and allow the tiles to 
 rest on the bottom of the ditch, the expense of laying 
 the tiles is considerably increased. Moreover, inch, or 
 inch and one quarter tiles, with collars, will cost more 
 than inch and one-half, or two-inch tiles without collars, 
 so that, on the whole, the smallest sizes, with collars, 
 cannot be recommended on the score of economy. 
 
 Summary. The leading facts which have a bear- V' 
 ing upon the question of the size of tiles required for 
 thorough draining may be briefly stated, as follows : In 
 the first place, it must be admitted that the flow of 
 water in tile drains depends upon the level of the water 
 
154 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 table, and that water enters drains at the joints of the 
 tiles. In the growing season the exhalation of water by 
 plants, and evaporation from the surface soil, are carried 
 on at the expense of the capillary water of the soil, with 
 the result that in dry seasons the water table is, to a 
 greater or less extent, below the level of the drains. 
 
 The rain falling upon the surface of the soil, after 
 an interval of drouth, is, in the first place, disposed of 
 as capillary water, to supply the existing deficiency in 
 the soil, and, in the next place, that which is not needed 
 for that purpose percolates down to the water table, 
 which gradually rises until it reaches the drains, and a 
 flow of drainage water through the tiles then follows. 
 A lateral movement of the standing water in the soil, 
 between the drains, now sets in to supply the loss by 
 drainage through the tiles. 
 
 In effect, then, the drained soil not only serves as a 
 storage reservoir for the rainfall, but it retards its 
 descent to the drains, so that the maximum discharge 
 from the tiles takes place some time after the rain has 
 fallen, and it soon diminishes to a moderate flow, that 
 continues several days. The amount of water Foils may 
 absorb is very much in excess of any probable rainfall. 
 The water held by the drained wheat soil, in January 
 more than in July (table 16, p. 84), would represent 
 seven or eight inches of rainfall ; and the difference in 
 the water contained in the fallow and barley land (table 
 18, p. 87), was equivalent to from seven to nine inches 
 of rainfall. It was shown, in other experiments, that 
 but a small proportion of the rainfall, in the summer 
 months, was disposed of as drainage water, even in wet 
 seasons ; and that in the winter half of the year the 
 drainage from a bare soil was, in no case, equal to the 
 rainfall, and from a soil on which crops were growing it 
 was very much less. The significance of these facts will 
 best be seen by bringing together some of the results 
 obtained in the preceding tables. 
 
UNIVERSITY 1 
 
 QUALITY AND SIZE 
 
 155 
 
 Of the extraordinary summer rainfall, of 25.75 
 inches, at Kothamsted, less than one-half appeared as 
 drainage, while in all of the other observations the sum- 
 mer drainage was not only very small, but it was less 
 from a soil where grass was growing than from a bare 
 soil. The winter drainage varied from less than one- 
 
 TABLE 24. 
 RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE TO RAINFALL. 
 
 Drain Gauges. 
 
 Summer \ year 
 April-Sept. 
 
 Winter year. 
 Oct.-March. 
 
 Total for the year. 
 
 Rainfall 
 inches. 
 
 Drain'ge 
 inches. 
 
 Rainfall 
 inches. 
 
 Drain'ge 
 inches. 
 
 Rainfall 
 inches. 
 
 Drain'ge 
 inches. 
 
 Mr.Dickins'ns 
 Av. 8 yrs, sod, 
 Wettest sea- 
 son, sod, 
 
 12.88 
 17.41 
 
 0.90 
 2.60 
 
 13.74 
 
 13.87 
 
 10.39 
 12.31 
 
 26.61 
 31.28 
 
 11.29 
 14.19" 
 
 Mr. Greaves', 
 Av. 14 yrs, sod, 
 
 12.14 
 
 0.73 
 
 13.58 
 
 6.85 
 
 25.72 
 
 7.58 
 
 Rothamsted, 
 A v. 18 yrs bare 
 soil, 
 Wettest sum'r 
 
 15.21 
 
 25.75 
 
 4.04 
 12.27 
 
 15.24 
 16.96 
 
 10.35 
 13.59 
 
 30.45 
 42.72 
 
 14.39 
 25.86 
 
 Geneva, N. Y. 
 Av. 5 yrs, sod, 
 Wettest sum- 
 mer, sod, 
 Wettest sum'r 
 bare soil, 
 
 15.85 
 18.55 
 18.55 
 
 1.17 
 3.84 
 4.71 
 
 7.87 
 9.32 
 9.32 
 
 2.29 
 3.72 
 5.16 
 
 23.72 
 27.87 
 27.87 
 
 3.46 
 7.56 
 9.87 
 
 half to rather more than three-fourths of the rainfall, 
 with the single exception observed by Mr. Dickinson, in 
 which the heavy summer rainfall of the wettest season 
 increased the winter, as well as the summer, drainage. 
 
 It was only claimed for the Central Park observa- 
 tions, that they approximately represented the relations 
 of drainage to rainfall, but they are consistent with the 
 more accurate records obtained with drain-gauges, and 
 they may, therefore, be accepted as representing a con- 
 formity to the general law. During the summer in 
 which the drainage was observed, once or twice a day 
 after every rain, the maximum discharge of water from 
 the drains followed a rainfall of less than one-third of 
 an inch, and it was at the rate of 0.44 of an inch of rain- 
 fall in twenty-four hours, at 9 A. M., August 25th; at 
 
156 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 7 P. M. it had fallen to 0.39 of an inch ; at 6.30 A. M., 
 Aug. 26th, it was only 0.18 of an inch; and at 6 p. M. 
 it was but 0.10 of an inch. The average of six observa- 
 tions of the drainage, in the three days following the 
 maximum discharge, was at the rate of only one-fifth of 
 an inch of rainfall in twenty-four hours, but this was 
 only eleven days after the close of the month recorded 
 above, in which nearly twice the average amount had 
 fallen, including three rains of from 1.48 to 2.20 inches. 
 The drainage, in this case, must have been influenced 
 by the heavy rains of the preceding month. Rainfalls 
 of two and one-half inches, or over, must be looked 
 upon as extraordinary, and they so rarely occur in the 
 Northern United States, that they need not be consid- 
 ered in estimating the required capacity of drains to 
 secure thorough drainage. From the increased cost of 
 tiles, and the labor required in laying them, it will not 
 pay to provide for the discharge in a few hours of the 
 surplus drainage of extraordinary rains that seldom occur. 
 They are best provided for by deep draining, to increase 
 the storage capacity of the soil, and prevent a rapid 
 transfer of water from the surface to the drainr, by the 
 larger mass of soil through which it must percolate, and 
 if the tiles are well laid, with close-fitting joints, on a 
 uniform grade, the drains will not be injured by running 
 full for several days under the increased pressure to 
 which they are subjected. 
 
 On. the other hand, from the evidence already pre- 
 sented, in regard to the behavior of soil water, the indi- 
 cations are that the surplus water of extraordinary rains 
 cannot be disposed of in a few hours, under the most 
 favorable conditions for its discharge by large drains, 
 as time must be allowed for its percolation downwards 
 to the water table, and for its more or less extended lat- 
 eral movement through the soil between the drains, 
 before it can escape through the tiles. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 How TO MAKE TILE DRAINS. 
 
 To make an efficient and permanent drain, round 
 tiles must be laid with close-fitting joints, on a uniform 
 slope, without any vertical undulations to obstruct or 
 check the flow of water through them, and, what is 
 quite as important, they must be covered with earth, 
 and the ditch filled, without displacing the tiles or 
 interfering with their alignment. Every detail of the 
 work should be carried out with unwavering attention 
 to these fundamental requirements, which should be 
 secured with the strictest economy in the expenditure of 
 labor. In order to accomplish the desired end the work 
 must be carried on in accordance with a definite, well- 
 matured plan, and the implements best adapted to the 
 purpose must be provided, before any tiles are laid. 
 
 Skilled labor, or, at least, skillful and intelligent 
 supervision, is required, to make a tile drain that will 
 prove satisfactory in every way, and keep its cost within 
 reasonable limits. It has been estimated, by those who 
 have given the subject attention, that at least three- 
 fourths of the tile drains which have been made, have 
 failed, to a greater or less extent, to give satisfactory 
 results from errors in construction. To one who is 
 familiar with the ordinary methods of draining, it is not 
 surprising that the partial, or total, failures in tile drain- 
 ing are so numerous, as the work is frequently under- 
 taken by those who have no definite knowledge of cor- 
 rect principles ; and preconceived notions, or fallacious 
 reasoning upon the facts presented, have often led to 
 
 157 
 
158 LAND DBAIiUNG. 
 
 easily avoidable faults in construction, and consequent 
 disappointment in the results. Many of the mistakes 
 made in draining may, however, be attributed to a reli- 
 ance on authorities that are hastily consulted, as the 
 errors of the early writers have, in too many instances, 
 been copied, and even found their way into standard 
 works on draining, without due consideration of their 
 real import and impracticability. 
 
 After an extended and unsatisfactory experience in 
 attempting to follow the directions for laying tiles found 
 in books on draining, I was compelled to abandon them, 
 and devise new methods to simplify the work of con- 
 struction and secure a reasonable degree of accuracy in 
 the finished drain. In the first place, it was found nec- 
 essary, and it proved to be a fortunate innovation on 
 accepted methods, to begin laying tiles at the outlet and 
 work towards the upper end of the drains, instead of 
 keeping long lines of ditch open, and trying to overcome 
 the almost insuperable difficulties involved in following 
 the directions uniformly given by writers on draining. 
 With this change of base, many of the most serious 
 obstacles which had before been encountered, entirely 
 disappeared. In the next place, it was evident that the 
 old methods of determining, or fixing, the grade of the 
 drain, by means of "boning rods," " A levels," and sim- 
 ilar devices, were not only inconvenient, but fallacious 
 and unreliable, under average conditions, and attention 
 was directed to an improvement of the methods for 
 establishing the grade of the bed for the tiles. 
 
 Grade Fixed by a Line. Judge French* had 
 recommended a line, as "the most accurate and satis- 
 factory method of bringing drains to a regular grade," 
 but his method of adjusting and fixing the line above 
 the ditch proved insufficient and unreliable, as it could 
 not be readily fixed in the proper position, and was liable 
 
 * Farm Drainage, p. 233. 
 
HOW TO MAKE TILE DBAINS. 159 
 
 to displacement in the progress of the work. After 
 numerous experiments, the method of adjusting the line, 
 described below, was finally adopted, as the best 
 and most convenient, and a description of it, 
 with illustrations, was published in the annual 
 report of the Michigan State Board of Agricul- 
 ture for 1873, with the improved form of drain- 
 ing scoop already noticed (fig. 22, p. 126 ; and 
 fig. 30, p. 160). Since that time the practical 
 value of these improvements in tile-laying has 
 been demonstrated in extensive draining opera- 
 tions, in economizing labor, and in the accuracy 
 and permanent character of the results obtained. 
 The directions for laying tiles, which follow, are 
 the results of practical expe- 
 rience in the field, and the 
 several steps in the process will 
 be given in sufficient detail to 
 answer all questions that are 
 likely to arise in ordinary farm 
 practice. 
 
 Tools Required. Be- 
 sides the simple appliances for 
 adjusting the line, which will 
 soon be noticed, and ordinary 
 spades and shovels, a few 
 " draining tools" should be 
 OF PUSH provided before beginning 
 OP ' draining operations of any ex- 
 tent. The tools that must be consid- 
 ered indispensable are three sizes of the 
 draining scoop (figs. 22 and 30), for 
 two, three and four-inch tiles, and two FIG 2 o. OLD FORM 
 or three draining spades, with blades OF I'ULL SCOOP. 
 sixteen inches long, and from four to six inches wide at 
 the point. 
 
160 
 
 LAKD DEAINING. 
 
