Draining for Profit, and Draining for Health Part 11

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 38 - MAUL FOR RAMMING.]

Fig. 38 - MAUL FOR RAMMING.

Those to whom this recommendation is new, will, doubtless, think it unwise. The only reply to their objection must be that others who shared their opinion, have, by long observation and experience, been convinced of its correctness. They may practically convince themselves of the value of this sort of covering by a simple and inexpensive experiment: Take two large, water-tight hogsheads, bore through the side of each, a few inches from the bottom, a hole just large enough to admit a 1-1/4-inch tile; cover the bottom to the hight of the lower edge of the hole with strong, wet clay, beaten to a hard paste; on this, lay a line of pipes and collars,-the inner end sealed with putty, and the tile which pa.s.ses through the hole so wedged about with putty, that no water could pa.s.s out between it and the outside of the hole. Cover the tile in one hogshead with loose gravel, and then fill it to the top with loose earth. Cover the tile in the other, twenty inches deep, with ordinary stiff clay, (not wet enough to _puddle_, but sufficiently moist to pack well,) and ram it thoroughly, so as to make sure that the tiles are completely clasped, and that there is no crack nor crevice through which water can trickle, and then fill this hogshead to the top with earth, of the same character with that used in the other case. These hogsheads should stand where the water of a small roof, (as that of a hog-pen,) may be led into them, by an arrangement which shall give an equal quant.i.ty to each;-this will give them rather more than the simple rain-fall, but will leave them exposed to the usual climatic changes of the season. A vessel, of a capacity of a quart or more, should be connected with each outlet, and covered from the dust,- these will act as silt-basins. During the first few storms the water will flow off much more freely from the first barrel; but, little by little, the second one, as the water finds its way through the clay, and as the occasional drying, and repeated filtration make it more porous, will increase in its flow until it will, by the end of the season, or, at latest, by the end of the second season, drain as well as the first, if, indeed, that be not by this time somewhat obstructed with silt. The amount of acc.u.mulation in the vessels at the outlet will show which process has best kept back the silt, and the character of the deposit will show which would most probably be carried off by the gentle flow of water in a nearly level drain.

It is no argument against this experiment that its results cannot be determined even in a year, for it is not pretended that drains laid in compact clay will dry land so completely during the first month as those which give more free access to the water; only that they will do so in a comparatively short time; and that, as drainage is a work for all time, (practically as lasting as the farm itself,) the importance of permanence and good working for long years to come, is out of all proportion to that of the temporary good results of one or two seasons, accompanied with doubtful durability.

It has been argued that _surface water_ will be more readily removed by drains having porous filling. Even if this were true to any important degree,-which it is not,-it would be an argument against the plan, for the remedy would be worse than the disease. If the water flow from the surface down into the drain, it will not fail to carry dirt with it, and instead of the clear water, which alone should rise into the tiles from below, we should have a trickling flow from above, muddy with wasted manure and silty earth.

_The remaining filling of the ditch_ is a matter of simple labor, and may be done in whatever way may be most economical under the circ.u.mstances of the work. If the amount to be filled is considerable, so that it is desirable to use horse-power, the best way will be to use a sc.r.a.per, such as is represented in Figure 39, which is a strongly ironed plank, 6 feet long and 18 inches wide, sharp shod at one side, and supplied with handles at the other. It is propelled by means of the curved rods, which are attached to its under side by flexible joints. These rods are connected by a chain which has links large enough to receive the hook of an ox-chain.

This sc.r.a.per may be used for any straight-forward work by attaching the power to the middle of the chain. By moving the hook a few links to the right or left, it will act somewhat after the manner of the mould-board of a plow, and will, if skillfully handled, shoot the filling rapidly into the ditch.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 39 - BOARD Sc.r.a.pER FOR FILLING DITCHES.]

Fig. 39 - BOARD Sc.r.a.pER FOR FILLING DITCHES.

If the work is done by hand, mix the surface soil and turf with the subsoil filling for the whole depth. If with a sc.r.a.per, put the surface soil at the bottom of the loose filling, and the subsoil at the top, as this will be an imitation, for the limited area of the drains, of the process of "trenching," which is used in garden cultivation.