 The cost of these tools need not exceed six or seven 
 dollars, and this will be saved, in economizing labor, in 
 making but a few rods of drain, and, moreover, it will 
 be exceedingly difficult to lay tiles, as they should be 
 laid, without them. The draining spades can be obtained 
 through any hardware dealer, who will order them, if 
 not kept in stock. As the draining scoops 
 may not be found in the market, a descrip- 
 tion will be given that will enable any 
 intelligent blacksmith to make them. 
 The blades, about twelve or thirteen inches 
 in length, may be made of thin sheet steel, 
 like a hand-saw blade, or the well-worn 
 blade of an old shovel, the shank being 
 secured in the middle by two rivets, with 
 the heads countersunk on the under side, 
 to make a smooth surface. The blades 
 should be curved, to fit the outside of the 
 tiles, for which they are intended to form 
 the groove, or bed, in the bottom of the 
 ditch. The width of the blades should 
 be a little more than one-third, and rather 
 less than one-half the outside circumfer- 
 ence of the tile. The handles may be 
 from four and one-half to six feet long, 
 and about the size of the lower part of a FIG< 30> MILES' 
 common rake stale, or a small hoe handle ; DRAINING SCOOP. 
 and the aim should be to make a light, handy tool, as 
 great strength is not required in jointing the groove to 
 receive the tile, or in throwing out loose earth from the 
 bottom of the ditch. The draining scoops in the mar- 
 ket, of the old form (figs. 28 and 29), may be altered to 
 the improved form (fig. 30), by changing the position 
 of the shank, but, as a rule, it will be better to use only 
 the blade, and make a new and lighter shank and han- 
 dle. Useful scoops for heavier work may be made by 
 
HOW TO MAKE TILE DRAINS. 16l 
 
 cutting off the sides of an ordinary long-handled pointed 
 shovel, so that the blade is about six and one-half or 
 seven inches wide, and then curving it to fit the out- 
 side of a five or a six-inch tile. These can be used 
 for clearing the earth from the ditch when it is too 
 narrow for the ordinary shovel or spade, and to form the 
 bed for five and six inch tiles, according to the curve 
 of the blade. For convenience, this will be called the 
 shovel scoop. 
 
 Ditches for Tile Drains As the cost of ditches 
 depends^ to a great extent, upon the amount of earth 
 moved in digging them, their width should not exceed 
 what is required to give sufficient room for performing 
 the work of excavation and laying the tiles. With suit- 
 able tools, in the hands of an experienced workman, a 
 ditch sixteen inches wide at the top, and tapering to 
 four inches at the bottom, may be dug to the depth 
 of four feet, with but little inconvenience, and that 
 has its compensations in the comparatively small amount 
 of earth moved in accomplishing the result. At the 
 depth of from two to two and one-half feet, such a ditch 
 would be ten or twelve inches wide, and, thus far, ordi- 
 nary spades, or shovels, assisted by the pick, if necessary, 
 will be the most convenient tools to use. This leaves 
 ample room for the workmen, in making the remaining 
 excavation. A sharp draining spade, with its rounded 
 point, may now be used to advantage. From its taper- 
 ing form, cind the gradually diminishing width of the 
 ditch, the earth chipped, or sliced off, with it, must be 
 thrown out with a shovel scoop. The last spading of 
 from six to ten inches should not be disturbed until 
 ready to lay the tiles. A ditch from four to five inches 
 wide at the bottom will serve for two-inch tiles, and a 
 width of nine inches '13 sufficient for six-inch tiles, pro- 
 vided a straight trench has been made. Workmen, by 
 the day, may prefer more commodious quarters to work 
 11 
 
162 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 in, but when paid by the rod the discomforts of a narrow 
 ditch soon cease to be a matter of complaint. 
 
 In order to lay tiles successfully in a narrow ditch, 
 it must be straight, as any lateral curves will prevent 
 the making of tight joints between the ends of the tiles 
 as they are laid. This should be kept in mind through- 
 out the entire process of excavation. A line drawn 
 upon the surface should be the guide, in beginning the 
 ditch, as a curve made on the start cannot easily be cor- 
 rected as the excavation proceeds. 
 
 The use of the plow near the surface, and the sub- 
 soil plow to loosen the earth at greater depths, have fre- 
 quently been recommended as labor-saving operations in 
 digging ditches. If straight and narrow ditches are 
 desirable, to economize the amount of earth to be moved, 
 it is doubtful whether any saving in labor can be made 
 by the use of the plow, on ditches for tiles from two to 
 six inches in diameter. For the ditches required for 
 larger tiles, it is possible that the plow, under judicious 
 management, may be used with economy, but my expe- 
 rience leads me to doubt it. It should be remarked that 
 the earth should always be thrown out on one side of 
 the ditch, leaving the other side clear, for the distribu- 
 tion of tiles, and convenient access to the work for 
 various purposes. 
 
 Adjustment of the Line. In order to lay tiles 
 on a uniform slope, which is especially necessary when 
 there is but little fall, the grade, as we have seen, can 
 be most readily established by measuring from a line, 
 drawn over the middle of the ditch, at a convenient dis- 
 tance above the proposed bed of the tiles. To fix this 
 line in its proper position, "shears" are used, consisting 
 of two pieces of light wood, one inch thick and about 
 three inches wide, and five to seven feet long, joined 
 together near one end by a small carriage bolt, as repre- 
 sented in fig. 31. The lower end of the arms should be 
 
HOW TO MAKE TILE DRAIKS. 163 
 
 square, to prevent settling in the earth when in position. 
 In describing the method of adjustment and the use of 
 the line, we will suppose that, beginning at the outlet, 
 several rods of ditch have been dug to within six to ten 
 inches of the bottom. Two of the shears are then placed 
 astride the ditch, from four to six, or more, rods apart, 
 one of them being over the point where the first tile is 
 
 to be laid, and adjusted in 
 height, by spreading, or con- 
 tracting, the arms, so that they 
 will hold the line seven feet 
 above the proposed grade. 
 
 A small but strong line, 
 like a mason's, or a fine fishing 
 line, is now stretched between 
 the two shears, resting in the 
 fork, and making one turn 
 around a short arm of each to 
 prevent slipping, and when 
 drawn tight it is fastened at 
 each end to a peg, driven in 
 
 the ground about five feet beyond the foot of the shears, 
 and near the line of the ditch. The distance of the pegs 
 to which the line is attached, from the foot of the shears, 
 is a matter of importance, for the reason that, if they are 
 nearer the foot of the shears than the height of the line 
 above the ground, the strain on the line between the top 
 of the shears and the peg will be greater than between 
 the two shears, and the line is liable to be broken 
 between the shears and the pegs, when subjected to the 
 necessary tension to keep it straight. The smaller the 
 line the better, provided it has the necessary strength, 
 as the tendency to sag between the shears increases with 
 the size of the line. As all lines will sasr more or less, 
 
 O 
 
 if the shears are several rods apart, it was found neces- 
 sary to provide some simple and convenient means of 
 
164 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 support to correct this defect. The most satisfactory 
 device for this purpose is the "gauge stake," represented 
 in fig. 32. 
 
 The vertical rod of hard wood, about one and one- 
 fourth inches in diameter, and five feet, or more, in 
 length (a long fork handle will answer), 
 should have a sharp iron point, which is 
 readily made from a piece of gas pipe, and 
 an iron band around the upper end to pre- 
 vent splitting, when it is driven into the 
 ground. The horizontal arm, about two 
 feet long, and two by two and one-half 
 inches at the end through which the ver- 
 tical rod passes, is tapered to three-fourths 
 of an inch at the other end, to diminish 
 its weight. A rivet, not shown in the cut, 
 should be put through the base of this 
 arm, back of the key which clamps it to 
 the vertical rod. When the line is in 
 FIG. 32. GAUGE place over the middle of the ditch, the 
 rod of the gauge stake is driven near the 
 margin of the ditch, and the horizontal arm is slid up 
 under the line, until the sag is corrected, when it is 
 secured in place with the key which clamps it to the 
 rod. Two or three of these gauge stakes may be con- 
 veniently used, so that the shears can be placed farther 
 apart. The relations of the line to the shears and pegs, 
 and the use of the gauge-stakes, will readily be seen in 
 fig. 33. The sole object in view is to fix the line above 
 the grade of the drain, so that it is not likely to be dis- 
 placed in laying the tiles, by means that will facilitate 
 its removal and readjustment in an advanced position as 
 the work progresses. 
 
 Other methods of supporting a line above the ditch 
 to serve as a guide in laying tiles have been adopted. 
 In laying sewer pipes, a wider and deeper ditch, (twelve 
 
HOW TO MAKE TILE DRAINS. 
 
 165 
 
166 
 
 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 to fifteen feet deep), is usually required, than in ordinary 
 drainage, and stakes are driven on each side of it at con- 
 venient intervals, and crossbars nailed to them to sup- 
 port the line, in the manner represented in fig. 34. In 
 order to facilitate the adjustment of the crossbars, and 
 the removal of the apparatus to a new position, Prof. 
 R. C. Carpenter has planned a method of clamping the 
 
 FIG. 34. 
 
 cross bars to the stakes, represented in the separate 
 pieces in fig. 34, which will be found more convenient 
 than to fasten them with nails. 
 
 In my own experience in fixing the line, the iron 
 clamps, found in every hardware store, for fastening the 
 corners of quilting frames, have been used for clamping 
 the crossbars to the stakes, which, on the whole, is the 
 cheapest and most satisfactory method I have tried. 
 Where a wide ditch is required for laying the larger 
 sizes of tiles, or sewer pipes, at depths exceeding four or 
 five feet, this method of supporting the line has some 
 advantages, but for laying tiles of six inches, or less, 
 from four to five feet deep, as practiced in farm drain- 
 age, the method represented in fig. 33 has proved, in 
 my experience, the most satisfactory, as it is much 
 cheaper, more convenient, and less time is required in 
 
HOW TO MAKE TILE DRAINS. 167 
 
 moving and readjusting the line, while the apparatus, 
 from the smaller number and bulk of the pieces, has 
 decided advantages in portability. 
 
 In laying tiles four feet deep, seven feet has proved 
 to be a convenient distance to place the line above the 
 proposed grade, as a man can readily work under it when 
 all but the last foot of excavation has been made. The 
 position of the first tile at the outlet is the fixed point 
 from which the grade must start, and the line is, accord- 
 ingly, placed seven feet above its bed. The question 
 will then arise as to the proper height of the line at the 
 upper shears. If a depth of four feet has *been decided 
 upon, the line must, evidently, be placed three feet 
 above the surface of the ground, but its position, when 
 so fixed, should be tested, before any tiles are laid, to 
 ascertain, beyond any doubt, that it represents a suffi- 
 cient fall in the right direction. This precaution is 
 absolutely necessary when the surface is nearly level and 
 but a slight fall can be obtained. This verification may 
 readily be made with a builders' spirit level, which can 
 be obtained at any hardware store for one dollar, or less. 
 When the line is in place the level held under it will 
 show whether there is a good fall or not ; but when the 
 fall is slight a more exact method will be required. 
 
 To secure greater accuracy in the use of the level, 
 provide two strips of board, two or three inches wide, 
 and three or four feet long, with the lower ends sharp- 
 ened and the tops square. Drive these stakes in the 
 ground (so that they will stand firmly), about twenty 
 inches apart, at a point nearly opposite the middle of 
 the line, and about twenty feet from it. They should 
 be so placed that the level resting on them is parallel to 
 the line, and it can then be leveled by driving one or the 
 other of the stakes, as may be required. When the level 
 is accurately adjusted, stand back of it, two or three 
 feet, and bring the eye in range with its upper edge and 
 
168 LAND DE AIDING. 
 
 the line over the ditch. A considerable length of the 
 line will then be seen over the level, within the range of 
 its ends, and its slope will be readily seen. If the fall is 
 not sufficient, as the line is adjusted, its upper end 
 must be raised, by bringing the arms of its shears nearer 
 together, or, if the indicated fall is more than is require J, 
 the arms of the upper shears may be driven into the 
 ground to lower the line at that point, and the desired 
 grade may, in this way, be easily established. When 
 laying tiles where there is but little fall, and strict accu- 
 racy is therefore required, it has been my practice to 
 keep the level adjusted opposite the line, so that any 
 accidental displacement could be detected and remedied 
 without any delay in the progress of the work. 
 
 Measuring Rod. When the line is properly ad- 
 justed, a light rod just seven feet long is used to meas- 
 ure, or gauge, from it, the grade on which the tiles are 
 to be laid. As the excavation should not, in any case, 
 be made below the desired grade, from the difficulty of 
 filling the depression so that the tiles will not settle 
 under the pressure upon them when the ditch is filled, 
 the measuring rod should be frequently used to pscertain 
 the exact amount of excavation to be made. By placing 
 the lower end of the rod on the bottom of the ditch at 
 any time, the distance of its top above the line will, of 
 course, indicate the remaining depth to be dug. It is 
 important, in using the measuring rod, that it is kept 
 vertical when gauging the depth of the drain, and that 
 the line is over the middle of the ditch, as an inclination 
 of the rod in either direction will have the effect to 
 shorten it. By holding the rod lightly between the 
 thumb and fingers, near its upper end, it will then serve 
 as a plumb, to indicate its proper position in measuring 
 from the line. 
 
 When the tiles are laid to the upper shears, the line 
 can be adjusted over the next section of the ditch in a 
 
HOW TO MAKE TILE DKAIKS. 169 
 
 few minutes, the upper shears remaining in place, and 
 the lower shears carried forward to the upper end of the 
 line. This change in position, and readjustment of the 
 line, can be made in less time than it takes to describe 
 the process, and the level is then carried forward to a 
 new position, to verify the results of the new adjustment. 
 
 A word of caution must here be given in regard to 
 the use and care of the line. New lines, and those that 
 have been wet, are liable to stretch, and constant atten- 
 tion is required, to detect and correct the first indica- 
 tions of sagging, and prevent a consequent sag in the 
 drain. To keep the line dry, and avoid annoyance from 
 its variations in length from the effects of moisture, it 
 should be taken in at night, or whenever work is sus- 
 pended, and readjusted when the work is resumed. If 
 the tiles have not been laid to the upper shears, when 
 work is suspended at any time, it will be best, in readjust- 
 ing the line, to start from the last tile laid, by bringing 
 the lower shears forward to it, when work is resumed, 
 so that tiles may be laid the whole length of the line 
 before it is again moved. These details may be looked 
 upon as trifles hardly worth mentioning, but success in 
 laying tiles will depend upon attention to many small 
 matters, which, in the aggregate, are not inconsiderable. 
 
 How Tiles are Laid. The ditch having been 
 dug to within eight or ten inches of the bottom, and the 
 line properly adjusted over the middle of the ditch, two 
 men may begin the work of finishing the excavation and 
 laying the tiles, which we will suppose are for a four- 
 inch main, beginning at the outlet. A level-headed boy, 
 or the proprietor as superintendent if he does not pre- 
 fer to lay the tiles himself, will facilitate the work by 
 managing the measuring rod, and performing any other 
 service that may be required, from time to time, outside 
 the ditch. 
 
 One of the men standing in the ditch, with his face 
 towards the outlet, with the six-inch draining spade, 
 
170 
 
 DRAINING. 
 
 slices off the earth, or loosens it to nearly the required 
 depth, moving backwards as the work progresses, while 
 the tile-layer stands facing him and throws out the loose 
 earth with a shovel scoop, or the draining scoop, fig. 30, 
 as may be most convenient. When the excavation has 
 been finished for a distance of three or four feet, the 
 tile-layer planes a groove in the bottom of the ditch with 
 the draining scoop, to the required grade, as gauged 
 with the measuring rod, and lays two or three tiles in it 
 with their ends closely in contact, and covers them with 
 five or six inches of earth, on which he then stands, 
 
 FIG. 35. 
 
 packing it around the tiles as he proceeds with his work. 
 The next section of the ditch is then prepared for three 
 or four tiles by a repetition of the process of excavation 
 planing a groove for the tiles laying them and cov- 
 ering with earth, to form a platform on which the tile 
 layer advances, and the same routine is again repeated. 
 By following this system, it will be seen that the 
 feet of the workmen are not within eight or ten inches 
 
HOW TO MAKE TILE DRAINS. 171 
 
 of the bottom of the ditch, the man with the draining 
 spade standing on the earth to be excavated, and the 
 tile layer on his underdrained platform, as represented 
 in fig. 35, is exempt from the annoyances from mud and 
 water that are usually associated with the work of drain- 
 ing. If the bottom of the ditch is soft, and water is 
 running over it, the man with the draining spade will 
 be standing in mud, which will interfere with his effi- 
 ciency and the general progress of the work. This can, 
 however, be obviated in a very simple way, that more 
 than repays the extra trouble it involves. A one and 
 one-half or two inch pine plank about six feet long, and 
 a little narrower than the bottom of the ditch, is laid 
 down for him to stand on. Near the upper end of the 
 plank a hole should be bored, in which a small rope is 
 tied, its free end being thrown over the edge of the ditch 
 to keep it out of the mud. With this the plank can be 
 pulled back from time to time, as may be required. 
 
 In the judicious application of this method the 
 draining spade and the draining scoop are kept in sup- 
 porting distance, each man being able to aid the other 
 in any exigency that may arise, and their efficiency, 
 through their combined efforts, will be materially 
 increased. If the bottom of the ditch is hard, or small 
 stones or pebbles interfere with the free use of the drain- 
 ing scoop, the draining spade is within reach, and its 
 rounded point will readily chip out and loosen the 
 obstructions. The man with the draining spade must 
 constantly be on the lookout to facilitate the work of 
 the tile layer, by making a straight trench, and render- 
 ing any assistance that is made possible from the advan- 
 tages of his position. With the exercise of ordinary 
 skill and judgment in making the last excavation, frag- 
 ments of soil and mud may be prevented from entering 
 the open mouth of the drain, by keeping the ditch clean, 
 and finished to the grade, by the use of the draining 
 
172 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 scoop, for a short distance above the last tile laid, and 
 this will serve also us a starting point for the scoop in 
 planing the groove for the next tiles. 
 
 Protection of the Joints. Drains of moderate 
 fall are liable to obstruction if silt is allowed to enter 
 them, and the joints between the tiles should be suffi- 
 ciently close to keep it out. To secure this essential 
 condition, attention must be especially directed to the 
 upper part of the joints, as silt from ordinary soils will 
 readily work down into the drain through small fissures 
 in the upper half of the tiles, while it would not pass 
 through considerably wider ones on their under side. 
 Close joints at the top of the tiles must, then, be looked 
 upon as absolutely necessary, while, in the lower half of 
 the joints, close approximations of the ends of the tiles 
 are, of course, desirable, and care should be taken to 
 secure them, yet they are not as imperatively required 
 to insure the permanence of the drain. 
 
 Tight joints at the top of the old-fashioned sole, 
 and horseshoe tiles, could seldom be made, and the 
 defect was remedied by laying a piece of sod over the 
 joint before covering the tiles with earth. Even the 
 round tiles of a few years ago frequently had uneven 
 ends, so that perfect joints conld not readily be made, 
 and a protection of sods, or other materials, was needed, 
 to make a reliable drain. The labor involved in cutting 
 and distributing sods along the line of the drain, was a 
 serious objection to their use, and in many cases they 
 could not, without great trouble, be obtained. The best 
 and cheapest substitute for sods, all things considered, 
 according to my experience, was found to be strips of 
 tarred roofing paper, about two inches wide, and long 
 enough to cover the upper half of the joints, as they 
 were convenient to use, could be kept alwavs ready 
 when needed, and served the purpose admirably. 
 
 With greater care in the manufacture of tiles, aris- 
 ing from increased competition, and when the best qual- 
 
HOW TO MAKE TILE DRAINS. 173 
 
 ity of clay, free from pebbles, is used, these defects are 
 not as common, but they have not entirely disappeared. 
 When the ends of the tiles are square, and reasonably 
 true, so that close fitting joints can be made by rotating 
 the last tile in its bed, as it is laid, there is really no 
 need of any protection as a general rule, as ordinary 
 soils, when firmly packed over the tiles, will not work 
 through into the drains. If the ends of the tiles, how- 
 ever, are not in contact at the top, and a space is left 
 that will admit a thin knife-blade, they should be cov- 
 ered with strips of tarred paper, or some other material, 
 and it may be well, as a matter of precaution, to cover 
 all of the joints when laying tiles, if actual contact of 
 their ends in the upper half of the joints cannot quite 
 Uniformly be secured. While tight joints need no pro- 
 tection, too much care cannot be exercised in thoroughly 
 covering and protecting all imperfect joints. 
 
 Laterals and Junctions. Main and sub-main 
 drains should, if possible, be laid, as already suggested, 
 at least their diameter lower than the branches, or lat- 
 erals, which empty into them, so that the drains may 
 run full without setting back water into its tributaries, 
 and checking the flow of water in them. Laterals 
 should, therefore, enter a main drain near its top, or 
 crown, and at an angle that will favor the discharge of 
 their water with the current towards the outlet. A dis- 
 charge of water into a drain at right angles to its course 
 will check its current, and if the drain is running full 
 this will, in effect, diminish its capacity. 
 
 When the course of a lateral is nearly, or quite, at 
 right angles to the main into which it is to empty, a 
 change in its direction on a gradual curve, will be 
 required just before it reaches the main, so that a junc- 
 tion may be made for its discharge in the general course 
 of the current towards the outlet. If the main is low 
 enough to allow it, a slight increase in the fall on this 
 curve will be desirable. 
 
174 
 
 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 Manufacturers of tiles now make Y, fig. 36, and V, 
 fig. 37, junctions for tiles of all sizes, and curves, fig. 38, 
 of different degrees of cur vat are, for changing the direc- 
 tion of drains. 
 
 When the mains are laid these junctions may be 
 put in where the laterals are required, the end of the 
 branch being closed with a flat stone, or piece of brick, 
 
 FIG. 36. T JUNCTION. 
 
 FIG. 37. V JUNCTION. 
 
 until needed. An accurate record of these junctions 
 should be made on the map, so that they can easily be 
 found when the laterals are to be laid. Their place in 
 the field may also be marked with a stake, but this is 
 liable to be displaced, and should not be the only record. 
 Even with these aids in construc- 
 tion, it will, in most oases, be 
 found necessary to cut tiles, more 
 or less, to form perfect joints in 
 making connection with them, and 
 avoid abrupt angles in the drain. 
 Tile Picks. The tools re- 
 quired for this purpose, and for 
 cutting and fitting tiles in other places, are the hammer 
 pick, fig. 39, or the hatchet pick, fig. 40. With a little 
 practice tiles may be cut, and junctions readily made, 
 with either of these tools. In my own practice, for sev- 
 eral years, the hammer form has almost always been 
 used, as, on the whole, the most convenient. These 
 tools should be made of the best steel, and have a cold- 
 chisel temper, in order to cut well burned tiles. The 
 
 FIG. 38. CURVES. 
 
HOW TO MAKE TILE DRAINS. 
 
 175 
 
 head of the hammer pick may be about seven-eighths of 
 an inch square at the largest point, and four and one- 
 fourth inches long, or about the weight of a light rivet- 
 ing hammer, the sides and face being flat, with sharp 
 angles all round. The point of both tools should ter- 
 minate in an abrupt bevel, 
 like the edge of a cold-chisel, 
 as a slender point will break, 
 and cannot be kept sharp. 
 The "edge" of the hatchet 
 pick should have a similar 
 bevel, or it may be one- 
 fourth of an inch wide and 
 ground flat at right angles 
 to its sides. 
 
 To make a junction, 
 pick a hole through the side 
 
 FIG. 39. HAMMER PICK. 
 of a tile from the main, with the 
 point of one of these tools, and en- 
 large it in an oblong form, the width 
 being about equal to the inside diam- 
 eter of the tile which is to form the 
 branch. The end of this branch 
 tile is then beveled and hollowed 
 out to fit the outside of the tile from 
 the main at the proper angle. When a good fit is 
 made by chipping with the point, or cutting with the 
 sharp angles of the hammer or hatchet, as may be most 
 convenient, place the branch in its proper position over 
 the hole in the tile from the main, and by looking 
 
 FIG. 40. HATCHET PICK. 
 
176 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 through its bore the additional cutting or trimming of 
 the hole in the main, that is required to allow a free dis- 
 charge from the lateral, will readily be seen. When the 
 fitting of the two tiles together is finished they are laid 
 in position in the drain, and the earth packed around 
 them to hold the branch in place. 
 