When the ditches are filled, they will be higher than the adjoining land, and it will be well to make them still more so by digging or plowing out a small trench at each side of the drain, throwing the earth against the mound, which will prevent surface water, (during heavy rains,) from running into the loose filling before it is sufficiently settled. A cross section of a filled drain provided with these ditches is shown in Figure 40.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 40 - CROSS-SECTION OF DITCH (FILLED), WITH FURROW AT EACH SIDE.]

Fig. 40 - CROSS-SECTION OF DITCH (FILLED), WITH FURROW AT EACH SIDE.

In order that the silt-basins may be examined, and their acc.u.mulations of earth removed, during the early action of the drains, those parts of the ditches which are above them may be left open, care being taken, by cutting surface ditches around them, to prevent the entrance of water from above. During this time the covers of the basins should be kept on, and should be covered with inverted sods to keep loose dirt from getting into them.

*Collecting the Water f Springs.*-The lateral which connects with the main drain, _A_, (Fig. 21,) at the point _m_, and which is to take the water of the spring at the head of the brook, should not be opened until the main has been completed and filled into the silt-basin,-the brook having, meantime, been carried over the other ditches in wooden troughs.

This lateral may now be made in the following way: Dig down to the tile of the main, and carry the lateral ditch back, a distance of ten feet. In the bottom of this, place a wooden trough, at least six feet long, laid at such depth that its channel shall be on the exact grade required for laying the tiles, and lay long straw, (held down by weights,) lengthwise within it. Make an opening in the tile of the main and connect the trough with it. The straw will prevent any coa.r.s.e particles of earth from being carried into the tile, and the flow of the water will be sufficient to carry on to the silt-basin any finer matters. Now open the ditch to and beyond the spring, digging at least a foot below the grade in its immediate vicinity, and filling to the exact grade with small stones, broken bricks, or other suitable material. Lay the tiles from the upper end of the ditch across the stone work, and down to the wooden trough. Now spread a sufficient layer of wood shavings over the stone work to keep the earth from entering it, cover the tiles and fill in the ditch, as before directed, and then remove the straw from the wooden trough and lay tiles in its place. In this way, the water of even a strong spring may be carried into a finished drain without danger. In laying the tile which crosses the stone work, it is well to use full 2-1/2-inch tiles in the place of collars, leaving the joints of these, and of the 1-1/4-inch tiles, (which should join near the middle of the collar tile,) about a quarter of an inch open, to give free entrance to the water.

The stone and tile drain, _H, I_, is simply dug out to the surface of the rock, if this is not more than two feet below the grade of the upper ends of the laterals with which it connects, and then filled up with loose stones to the line of grade. If the stones are small, so as to form a good bottom for the tiles, they may be laid directly upon it; if not, a bottom for them may be made of narrow strips of cheap boards. Before filling, the tiles and stone work should be covered with shavings, and the filling above these should consist of a strong clay, which will remain in place after the shavings rot away.

*Amending the Map.*-When the tiles are laid, and before they are covered, all deviations of the lines, as in pa.s.sing around large stones and other obstructions, which may have prevented the exact execution of the original plan, and the location and kind of each underground silt-basin should also be carefully noted, so that they may be transferred to the map, for future reference, in the event of repairs becoming necessary. In a short time after the work is finished, the surface of the field will show no trace of the lines of drain, and it should be possible, in case of need, to find any point of the drains with precision, so that no labor will be lost in digging for it. It is much cheaper to measure over the surface than to dig four feet trenches through the ground.

CHAPTER V. - HOW TO TAKE CARE OF DRAINS AND DRAINED LAND.