 To Lay the Laterals, begin at a junction laid in 
 the main, and make a connection with its branch by cut- 
 ting the ends of the first tiles more or less obliquely, to 
 make good joints, and give the proper direction for the 
 tiles to be laid. Care must be taken to secure a firm 
 bed for these connections, by making as little excavation 
 as possible to bring the tiles to their place, and in cover- 
 ing them the earth must be packed to prevent any dis- 
 placement when the ditch is filled. The ditch for the 
 laterals is dug, the shears and line adjusted, and the 
 tiles laid, as described above in the case of the main 
 drain, the lower shears being placed over the junction 
 at the point where the true grade of the lateral begins. 
 When the laterals are finished the ends of the last tiles 
 should be carefully covered with a half brick, or a flat 
 stone, to keep out silt. 
 
 When ready-made junctions cannot be obtained the 
 mains may be laid without reference to the laterals, or 
 junctions may be made with a tile pick for the laterals 
 that are to be laid at the time, care being taken to pre- 
 vent any displacement of the branch before the laterals 
 are connected with it. After reaching a junction, it 
 will be seen that two gangs of hands may be employed 
 at the same time, if desirable, the one laying the con- 
 tinuation of the main, and the other laying the lateral. 
 
 After a main has been finished and a lateral is to be 
 laid, at any time, where no junction has been provided, 
 let the ditch for the lateral begin over the main, bearing 
 in mind the curve required at the lower end of the lat- 
 eral in making the connection, and uncover the tile in 
 
HOW TO MAKE TILE DRAINS. 177 
 
 which the junction is to be made. After removing the 
 earth from its side towards the ditch as far as may be 
 necessary, roll it out of its bed, pick a hole at the poinc 
 previously marked for the branch, which is then fitted 
 to form a junction. The tile taken from the main is 
 then returned to its former place, the branch is secured 
 in its proper position, and the connecting tiles are laid 
 to the beginning of the straight course of the lateral, 
 after which the work is carried on according to the reg- 
 ular routine. A change in direction, or a curve in a 
 drain, may be made, by trimming the ends of the tiles 
 to a slight angle and smoothing the surface to make a 
 tight joint. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 DRAINS IN QUICKSAND AND PEAT. 
 
 Beds, or pockets, of quicksand are frequently found 
 within four feet of the surface, in many localities in the 
 drift formation, and they have been looked upon as seri- 
 ous obstacles in draining, that could not be surmounted 
 when tiles alone are used. Boards and foundations of 
 stones to support the drain, or conduits of planks, and 
 built-up drains of stones, w r ere Believed to be necessary, 
 by writers who gave any attention to draining in quick- 
 sand,* and in late years collars are frequently mentioned 
 as indispensable if tiles are used. These expensive 
 methods, in connection with the popular notion that 
 quicksand will work into a drain wherever water can 
 enter, have tended to discourage attempts to drain land 
 which might be made valuable by a comparatively mod- 
 
 * Henry Stephens, Manual of Pract,. Drain., 3d ed., 1848, p. 14. 
 Mnnn's Pract. Lund Drainer, N. Y., 1855, p. 132. French, Farm Drain- 
 age, 1859, p. 314. London, Encyol. of Agr'l, 6th ed., 1869, p. 702. 
 
 J./V 
 
178 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 erale outlay under a more consistent system of manage- 
 ment. Boards and stones should never be used in quick- 
 sand,, as they serve no useful purpose, and materially 
 increase the difficulties of construction; while collars 
 only serve to hide imperfect joints, and are, therefore, a 
 source of weakness in the finished drain. A careful con- 
 sideration of the properties of quicksand, and its behav- 
 ior under different conditions, will suggest the most 
 available means of obviating the difficulties presented in 
 its management. 
 
 What is known as quicksand, flowing-sand, or run- 
 ning-sand, is a fine-grained sand, without angles in its 
 particles to increase friction, and sometimes mixed with 
 fine clay, that is easily moved when saturated with 
 water, and readily yields to intermittent pressure. It is 
 freely transported by running water, but, when closely 
 confined and kept in place, it resists continuous pres- 
 sure, and when thoroughly drained it furnishes a stable 
 foundation for tiles that are properly laid to drain it. 
 If a pocket, or bed, of quicksand is met with in digging 
 a ditch, and the level of the water table is above the 
 sand, it offers no resistance to the hydrostatic pressure 
 and runs into the ditch as fast as it is removed, keeping 
 the level required to establish an equilibrium between 
 its own weight and the pressure to which it is subjected. 
 If the excavation is continued, under these conditions, 
 the banks of the ditch are undermined and cave off, fill- 
 ing it with a mass of earth, which must be removed, 
 *md this process may be repeated, if further excavations 
 are made. When the water has considerable head, as it 
 will have, in a wet season, or in the case of springs, the 
 sand will "boil up" into the ditch, filling it to a greater 
 or less height, according to the head of water to which 
 it is exposed. 
 
 These facts are suggestive, and of great practical 
 significance. From its characteristic qualities, quick- 
 
DRAINS IN QUICKSAND. 1?0 
 
 sand varies in its behavior with the conditions of its 
 environment, and, in dealing with it, the conditions must 
 be provided which increase its stability, and these may 
 be formulated in the following rules for its successful 
 management in draining : 1st. In land in which quick- 
 sands abound, drains should only be made in the sum- 
 mer, when the water table is at its lowest level. 2d. 
 When quicksand is found in the bottom of the ditch it 
 should not be disturbed until the tiles are ready to be 
 laid. 3d. The mouth of the tile which has been laid 
 into the edge of the quicksand should be covered with a 
 sod, grass-side down, or some other form of screen, to 
 keep sand from flowing into the drain, and work should 
 be suspended until the water table is lowered to the level 
 of the drain. 4th. The ditch should not be opened, to 
 expose the quicksand, more than a rod or two in advance 
 of the tile-laying. The pertinence of these rules will 
 readily be seen from the fact, that in time of drouth, 
 ditches are dug and tiles laid in fine sand, without any 
 difficulty, when the same sand, if flooded, or saturated 
 with water, would at once be recognized as a bad form 
 of quicksand. 
 
 In my first experience with quicksand in draining, 
 the attempt was made to follow the usual practice of 
 curbing the sides of the ditch and proceeding at once 
 with the tile-laying as rapidly as possible. The expense 
 involved in this method, and the unsatisfactory results 
 obtained, soon convinced me that it was better to wait 
 for the water table to be lowered by the drain already 
 laid, and this has proved to be the most economical and 
 only satisfactory plan. It is certainly better to stop 
 work for a few days, or a week, or more, if necessary, 
 according to the extent of the quicksand, and the 
 amount of water to be discharged, than to perform 
 disagreeable labor under difficulties, without obtaining 
 any equivalent in actual progress. 
 
180 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 The dangers of obstruction from the sand entering 
 the drain are not as imminent as at first sight might 
 appear, if care is taken to place a sod over the end of 
 the upper tile whenever work is suspended, and the 
 drain has been laid on a true grade, with even a moder- 
 ate fall, increasing towards the outlet. From the form 
 of the channel in a round tile, quicksand is moved by a 
 slight current, that would not affect coarser particles of 
 angular sand, and if it enters the drain in but moderate 
 amount it passes on and is discharged at the outlet. 
 Where there are depressions in the line of the grade the 
 sand will, undoubted!} 7 , be deposited, and the import- 
 ance of laying the tiles on a true grade, with a constant 
 descent towards the outlet, must be manifest. With 
 reasonable care in every step of the process of tile laying, 
 it will not be difficult to prevent the sand from entering 
 the drain in sufficient quantity to form an obstruction. 
 
 Tile Laying in Quicksand. The water table hav- 
 ing been lowered so that work can be resumed, the line 
 is adjusted over the ditch, with the lower shears directly 
 over the last tile laid. As sand only is to be excavated, 
 scoops will alone be used. The tile layer, witli a drain- 
 ing scoop (fig. 30), stands in the ditch on the earth cov- 
 ering the tiles already laid, and his assistant, if needed, 
 with a shovel scoop, stands on the movable plank in the 
 ditch, rather farther back than when using the draining 
 spade. Walking or standing in the ditch without the 
 protection of the plank to distribute a person's weight 
 over a larger surface than the unprotected feet, should 
 be strictly prohibited. 
 
 How to Use the Scoop. The excavation for the 
 tiles must now be made with great care, to prevent any 
 unnecessary disturbance of the sand, and success will 
 largely depend upon the manner in which the scoop is 
 used, if there is water still running in the ditch. When 
 the blade of the scoop is in the sand, if its handle is 
 
DRAINS IN QUICKSAND. 181 
 
 depressed, the air cannot enter under its point, and sand 
 will be forced up from below, or pressed in at the sides, 
 to fill the space through which the point of the blade 
 has moved, and when the scoopful of sand is lifted the 
 disturbed sand from the sides of the drain will move in 
 to fill its place. To prevent this unstable condition of 
 the sand the blade of the scoop should be pressed into it 
 with a firm and steady movement, and its heel gently 
 raised to admit the air under it, when it can be raised 
 with its load without causing an inrush of sand to fill 
 the excavation. The aim should be to raise the load on 
 the scoop without communicating any tremor or jar to 
 the surrounding sand. Whether a groove will be left in 
 the bottom of the ditch, or not, when a scoopful of 
 sand is thrown out, will then depend upon the manner 
 in which the work is performed. When an excavation 
 is being made in quicksand, it is in unstable equilibrium, 
 and any sudden jar or tremulous movement of anything 
 in contact with it will set it in motion. For this reason 
 the measuring rod must be used with care, its lower end 
 barely touching the bottom of the groove when getting 
 the gauge of the grade from the line over the ditch. 
 
 A bed having been made for two tiles, and the 
 length of the blade of the scoop beyond, if possible, 
 they are carefully laid, with particular attention to mak- 
 ing tight joints, which are then covered with a thin 
 piece of a firm sod, or a strip of tarred paper. If the 
 sod extends beyond the sides of the tiles it will do no 
 harm, but it should be put in place without any jar to 
 disturb the sand. With the same precautions fine earth, 
 free from lumps, should now be placed over the tiles to 
 the depth of several inches. Moreover, in packing it, 
 the pressure must be the same on each side of the tiles, 
 but when the ditch is filled above the level of the wet 
 sand it will be safe to walk or stand upon it, in the exca- 
 vation and laying the tiles in the next section, but it 
 
182 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 will be well to bear in mind the unstable character of 
 the soil beneath. 
 
 In most cases tiles may be laid, in this way, through 
 the partly drained quicksand, with satisfactory accuracy, 
 without any serious difficulty, but sometimes an extra 
 soft place may be found for a short distance, where the 
 ditch passes over a copious spring, in which it may be 
 necessary to lay sods to furnish a sufficient support for 
 the tiles until they are covered with earth. In such an 
 emergency the sods should be of nearly uniform thick- 
 ness and cover the bottom of the ditch from side to side, 
 after the excavation has been made as close to the desired 
 grade as the conditions will permit. To lay a tile, in 
 such cases, place it on the sod, and stand with one foot 
 upon it to bring it to the grade, and make a joint with 
 the preceding tile. If it settles too low, place thin sods 
 under it until it is brought to the grade when bearing a 
 man's weight, and cover the joint with a wide sod, and 
 pack the earth on each side and over it when still under 
 pressure. The measuring rod, to determine the proper 
 grade, should be used from the top of the tile, the diam- 
 eter of which should be marked on the upper end of the 
 rod to gauge with the line. With sufficient care, and 
 the exercise of a little ingenuity and judgment, such 
 places may be bridged over with satisfactory results, and 
 the drain kept to the required grade. 
 
 Several years after laying tiles in the manner 
 described above, through an unusually bad bed of quick- 
 sand, the top of which was nearly two feet above the 
 grade of the drain, the tiles were uncovered for a dis- 
 tance of between two and three rods, to ascertain whether 
 any displacement had taken place when they were laid. 
 The drain was found to be in perfect condition, and the 
 tiles varied less than half an inch from a true grade, 
 and the permanent character of the work was evident. 
 In numerous similar cases drains are running well that 
 
DRAINS IN PEAT. 183 
 
 have been laid more than fifteen years, without any 
 known instance of failure. 
 
 Tiles in Peat. Tiles laid in peaty soils are much 
 more liable to displacement than when well laid in quick- 
 sand, and care in laying them is necessary to secure a 
 permanent drain. In draining marsh lands where the 
 peat extends below the grade of the drains, it may not 
 be advisable to lay tiles until the soil has been allowed 
 to settle, after draining with open ditches. When tiles 
 are laid in peat the excavation should never be made 
 below the line of grade, from the difficulty of filling the 
 depression, to secure a uniform grade in the drain when 
 the ditches are filled. On account of the unstable char- 
 acter of peat as a foundation for a tile drain, three-inch 
 laterals have been used, and they appear to have a num- 
 ber of advantages over smaller sizes. 
 
 Marsh soils, containing a large proportion of peat, 
 become more compact when drained, thus diminishing 
 the depth of soil above the drains. It is a common 
 error, in draining swamps, to make the drains too shal- 
 low, and the subsequent shrinking, or settling of the 
 soil, brings them still nearer the surface. If a suitable 
 outlet can be secured, tiles in peaty soils should be laid, 
 at least four feet deep, and it would be better to have 
 that depth after the soil has settled. Marsh lands should 
 be thoroughly drained, in order to give the best results, 
 as they are naturally retentive of moisture, and, if they 
 are saturated with water for a considerable time in a wet 
 spring, their value during the following season will be 
 very much impaired, through defective soil metabolism. 
 
 Most of the failures in draining marsh lands that 
 have come under my observation are clearly attributable 
 to insufficient drainage, and the flooding of the soil in 
 wet seasons, or in wet spring months. The facts pre- 
 sented in chapter five, in regard to the capacity of 
 drained soils to absorb and retain capillary water, and 
 
184 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 the beneficial effects of deep and thorough drainage in 
 times of drouth, must be sufficient to indicate the falla- 
 cies of the unfounded assumption, that there is danger 
 of making marsh soils too dry by thorough draining. 
 A deep range for root distribution is quite as important 
 in peaty, as in upland soils, and shallow drainage is not 
 a rational .remedy for prospective drouths. Peaty soils, 
 as a general rule, yield slowly to the ameliorating effects 
 of draining, under the most favorable conditions, and 
 the water table must be kept uniformly below the stratum 
 of soil it is proposed to make available for growing crops, 
 in order to obtain satisfactory results. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 OUTLETS AND OBSTRUCTIONS. 
 
 One of the essential conditions of an efficient drain, 
 or system of drains, is a sufficient outlet for the dis- 
 charge of the water brought to it without checking or 
 retarding its current. When the outfall will permit, it 
 may be advisable to lay the tiles deeper at the outlet, 
 and for some distance up the main, to secure a better 
 fall in the drains tributary to it, especially when the 
 surface of the area to be drained is nearly level. Lat- 
 erals discharging directly into an open ditch*, or creek, 
 are particularly liable to a displacement, or obstruction, 
 of the tiles at the mouth of the drains, from various 
 causes that need not be enumerated. Instead of these 
 numerous outlets, that require constant attention to 
 keep them in working order, it will be better to lay an 
 intercepting main some distance back of the open ditch, 
 or other water course, to collect and discharge the water 
 at a single outlet which can be suitably protected. On 
 
OUTLETS A.ND OBSTRUCTIONS. 185 
 
 the whole, this will result in a saving of expense, and, 
 what is quite as important, it will insure efficiency in the 
 system of drainage. 
 
 Outlet of Drains. The outlets of tile drains 
 should be protected from the dangers of displacement by 
 the action of frost, the washing of the banks where they 
 come to the surface, and the treading of cattle, and pro- 
 visions should be made to keep vermin from entering 
 the drain to cause an obstruction. The best, and, in the 
 long run, the cheapest, protection for the outlet, is a 
 retaining wall of stones, laid in cement mortar, the 
 foundation extending below the action of frost, and the 
 top carried three feet, or more, above the drain, to sup- 
 port the earth covering its approach to the outlet. The 
 tiles at the outlet should be well burned, and impervious 
 to water, to prevent crumbling by frost, and the ter- 
 minal tile, projecting several inches from the face of the 
 retaining wall, should be a size larger than those above 
 it, to provide room and opportunity for protection by a 
 grating, or other device, to keep out vermin, without 
 impeding the discharge from the drain. A length of 
 glazed sewer pipe, a size larger than the drain, will form 
 an efficient and convenient outlet, with advantages that 
 will readily be recognized. A grating of some kind 
 should be placed over the end of the drain, to keep out 
 vermin, or a valve, placed obliquely at the end, or just 
 within the last tile, so that it will open freely by the 
 force of the current, and close as the flow of water 
 diminishes, will serve the same purpose if properly 
 adjusted. As the efficiency of the entire system of drain- 
 age depends upon a free discharge of water at the outlet, 
 these precautions to prevent any displacement of the 
 tiles, and to guard against possible causes of obstruction, 
 cannot be considered as of minor importance. 
 
 The exercise of good judgment, and skill in engin- 
 eering, may, in many cases, be required to make the 
 
186 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 best location for the lower course of a main drain, and 
 in deciding upon the most available outlet. When the 
 nut oral surface drainage of a field is over lands of an 
 adjoining owner, and a long line of drain would be 
 required to follow the lowest line of descent, a short cut 
 may sometimes be made by a deeply laid main, with a 
 saving in expense, and at the same time an undesirable 
 partnership interest in the drain may be avoided. In 
 Mr. Woods' system of drainage, which has already been 
 noticed, a considerable saving in the expense was effected, 
 and the drain kept on his own land, by making a cut of 
 more than twice the depth of the rest of the drain for 
 the five-inch main, for several rods through a ridge, and 
 a better fall, owing to the shorter distance, was likewise 
 obtained. Depressions of the surface, or isolated basins, 
 frequently occur, that may be drained by a deep cut for 
 the main, when an outfall can be found within a reason- 
 able distance. When the retentive soil of these basins 
 rests upon a bed of sand or gravel, as is frequently the 
 case, a well, sunk to the previous strata, may serve as an 
 outlet into which the drains are made to empty, and 
 when they are finished the well may be bridged over, 
 just above the level of the tiles, and covered with soil, 
 so that they will not interfere with the cultivation of 
 the field. 
 
 Care of Drains. Drains of round tiles laid on a 
 true grade, with closely fitting joints, may be looked 
 upon as permanent improvements, but at the same time, 
 it is well to keep in mind the fact, that under certain 
 conditions they are liable to obstructions, which should 
 at once be removed, to avoid the risk of an increase of 
 the difficulty and a complete stoppage of the drain. As 
 these accidents seldom occur, they may be overlooked in 
 their early stages, when most easily remedied, if frequent 
 attention is not given to the drains to see that they are 
 in working order. 
 
OUTLETS AND OBSTRUCTIONS. 18* 1 
 
 Obstructions. If the outlet is protected to pre- 
 vent an invasion by vermin, and the tiles have been 
 properly laid, the only causes of obstruction that require 
 special attention, are the stoppage of the drain by thf 
 roots of " water-loving trees," by deposits of oxide oi 
 iron, or from a displacement of the tiles, by what is pop- 
 ularly called a l ' washout," when the drains are running 
 full under a considerable head of water after an extraor- 
 dinary rainfall. 
 
 Obstruction by Roots. The roots of trees some- 
 times find their way into the tiles, even when close joints 
 have been made, and the drain is, more or less, com- 
 pletely filled with a spongy mass of fine fibrous rootlets, 
 through which the water cannot run. Elms and wil- 
 lows are the most common intruders, but the roots of 
 the ash, the poplars and alders have been reported as 
 causes of obstruction, and ,the list should, perhaps, be 
 extended. Even the roots of farm crops have been 
 known to cause an obstruction in tiles under favorable 
 conditions. The roots of mangels have been found in 
 tiles at a depth of three and one-half feet, and the roots 
 of horse radish have been reported as causing a complete 
 stoppage of tiles at a depth of seven feet. 
 
 On the other hand, drains have continued to work 
 without obstruction in the vicinity of elms and willows, 
 and farm crops of all kinds have been grown on drained 
 land without any indication that their roots interfered 
 with the integrity of the drains. The invasion of tiles 
 by the roots of plants must, therefore, be determined by 
 special conditions, that are not the necessary results of 
 draining. 
 
 From a careful examination of the cases reported, 
 in connection with my own observations, it appears to 
 me evident that a perennial stream of water in the drain, 
 and a prevailing drouth, are the essential conditions for 
 the stoppage of tiles by the roots of plants, and I have 
 
188 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 failed to find a single instance in which roots have 
 stopped a drain that was dry for several weeks in the 
 summer. When drains receive water from springs, so 
 that they continue to run in time of severe drouth, 
 roots, from a deficiency of moisture in the soil, enter the 
 tiles for a more abundant supply. As the water in the 
 drain carries in solution food materials, which are made 
 available by the plants, the roots are rapidly developed, 
 as they always are in good feeding grounds, and they 
 may extend for some distance along the drain, until, by 
 the increase in numbers, it is completely full. In dry 
 weather in the summer the water table is usually consid- 
 erably below the level of farm drains, so that they fail 
 to run for several weeks in succession, and the roots of 
 plants have no inducement to enter the drains. On the 
 other hand, when the water table rises, so that the 
 drains begin to run, roots have convenient supplies of 
 water, without resorting to the abnormal method of 
 entering the drains. 
 
 When drains have been stopped with roots, trees in 
 the immediate vicinity have been cut down, as the sup- 
 posed intruders, without remedying the evil, which has 
 finally been traced to trees several hundred feet from 
 the drain. The only remedy for this form of obstruc- 
 tion is the removal of the offending trees, and, where 
 there are several growing in the vicinity, it may be diffi- 
 cult to decide which one is the exciting cause. 
 
 Washouts in Drains. A common cause of ob- 
 struction, in drains that are carelessly made, is the dis- 
 placement of the tiles by a " washout," when the fall 
 has been diminished towards the outlet. The dimin- 
 ished fall involves a decrease in the velocity of the cur- 
 rent, and when the tiles are running full, the capacity 
 of the drain, in its lower course, is not sufficient to 
 freely discharge the volume of water received from above. 
 The influence of a diminished fall in retarding the flow 
 
OUTLETS AND OBSTKUCTIONS. 189 
 
 of water in a drain, will be sufficiently illustrated by a 
 few figures from a table by Prof. E. C. Carpenter, of 
 Cornell University.* A three-inch tile, with a fall of 
 four inches in a rod, will discharge about the same 
 amount of water as a four-inch tile, on a grade of 
 one inch to the rod; and a four-inch tile, with a fall 
 of five inches in a rod, will discharge about the same 
 volume of water as a six-inch tile, with a fall of three- 
 fourths of an inch in a rod. 
 
 The check given to the current by diminishing the 
 fall is extended to the tiles higher up, and the water is 
 set back in the drain, until it has sufficient head to force 
 the water out at the joints of the tiles in the vicinity of 
 the change in grade, and if it then finds its way under, 
 or by the sides of, the tiles, they are finally undermined 
 by the washing of the soil, until they settle and inter- 
 rupt the continuity of the water way. The indications 
 of the obstruction are the same as in the stoppage of the 
 drain by other causes, and the surface soil over the drain 
 may remain undisturbed. 
 
 The remedies for such accidents are obvious, and 
 should not be overlooked when the drain is made. After 
 extraordinary rains, the mains of farm drains will prob- 
 ably run full for several days, which will do no harm if 
 the tiles have been laid with proper care, on a true grade 
 wliicli is constantly increasing towards the outlet. This 
 should be the aim, in planning the drains, in all cases, 
 but when it is necessary to diminish the rate of fall in 
 the lower course of a main, a larger tile should be laid 
 to give an increased capacity, with diminished velocity 
 of the current. 
 
 "When a rapid fall in a main is changed to a moder- 
 ate one lower down in its course, a considerable enlarge- 
 ment of the drain may be necessary to secure a free dis- 
 charge of the volume of water brought down by the 
 
 *Micli. Report of the State Bd. of Agr'l, 1886, p. 174. 
 