So far as tile drains are concerned, if they are once well laid, and if the silt-basins have been emptied of silt until the water has ceased to deposit it, they need no care nor attention, beyond an occasional cleaning of the outlet brook. Now and then, from the proximity of willows, or thrifty, young, water-loving trees, a drain will be obstructed by roots; or, during the first few years after the work is finished, some weak point,-a badly laid tile, a loosely fitted connection between the lateral and a main, or an acc.u.mulation of silt coming from an undetected and persistent vein of quicksand,-will be developed, and repairs will have to be made. Except for the slight danger from roots, which must always be guarded against to the extent of allowing no young trees of the dangerous cla.s.s to grow near a drain through which a _constant_ stream of water flows, it may be fairly a.s.sumed that drains which have been kept in order for four or five years have pa.s.sed the danger of interruption from any cause, and they may be considered entirely safe.

A drain will often, for some months after it is laid, run muddy water after rains. Sometimes the early deposit of silt will nearly fill the tile, and it will take the water of several storms to wash it out. If the tiles have been laid in packed clay, they cannot long receive silt from without, and that which makes the flow turbid, may be a.s.sumed to come from the original deposit in the conduit. Examinations of newly laid drains have developed many instances where tiles were at first half filled with silt, and three months later were entirely clean. The muddiness of the flow indicates what the doctors call "an effort of nature to relieve herself," and nature may be trusted to succeed, at least, until she abandons the effort. If we are sure that a drain has been well laid, we need feel no anxiety because it fails to take the water from the ground so completely as it should do, until it settles into a flow of clear water after the heaviest storms.

In the case of art actual stoppage, which will generally be indicated by the "bursting out" of the drain, i.e., the wetting of the land as though there were a spring under it, or as though its water had no underground outlet, (which is the fact,) it will be necessary to lay open the drain until the obstruction is found.

In this work, the real value of the map will be shown, by the facility which it offers for finding any point of any line of drains, and the exact locality of the junctions with the mains, and of the silt-basins. In laying out the plan on the ground, and in making his map, the surveyor will have had recourse to two or more fixed points; one of them, in our example, (fig. 21,) would probably be the center of the main silt-basin, and one, a drilled hole or other mark on the rock at the north side of the field. By staking out on the ground the straight line connecting these two points, and drawing a corresponding line on the map; we shall have a _base-line_, from which it will be easy, by perpendicular offsets, to determine on the ground any point upon the map. By laying a small square on the map, with one of its edges coinciding with the base-line, and moving it on this line until the other edge meets the desired point, we fix, at the angle of the square, the point on the base-line from which we are to measure the length of the offset. The next step is to find, (by the scale,) the distance of this point from the nearest end of the base-line, and from the point sought. Then measure off, in the field, the corresponding distance on the base-line, and, from the point thus found, measure on a line perpendicular to the base line, the length of the offset; the point thus indicated will be the locality sought. In the same manner, find another point on the same drain, to give the range on which to stake it out. From this line, the drains which run parallel to it, can easily be found, or it may be used as a base-line, from which to find, by measuring offsets, other points near it.

The object of this staking is, to find, in an inexpensive and easy way, the precise position of the drains, for which it would be otherwise necessary to grope in the dark, verifying our guesses by digging four-foot trenches, at random.

If there is a silt-basin, or a junction a short distance below the point where the water shows itself, this will be the best place to dig. If it is a silt-basin, we shall probably find that this has filled up with dirt, and has stopped the flow. In this case it should be cleaned out, and a point of the drain ten feet below it examined. If this is found to be clear, a long slender stick may be pushed up as far as the basin and worked back and forth until the pa.s.sage is cleared. Then replace the tile below, and try with the stick to clean the tiles above the basin, so as to tap the water above the obstruction. If this cannot be done, or if the drain ten feet below is clogged, it will be necessary to uncover the tiles in both directions until an opening is found, and to take up and relay the whole. If the wetting of the ground is sufficient to indicate that there is much water in the drain, only five or six tiles should be taken up at a time, cleaned and relaid,-commencing at the lower end,-in order that, when the water commences to flow, it may not disturb the bottom of the ditch for the whole distance.

If the point opened is at a junction with the main, examine both the main and the lateral, to see which is stopped, and proceed with one or the other, as directed above. In doing this work, care should be taken to send as little muddy water as possible into the drain below, and to allow the least possible disturbance of the bottom.