190 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 more rapid current in the tiles above. From the facts 
 presented it must be seen that a long main, even with 
 moderate fall, and receiving branches throughout its 
 course, should not be laid its entire length with tiles of 
 the same size. If, for example, a six-inch main at the 
 outlet is decided upon, as sufficient for the area to be 
 drained, from the considerations presented in the pre- 
 ceding chapters, it may be diminished to five, and then 
 four, and finally three inches, without loss of efficiency 
 and with a considerable saving in the cost of construc- 
 tion. Good judgment in the application of correct prin- 
 ciples will be required to make the changes in size at 
 the proper place. 
 
 It is a common mistake to assume that tile-laying is 
 simplified when there is a good fall, and that any one 
 can lay tiles under such conditions. In laying tiles 
 where there is a rapid fall, extraordinary care should be 
 exercised in the alignment of the tiles, and in packing 
 the earth closely around them to close all possible chan- 
 nels for the passage of water outside of the drain, and in 
 connection with the precautions already suggested, the 
 importance of close and well protected joints must be 
 readily recognized. 
 
 Silt and Silt Basins. From the imperfect joints 
 that were of common occurrence, and almost unavoidable, 
 when horseshoe and sole tiles were used, one of the 
 most common causes of obstruction was sand, or, in 
 general terms, silt, which found its way through the 
 defective joints and accumulated in places to completely 
 fill the tiles, and the recommendation was made to con- 
 struct silt basins, at important points in the drain, as at 
 junctions, to catch the sand and prevent its passing to 
 the drain below. With the improved methods of laying 
 round tiles, silt basins are not needed, and after the 
 small amount of loose soil unavoidably admitted to the 
 drain in the process of tile-laying has been discharged, 
 
OUTLETS AND OBSTRUCTIONS. 191 
 
 the appearance of silt in the drain must be considered as 
 an evidence of faulty construction. 
 
 When two, or more, important sub-mains join the 
 main at the same point, a convenient junction may be 
 made by a well of bricks, in which the drains all termi- 
 nate. These wells may be closed just above the tiles 
 and covered with soil, or they may be continued to the 
 surface by an eighteen or twenty-inch sewer pipe, the 
 top being secured with a tight-fitting^ cover. A conven- 
 ient means of inspecting the drains may, in this way, be 
 provided, but it will seldom be advisable to make them, 
 as they interfere, more or less, with the cultivation of 
 the field. 
 
 Obstructions from Deposits of Oxide of Iron. 
 In the vicinity of ferruginous deposits in the soil, 
 drains are liable to obstruction from an accumulation of 
 oxide of iron, especially near the outlet. "Carbonate of 
 iron is the salt contained in most ferruginous springs, in 
 which it is held in solution by free carbonic acid ; it is 
 rarely present in a larger quantity than one grain per 
 pint. Mere exposure to air causes its separation ; the 
 acid escapes, oxygen is absorbed, and hydrated peroxide 
 of iron, mixed with a small quantity of organic matter, 
 subsides, forming the ochry deposits so usual around 
 chalybeate springs."* 
 
 A rapid fall in the main at the outlet will diminish 
 the tendency to these deposits within the drain, but the 
 best remedy, on the whole, is a well, as described above, 
 on the line of the main, some distance from the outlet, 
 so that the drain can be conveniently flushed, from time 
 to time, by a piece of board placed over the outgoing 
 tile, until the water rises in the well above the tiles, 
 when it is suddenly allowed to escape, and scour the 
 drain below by the force and volume of the current. 
 
 * Miller's Elements of Chemistry, vol. 2, p. 523. 
 
192 LAND DRAINING. 
 
 Indications and Location of Obstructions. 
 When an obstruction occurs in the course of a drain, the 
 current below it is checked, but may not be entirely 
 interrupted, water is dammed back in the tiles higher 
 up, and the soil is, more or less, saturated with water. 
 The crop, growing in the vicinity, often furnishes the 
 first indications of insufficient drainage, especially in 
 wet seasons, or in time of drouth following a wet spring. 
 It is frequently difficult to determine definitely the seat 
 of the obstruction, but attention to the behavior of 
 water in the soil will materially aid in the solution of 
 the problem. Where there is a rapid fall in the drain, 
 the water in the soil will percolate down along the 
 course of the drain, and the wettest place may be some 
 distance below the obstruction. But when the fall is 
 slight the local indications at any given point are not 
 likely to be as marked, and the obstruction may be below 
 the greatest accumulation of the more widely diffused 
 water in the soil. 
 
 After a careful examination of all the conditions, to 
 locate the fault approximately, trial pits may be dug on 
 the line of the drain, at intervals, as determined by the 
 indications. If the pit is higher up the drain than the 
 point of obstruction, the soil will be wet before the tiles 
 are reached, and another pit must be dug lower down 
 the line of the drain. When the obstruction is above 
 the pit, water will not stand in the excavation over the 
 tiles. It will seldom be necessary to 'dig down and 
 uncover the tiles, in order to determine with certainty 
 that the place of obstruction is between two of the trial 
 pits, and by continuing the same method on a definite 
 plan its exact location may be readily ascertained. Sev- 
 eral lengths of tiles must then be uncovered, so that one 
 of them just below the obstruction can be taken out and 
 the obstacle removed. If the stoppage of the drain is 
 complete, care must be taken to prevent the cause of the 
 
OUTLETS AND OBSTRUCTIONS. 193 
 
 obstruction from being carried, by the rush of water, to 
 the drain below. 
 
 Empirical rules cannot, however, be formulated to 
 meet all possible emergencies. In locating and remov- 
 ing obstructions in drains, as well as in drainage con- 
 struction, an accurate knowledge of the general princi- 
 ples involved in the process will be found the best guide 
 in practice, as the means adopted and applied can then 
 be adapted to the constantly varying conditions pre- 
 sented in the field. Experience, under imperfect meth- 
 ods, without the guidance of sound principles, may 
 prove to be an expensive teacher. Empirical precepts, 
 and routine systems of practice, may be followed with 
 fairly satisfactory results under certain conditions, which 
 may, perhaps, be present in a majority of cases, but 
 when any new factor is introduced to complicate the sit- 
 uation, they fail to meet the requirements of the 
 changed conditions. 
 
 In the application of general principles, as guides 
 in practice, the end to be gained is kept prominently in 
 view, and the means of attaining it will be readily sug- 
 gested by the various exigencies that may arise. An 
 intelligent conformity to the laws that govern nature's 
 operations, is essential to success, in its widest significa- 
 tion, in the business of farming, which deals with the 
 most complex phenomena, under variable and constantly 
 changing conditions. 
 
 13 
 
Absorption of moisture by 
 
 soils, 88 
 
 Adjustment of line, 162 
 
 Advantages of draining 71 
 
 Agriculture, how improved, 1 
 
 Anderson, Dr. James, on 
 
 draining, 104 
 
 Animals, source of energy 
 
 of 31 
 
 Aqueous vapor and radiant 
 
 heat, ,67,89 
 
 Aqueous vapor of atmosphere,.. .68 
 
 Atmosphere, com position of, 13 
 
 Atmosphere, carbonic acid 
 
 of, 5 
 
 Atmospheric nitrogen 13 
 
 Atmospheric moisture ab- 
 sorbed by soils, 88, 89 
 
 Atmospheric moisture and 
 
 conservation of energy, 90 
 Atmospheric moisture and 
 
 frosts .68 
 
 Atmospheric moisture and 
 
 radiant heat 66 
 
 Bare soil, evaporation from, 
 
 48,51,57 
 
 Barnyard manure and drain- 
 age, 83 
 
 Barnyard manure and mi- 
 crobes, 11 
 
 Barnyard manure and soil 
 
 moisture, , 82 
 
 Behavior of drainage water 
 
 in soils 25 
 
 Biological factors in soil me- 
 tabolism, 10, 21 
 
 Blith, on draining, 102 
 
 Boning rods, 158 
 
 Huchan an's improvements 
 
 in draining; 106 
 
 Business methods, 1 
 
 rapacity of drains, 144, 147 
 
 rapacity of soils for holding 
 
 water 78, 80 
 
 rapacity of soils for heat, <>r> 
 
 Capillarity of soils, 8, 76 
 
 Capillary water hi soils,. 24, 75, 144 
 Carbon, how appropriated 
 
 by plants, 3, 5 
 
 Carbon I cat: Ul of atmosphere, 5 
 
 Care of drains 186 
 
 Cato on draining 97 
 
 Central Park drainage, 146 
 
 Cereals benefited by nitro- 
 genous manures, 13 
 
 Chemical changes in soils, 10 
 
 Chlorophyll, use of, 5 
 
 Circulation of soil water 62 
 
 Climate affecting drainage 
 
 and evaporation, 51 
 
 Coal, value of, in evaporating 
 
 water, 59 
 
 Collars for tiles, 152 
 
 Columclla on draining, 99 
 
 Compensations of nature 69 
 
 Condensation of moisture 
 
 liberates heat, 91 
 
 Conditions of plant growth, 
 
 ' 4, 8. 0,23 
 
 Conservation of energy, 26 
 
 Constructive metabolism, 28 
 
 Corn, valuations in yield, 95 
 
 Corn, water exhaled by crop 
 
 of, 7,60 
 
 Cost of draining tools, 160 
 
 Covered drains, antiquity of, 99 
 
 Covering of tiles, 113, 143 
 
 Crop statistics of good and 
 
 bad seasons, 94 
 
 Curves in drains, how made, ...174 
 
 Dalton's drain gauge, 35 
 
 Deanston system of drain- 
 ing, 106 
 
 Deanston system improved 
 
 by Parkes, 112 
 
 Deep draining cheapest, 114 
 
 Depth of drains, 98, 132 
 
 Depth of roots, 9,72 
 
 Depth of soils 25 
 
 Dew and frost, 69 
 
 Dickinson's drainage experi- 
 ments, 36 
 
 Direction of drains, 130 
 
 Discharge by Central Park 
 
 drains, 146 
 
 Discharge by drains after 
 
 rains 145 
 
 Discovery and invention, 
 
 progress of, 96 
 
 Distance between drains, 133 
 
 Ditches for tile drains, 161 
 
 Drainage and drouths, 74 
 
 Drainage and evaporation, 56 
 
 Drainage and rainfall, 35, 155 
 
 Drainage diminished by veg- 
 etation, 44 
 
 Drainage experiments by Dr. 
 
 John Dalton, 35 
 
 Drainage experiments by M r. 
 
 John Dickinson, 36 
 
 194 
 
INDEX. 
 
 195 
 
 age experiments by 
 
 M r. John Evans, 44 
 
 Drainage experiments by 
 
 Mr. <;. Greaves, 42 
 
 Drainage experiments at 
 
 Geneva, N. Y., 54 
 
 Drainage experiments at 
 
 Rothamsted, 45 
 
 Drainage water in soils, 24 
 
 Drained soils, reservoirs for 
 
 storing water, 93 
 
 Drained soils utilize energy 
 
 and moisture, G7 
 
 Drain gauges by Dalton, 35 
 
 Drain gauges at Geneva, 54 
 
 Drain gauges at Rot hamsted, 45 
 
 Draining, advantages of 71 
 
 Draining bricks and tiles, 
 
 old forms, 117 
 
 Draining by the ancients, 97 
 
 Draining, 'indirect advan- 
 tage's of, 72 
 
 Draining level, how to use, 167 
 
 Draining marsh lands 183 
 
 Draining scoops, 159 
 
 Draining spades, 124 
 
 Draining tiles, evolution of, 116 
 
 Draining tools 159 
 
 Draining tools, obsolete 
 
 forms of, 127 
 
 Drains, care of, 186 
 
 Drains, depth of, 132 
 
 Drains, direction of, 130 
 
 Drains, distance between, 133 
 
 Drains, how rainfall reaches,. . .142 
 Drains in quicksand and 
 
 peat, 177 
 
 Drains laid from outlet 137 
 
 Drains, location and plans 
 
 of, 130 
 
 Drains, mapping of, 135 
 
 Drains on farm of A. F. 
 
 Wood, 150 
 
 Drouths and drainage, 74 
 
 Elkington's system of drain- 
 ing ' 104 
 
 Empirical rules, value of, 193 
 
 Energy and drainage water, 63 
 
 Energy and soil tempera- 
 tures, 62 
 
 Energy conserved by drain- 
 ing, 73 
 
 Energy defined 26 
 
 Energy derived from the sun, 31 
 
 Energy expended in growth 
 
 of plants and animals, 58 
 
 Energy, farmers interest in, 31 
 
 Energy, ln\v measured, 27 
 
 Energy in evaporation, 58 
 
 Energy in exhalation by 
 
 plants, 60 
 
 Energy in physiology, 28 
 
 Energy, law of its conser- 
 vation 27 
 
 Energy of the universe, 31 
 
 Energy required by animals, 31 
 
 Energy required by plants, 61 
 
 Energy, stored or potential, ..29, 30 
 
 Energy, transformations of, 
 
 30,31,32 
 
 Evans' drainage experi- 
 ments 44 
 
 Evaporation and drainage, 35 
 
 Evaporation, energy expend- 
 ed in, 59 
 
 Evaporation from a bare 
 
 soil 48 
 
 Evaporation from a water 
 
 surface, 52 
 
 Evaporation of soil water, 58 
 
 Evaporation, variations in, 50 
 
 Evolution of drain tiles, 116 
 
 Exhalation by plants, 6 
 
 Exhalation per acre by 
 
 wheat, 7 
 
 Exhalation per acre by corn, 7 
 
 Exhaustion of soils, 12 
 
 Expenditures of energy, 58 
 
 Extraordinary rainfalls,... .152, 156 
 Fallow soils, loss of fertility 
 
 in, 12 
 
 Farm crops, depth of roots 
 
 of, 9,72 
 
 Farm drains, plans and loca- 
 tion of, 130 
 
 Farmers dealing with en- 
 ergy, 31 
 
 Fermentation, 10 
 
 Fertility and chemical com- 
 position of soils, 18 
 
 Fertility and plant food, 23 
 
 Fertility, purchased, 1 
 
 Field crops, range of roots 
 
 of, 72 
 
 Field crops, water exhaled 
 
 by 7 
 
 Flat bottomed tiles, 119 
 
 Food of farm crops, 8, 11 
 
 Four feet a desirable deptli 
 
 of drains, 133 
 
 Frequent drain system, 107 
 
 Frost and atmospheric va- 
 por, 68 
 
 Frost and dew, 69 
 
 Gauge stakes, 164 
 
 Gauging the grade, 168 
 
 General principles, 1 
 
 Geneva, drainage and evap- 
 oration, 54 
 
 Germination of seeds, tem- 
 perature required, 5 
 
 Grade fixed by a line 158 
 
 Grating for outlets, 185 
 
 Greaves' drainage experi- 
 ments, 42 
 
 Growing crops, energy ex- 
 pended in 61 
 
 Growing crops, fertility con- 
 served by 11 
 
 Guides in practice,., ....193 
 
 Hammer for cutting tiles, 175 
 
 Hatchet for cutting tiles, 175 
 
 Heat, conserved by atmos- 
 pheric vapor, 68, 69 
 
 Heat, mechanical equiva- 
 lent of 27 
 
19G 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Heat of decaying substances, 30 
 
 Heat, units,.." . .., '27 
 
 Heavy draining scoops, 129 
 
 llellriegel s experiments 14 
 
 High lands drained by Mr. 
 
 ttuchanan 106 
 
 High lands diained by Smith 
 
 of Deanston, 108 
 
 History of draining 96 
 
 Horse shoe tiles and soles, 118 
 
 How does the rainfall reach 
 
 the drains 142 
 
 How does water enter tile 
 
 drains, ...140 
 
 How to make Tile drains,.. .157, 109 
 
 Hydrostal ic water in soils, 24 
 
 Hygroscopic water of soils, 24 
 
 Hygroscopic water used by 
 
 plants, 91 
 
 Implements for tile drain- 
 ing, 123 
 
 Improved farm practice, 1 
 
 Improved methods of drain- 
 ing by Mr. Parkes, 115 
 
 Improved methods of drain- 
 ing by the Author, 158 
 
 Increasing fall of main tow- 
 ards the outlet, 132 
 
 Increasing size of main tow- 
 ards the outlet, 190 
 
 Indian corn, exhalation of 
 
 water by, 7, GO 
 
 Indian corn, losses from bad 
 
 seasons, 95 
 
 Indications of deficient drain- 
 age, 70 
 
 Indications of obstructions 
 
 in drains 192 
 
 Inherited feeding habits of 
 
 plants, 22 
 
 Inoculation of soils with mi- 
 crobes, 18 
 
 Irrigation in drouths 07 
 
 Johnston of Geneva, N. Y., 116 
 
 Joints of drains, how made,.. ..175 
 Joints of drains, protection 
 
 of, 172 
 
 Junctions of laterals 173 
 
 Ked/ie's observations on ev- 
 aporation. 54 
 
 Ked/ie's soil experiments, 77 
 
 Kinetic energy, 30 
 
 Laterals and junctions, 173 
 
 Laterals, how laid, 176 
 
 Laws of life, ....2 
 
 Laying tiles, 169 
 
 Leguminous crops and nitro- 
 genous manures, 13 
 
 Leguminous crops and root 
 
 nodules 14 
 
 Level for draining, 167 
 
 Life a factor in farm econo- 
 my 2 
 
 Line, cure of, 169 
 
 Line, how adjusted, 162 
 
 Line in place, 165 
 
 Line lo determine grade of 
 
 tiles, 158 
 
 Living organisms, require- 
 ments of 4 
 
 Living organisms, role of, 10 
 
 Locating and mapping drains, ..135 
 Locating obstructions in 
 
 drains, .192 
 
 Location and plans of farm 
 
 drains, 130 
 
 Losses from bad seasons, '.>'< 
 
 Loss of fertility in fallows, 12 
 
 Lupines in sterile quart/ 
 
 sand, 20 
 
 Lupines, Rot hamsted experi- 
 ments with, 15 
 
 Main drai us, 131 
 
 Main drains, fall increased 
 
 towards outlet .189 
 
 Main drains, si/.e increased 
 
 towards outlet, 190 
 
 Mai son Ifustique 100 
 
 Manures and soil moisture, 82 
 
 Manures rotting of, 11 
 
 Manures conserved by grow- 
 ing crops, 11 
 
 Map of drains, how made, 135 
 
 Marsh soils, draining in, 183 
 
 Maximum discharge of drains,. 156 
 
 Measuring rod, 108 
 
 Mechanical equivalent of 
 
 heat, 27 
 
 Metabolism defined, 10 
 
 Metabolism of soils and 
 
 drainage, 10, 73 
 
 Michigan, evaporation in, 54 
 
 Michigan rainfall, 151 
 
 Michigan soils, capillarity of,. ..76 
 
 Microbes and manures,. 11 
 
 Microbes and mineral soil 
 
 constituents 21 
 
 Microbes and nitrogen sup- 
 plies of plant foo' 1 , 12 
 
 Microbes of nitrification, 12 
 
 Microbes, woi k of, 11, 21 
 
 Micro-organisms and man- 
 ures, 11 
 
 Micro-organisms of soils, 11 
 
 Miles' draining scoop, 126 
 
 Miles' improved methods of 
 
 draining, 15S 
 
 Moisture in air dried soils, 92 
 
 Moisture in cropped and nil- 
 cropped land, 78 
 
 Moisture in soil required by 
 
 plants 6 
 
 Nature's compensations 69 
 
 Nitric acid as plant food, 12 
 
 Nitrification intlnenced by 
 
 temperature 12 
 
 Nitrification microbes, 12 
 
 Nitrification of soils, 12 
 
 Nitrogen, as manure, 4, 12 
 
 Nitrogen, atmospheric sup- 
 plies of, 13 
 
 Nitrogen of leguminous crops,. . .13 
 Nitrogen of organic substan- 
 ces and microbes, 12 
 
 Nitrogen conserved by grow- 
 ing crops, 11 
 
INDEX. 
 
 197 
 
 Obsolete draining lools,.. 127 
 
 Obstructions, 187 
 
 Obstructions from oxide of 
 
 iron,, 191 
 
 Ohsl riicl ions from roots of 
 
 plants, 187 
 
 Obstructions, how detected, l'J2 
 Obstructions, how removed,. ..192 
 Optimum temperature for 
 
 plants, 5 
 
 Organie substances as plant 
 
 food, 11 
 
 Outlets and obstructions, 184 
 
 Outlets, protection of, 185 
 
 Oval sole tiles, 121 
 
 Oxygen required by plants, 72 
 
 Parkes' experiments and im- 
 provement sin draining, 64, 112 
 
 Pal 1 ad i us on draining, 99 
 
 Peas, in sterile quartz sand,.. ..17 
 Peas, Kothamsted experi- 
 ments with 15 
 
 Peat, laying tiles in, 183 
 
 Philosophy of draining by 
 
 Parkes, 113 
 
 Philosophy of farm draining, 2 
 
 Physical changes in soils, 10 
 
 Physiological laws, 2 
 
 Physiology of plants, 3 
 
 Pipe drains before the pres- 
 ent century, 102 
 
 Pipe tiles recommended, 112 
 
 Plank in ditch to avoid mud,. ..171 
 
 Plant food and fertility, ii3 
 
 Plant food, organic sub- 
 stances as, 11 
 
 Plant food prepared by mi- 
 crobes, 21 
 
 Plant growth and soil evap- 
 oration, .62 
 
 Plant growth and soil meta- 
 bolism, 10 
 
 Plant growth, conditions of, 
 
 4,8,9,23 
 
 Plant physiology, 3 
 
 Pliny on draining, 99 
 
 Plot tin g of drains, 137 
 
 .162 
 ..30 
 ...'2 
 .153 
 ...2 
 
 ..90 
 .172 
 
 'I \v in ditches,. 
 
 ential or stored energy,.. 
 ucipies <>r agriculture,.. . . 
 
 i ic i pics of (I rain age, 
 
 filable crop growing, 
 
 'r grcss of discovery and in- 
 vent. ion, 
 
 Protection of joints, 
 
 Protection of outlets, 
 
 Pull draining scoop, 125 
 
 Push draining scoop, 126 
 
 Pull and push scoop, 126, 1GO 
 
 Putrefaction caused by mi- 
 crobes, 10 
 
 Quality of tiles 140 
 
 Quicksaml, how to. manage, 179 
 
 Quicksand, laying tiles in, 181 
 
 Quicksand, use of scoop in, 180 
 
 Radiant heat and atmos- 
 pheric moisture, 66 
 
 Radiant heat and soil mois- 
 ture, 89 
 
 Rainfall affecting water 
 
 table, 25 
 
 Rai.ifall and drainage, var- 
 iations in, 38 
 
 Rainfall, evaporation and 
 
 drainage, 35 
 
 Rainfall in Michigan, 151 
 
 Rainfall retained by drained 
 
 soil, 154 
 
 Rainfalls, extraordinary, ..152, 156 
 Range of roots of farm crops, 
 
 9, 72, 133 
 
 Retentive soils, advantages 
 
 of draining, 70, 71 
 
 Root development and drain- 
 age, 72 
 
 Root distribution, 8 
 
 Root fibrils, 9 
 
 Root nodules and nitrogen 
 
 supply, 14 
 
 Roots in tile drains, 187 
 
 Roots of plants, action of 011 
 
 soils, 21 
 
 Roots, range in depth, 9, 72, 133 
 
 Roots, use of, 8 
 
 Rothamsted drainage exper- 
 iments, 45 
 
 Rothamsted e x p e r i in e n ts 
 
 1888-'89, 15 
 
 Round tiles, 123 
 
 Round tiles, advantages of, 139 
 
 Sachs' exp. with hygroscopic 
 
 moisture, 91 
 
 Sag of line, how prevented, 164 
 
 Sand and turfed soil drain- 
 age 42 
 
 Schloesing and Muntz, mi- 
 crobes of nitrification, 12 
 
 Schubler's soil experiments, 66 
 
 Science in farm economy, 2 
 
 Scoops for draining, 125, 126, 159 
 
 Season, influence on food 
 
 supply of crops, 23 
 
 Seasons and crop statistics, 94 
 
 Seeds, germination of, tem- 
 perature, 5 
 
 Selective power of plants, 22 
 
 Shears for support of line,.. 163 
 
 Silt and silt basins, 190 
 
 Size and quality of tiles, 139 
 
 Size of mains, 14!) 
 
 Size of tiles, 148 
 
 Smith of Deaiiston, improv- 
 ed system of, 106 
 
 Smith of Deaiiston system 
 
 a rediscovery, Ill 
 
 Smith of Deaiiston, the pio- 
 neer advocate of drain- 
 ing high lands, 108 
 
 Sods to protect joints, 172 
 
 Soil conditions of plant 
 
 growth, 3, 9 
 
 Soil evaporation, 56, 58 
 
 Soil exhaustion, 12 
 
 Soil metabolism, 10 
 
 Soil metabolism and drainage,. .73 
 
198 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Soil moisture, 7, 78 
 
 Soil moisture and manures, 82 
 
 Soil moisture and radiant 
 
 heat, 89 
 
 Soil moisture condensed from 
 
 atmosphere, 89 
 
 Soil temperatures, 26, 68, 69 
 
 Soil temperatures and en- 
 ergy, 62 
 
 Soils, available depth of, 25 
 
 Soils, capillary capacity of, 144 
 
 Soi Is, how warmed, 68, 69 
 
 Soils, moisture in cropped 
 
 and uncropped, 78 
 
 Soils seeded with microbes, 18 
 
 Spades for draining, 124 
 
 Spirit level, usa of, 167 
 
 Springs, perennial, 187 
 
 Standing in ditch, 171 
 
 Stephens' Book of the Farm, . . .122 
 Stephens' Manual of Draining,. 123 
 
 Stoppage of drains, 184 
 
 Stored or potential energy, . .29, 30 
 
 Struggle for existence, 11 
 
 Summer and winter drain- 
 age, 40 
 
 Summer drainage slight, 47 
 
 Summer fallows, 12 
 
 Sun's energy, 33 
 
 Survival of the fittest, 11 
 
 System of drainage, map of,. . . ,134 
 Table 1, Water in soil and 
 
 yield of crops, 7 
 
 Table 2, Plants in sterile 
 
 soils, 16 
 
 Table 3, Dickinson's drain- 
 age exp. monthly aver- 
 
 36 
 
 Table 4, Dickinson's drain- 
 age exp. annual varia- 
 tions, i 37 
 
 Table 5, Dickinson's drain- 
 age exp. for each month,. . .39 
 
 Table 6, Dickinson's drain- 
 age exp. half-yearly 
 averages, 41 
 
 Table 7, Mr. Greaves' drainage 
 
 experiments, 42 
 
 Table 8, Rothamsted drain- 
 age, monthly averages, 46 
 
 Table 9, Rothainsted drain- 
 age, annual and semi- 
 annual, 49 
 
 Table 10, Rainfall and evap- 
 oration, Syracuse and 
 Ogdensbura, N. Y., 53 
 
 Table 11, Rainfall and drain- 
 age, Geneva, N. Y., 54 
 
 Table 12, Sell u bier's capacity 
 
 of soils for heat, 66 
 
 Table 13, Schubler's capil- 
 lary soil water, 75 
 
 Table 14, Rothanisted, wheat 
 
 on drained land, yield 79 
 
 Table 15, Rothamsted, sum- 
 mer and winter soil 
 water, 81 
 
 Table 16, Rothamsted sum- 
 mer and winter, tons of 
 
 water per acre 84 
 
 Table 17, Rothainsted soil 
 water in fallow and 
 barley land, percent- 
 ages, 86 
 
 Table 18, Rothamsted soil 
 water in fallow and 
 barley land, tons per acre, 87 
 Table 19, Atmospheric vapor 
 
 absorbed by soils, 88 
 
 Table 20, Soil water used by 
 
 tobacco plant , 93 
 
 Table 21, Cost of drair.ing at 
 
 different depths, Farkes,..114 
 Table 22, Central Park drain- 
 age after rains 146 
 
 Table 23, Central Park drain- 
 age maximum discharge,. 147 
 Table 24, Relations of drain- 
 age to rainfall, averages,. 155 
 Tarred paper to coyer joints, ... 172 
 Temperature of soils, lower- 
 ed by evaporation , . . . 64 
 
 Temperature of soils, requir- 
 ed by plants, 4 
 
 Temperatures of soils, vapor 
 of atmosphere influenc- 
 ing, 68, 69 
 
 Tile drain ditches, how made, . . 161 
 Tile draining implements, . .123-12!) 
 
 Tile drains, construction of, 157 
 
 Tile drains, how covered, 143 
 
 Tile drains, how water en- 
 ters, 140 
 
 Tile hammer, 175 
 
 Tile laying, begin at the 
 
 outlet,, 137 
 
 Tile laying in quicksand, 180 
 
 Tile laying, tools require* 1 , 159 
 
 Tile pick for cutting 175 
 
 Tiles, covered with clay,. ..113, 143 
 Tiles, cutting and fit ting- 
 joints of, 175 
 
 Tiles, how laid 169 
 
 Tiles in peat, 1H3 
 
 Tiles, quality and size of, 139 
 
 Tiles, size of, 148 
 
 Tools required, 159 
 
 Transformation of energy, 30, 31, 32 
 Turfed soils, evaporation 
 
 from, 43,44 
 
 Unit of heat for measuring 
 
 energy, 27 
 
 Unit of work, 27 
 
 United States, climate in, 51 
 
 Universe, energy of 31 
 
 Vapor, atmospheric* and 
 
 frosts, 68, 69 
 
 Varro on draining, 98 
 
 Variations in drainage and 
 
 rainfall, 38 
 
 Vegetation diminishes drain- 
 age, 44 
 
 Vetches in sterile soils, 19 
 
 Vetches, Rothamsted exper- 
 iments with, 15 
 
INDEX. 
 
 199 
 
 Waring' s Central Park drain- 
 age, 146 
 
 Waring'a draining tools, 128 
 
 Washout in drains, 188 
 
 Water and soil temperatures, 26, 59 
 Water, circulation of, in 
 
 growing crops, 6, 62 
 
 Water culture experiments, 22 
 
 Water, energy required to 
 
 evaporate, 61 
 
 Water exhaled by corn, 7, 60 
 
 Water exhaled by plants, 6 
 
 Water exhaled by wheat, 7 
 
 Water, how it enters drains,... 140 
 
 AVal er in soils, forms of, 24 
 
 Water required by growing 
 plants, 
 
 Water stored by drained 
 
 soils, 93 
 
 Water table, 24 
 
 Water table after rains, 143 
 
 Wells in drains, 191 
 
 Wet soils not readily warmed,. . .64 
 
 Wheat, water exhaled by, 7 
 
 Winter and summer drain- 
 age, 40 
 
 Winter drainage in excess 
 
 of rainfall, 47 
 
 Wood's farm drains, 150 
 
 Work in the trench, 170 
 
 Yeast, an alcholic ferment, 11 
 
 Yield of crops and soil mois- 
 ture, , 1 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
STANDARD BOOKS. 
 
 Forest Planting. 
 
 By H. NICHOLAS JARCHOW, LL. D. A treatise on the care 
 of woodlands and the restoration of the denuded timberlands 
 on plains and mountains. The author has fully described 
 those European methods which have proved to be most useful 
 in maintaining the superb forests of the old world. This expe- 
 rience has been adapted to the different climates and trees of 
 America, full instructions being given for forest planting of 
 our various kinds of soil and subsoil, whether on mountain 
 or valley. Illustrated. 250 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth. $1.50 
 
 Soils and Crops of the Farm. 
 
 By GEORGE E. MORROW, M. A., and THOMAS F. HUNT. The 
 methods of making available the plant food in the soil are 
 described in popular language. A short history of each of 
 the farm crops is accompanied by a discussion of its culture. 
 The useful discoveries of science are explained as applied 
 in the most approved methods of culture. Illustrated. 310 
 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $1.00 
 
 Land Draining. 
 
 A handbook for farmers on the principles and practice of 
 draining, by MANLY MILES, giving the results of his extended 
 experience in laying tile drains. The directions for the laying 
 out and the construction of tile drains will enable the farmer 
 to avoid the errors of imperfect construction, and the disap- 
 pointment that must necessarily follow. This manual for 
 practical farmers will also be found convenient for reference 
 in regard to many questions that may arise in crop growing, 
 aside from the special subjects of drainage of which it treats. 
 Illustrated. 200 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth. . . $1.00 
 
 Barn Plans and Outbuildings. 
 
 Two hundred and fifty-seven illustrations. A most valu- 
 able work, full of ideas, hints, suggestions, plans, etc., for the 
 construction of barns and outbuildings, by practical writers. 
 Chapters are devoted to the economic erection and use of 
 barns, grain barns, horse barns, cattle barns, sheep barns, corn- 
 houses, smokehouses, icehouses, pig pens, granaries, etc-- 
 There are likewise chapters on birdhouses, doghouses, tool 
 sheds, ventilators, roofs and roofing, doors and fastenings, 
 workshops: poultry houses, manure sheds, barnyards, root pits, 
 etc. 235 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth. . . . $1.00 
 
STANDARD BOOKS. 
 
 Herbert's Hints to Horse Keepers. 
 
 By the late HENRY WILLIAM HERBERT (Frank Forester). 
 This is one of the best and most popular works on the horse 
 prepared in this country. A complete manual for horsemen, 
 embracing : How to breed a horse ; how to buy a horse ; how 
 to break a horse ; how to use a horse ; how to feed a horse ; 
 how to physic a horse (allopathy or homeopathy) ; how to 
 groom a horse ; how to drive a horse ; how to ride a horse, 
 etc. Beautifully illustrated. 425 pages. 5x7 inches. 
 Cloth $1.50 
 
 Diseases of Horses and Cattle. 
 
 By DR. D. MC!NTOSH, V. S., professor of veterinary 
 science in the university of Illinois. Written expressly for the 
 farmer, stockman and veterinary sHident. A new work on 
 the treatment of animal diseases, according to the modern 
 status of veterinary science, has become a necessity. Such an 
 one is this volume of over 400 pages, written by one of the 
 most eminent veterinarians of our country. Illustrated. 426 
 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $i-75 
 
 The Ice Crop. 
 
 By THERON L. HILES. How to harvest, ship and use ice. 
 A complete, practical treatise for farmers, dairymen, ice 
 dealers, produce shippers, meat packers, cold storers, and all 
 interested in icehouses, cold storage, and the handling or use 
 ,of ice in any way. Including many recipes for iced dishes and 
 beverages. The book is illustrated by cuts of the tools and 
 machinery used in cutting and storing ice, and the different 
 forms of icehouses and cold storage buildings. Illustrated. 
 122 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth. .... $1.00 
 
 The Secrets of Health, or How Not to Be Sick, and 
 How to Get Well from Sickness. 
 
 By S. H. PLATT, A. M., M. D., late member of the Connect- 
 icut Eclectic Medical Society, the National Eclectic Medical 
 Association, and honorary member of the National Bacterio- 
 logical Society of America ; our medical editor and author of 
 'Talks With Our Doctor'' and "Our Health Adviser." Nearly 
 600 pages. An index of 20 pages,, so that any topic may be 
 instantly consulted. A new departure in medical knowledge 
 for the people the latest progress, secrets and practices of all 
 schools of healing made available for the common people 
 health without medicine, nature without humbug, common 
 sense without folly, science without fraud. 81 illustrations. 
 576 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $1.50 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW 
 
 SEP 30 *^i5 
 
 
 
 
 r "js '11916 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 NO'*' 16 1817 
 
 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 a^^'g*-. : 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 30m-l,'15 
 
RETURN TO the circulation desk of any 
 University of California Library 
 
 or to the 
 
 NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station 
 University of California 
 Richmond, CA 94804-4698 
 
 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 
 
 2-month loans may be renewed by calling 
 (510)642-6753 
 
 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing 
 books to NRLF 
 
 Renewals and recharges may be made 4 
 days prior to due date. 
 
 DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 
 
 IB 2 $ 2m 
 
 12,000(11/95)