If silt-basins have been placed at those points at which the fall diminishes, the obstruction will usually be found to occur at the outlets of these, from a piling up of the silt in front of them, and to extend only a short distance below and above. It is not necessary to take up the tiles until they are found to be entirely clean, for, if they are only one-half or one-third full, they will probably be washed clean by the rush of water, when that which is acc.u.mulated above is tapped. The work should be done in settled fair weather, and the ditches should remain open until the effect of the flow has been observed. If the tiles are made thoroughly clean by the time that the acc.u.mulated water has run off, say in 24 hours, they may be covered up; if not, it may be necessary to remove them again, and clean them by hand. When the work is undertaken it should be thoroughly done, so that the expense of a new opening need not be again incurred.

It is worse than useless to subst.i.tute larger sizes of tiles for those which are taken up. The obstruction, if by silt, is the result of a too sluggish flow, and to enlarge the area of the conduit would only increase the difficulty. If the tiles are too small to carry the full flow which follows a heavy rain, they will be very unlikely to become choked, for the water will then have sufficient force to wash them clean, while if they are much larger than necessary, a deposit of silt to one half of their height will make a broad, flat bed for the stream, which will run with much less force, and will be more likely to increase the deposit.

If the drains are obstructed by the roots of willows, or other trees, the proprietor must decide whether he will sacrifice the trees or the drains; both he cannot keep, unless he chooses to go to the expense of laying in cement all of the drains which carry constant streams, for a distance of at least 50 feet from the dangerous trees. The trouble from trees is occasionally very great, but its occurrence is too rare for general consideration, and must be met in each case with such remedies as circ.u.mstances suggest as the best.

The gratings over the outlets of silt-basins which open at the surface of the ground, are sometimes, during the first year of the drainage, obstructed by a fungoid growth which collects on the cross bars. This should be occasionally rubbed off. Its character is not very well understood, and it is rarely observed in old drains. The decomposition of the gra.s.s bands which are used to cover the joints of the larger tiles may encourage its formation.

If the surface soil have a good proportion of sand, gravel, or organic matter, so as to give it the consistency which is known as "loamy," it will bear any treatment which it may chance to receive in cultivation, or as pasture land; but if it be a decided clay soil, no amount of draining will enable us to work it, or to turn cattle upon it when it is wet with recent rains. It will much sooner become dry, because of the drainage, and may much sooner be trodden upon without injury; but wet clay cannot be worked or walked over without being more or less _puddled_, and, thereby, injured for a long time.

No matter how thoroughly heavy clay pasture lands may be under-drained, the cattle should be removed from them when it rains, and kept off until they are comparatively dry. Neglect of this precaution has probably led to more disappointment as to the effects of drainage than any other circ.u.mstances connected with it. The injury from this cause does not extend to a great depth, and in the Northern States it would always be overcome by the frosts of a single winter; as has been before stated, it is confined to stiff clay soils, but as these are the soils which most need draining, the warning given is important.

CHAPTER VI. - WHAT DRAINING COSTS.

Draining is expensive work. This fact must be accepted as a very stubborn one, by every man who proposes to undertake the improvement. There is no royal road to tile-laying, and the beginner should count the cost at the outset. A good many acres of virgin land at the West might be bought for what must be paid to get an efficient system of drains laid under a single acre at home. Any man who stops at this point of the argument will probably move West,-or do nothing.

Yet, it is susceptible of demonstration that, even at the West, in those localities where Indian Corn is worth as much as fifty cents per bushel at the farm, it will pay to drain, in the best manner, all such land as is described in the first chapter of this book as in need of draining.

Arguments to prove this need not be based at all on cheapness of the work; only on its effects and its permanence.

In fact, so far as draining with tiles is concerned, cheapness is a delusion and a snare, for the reason that it implies something less than the best work, a compromise between excellence and inferiority. The moment that we come down from the best standard, we introduce a new element into the calculation. The sort of tile draining which it is the purpose of this work to advocate is a system so complete in every particular, that it may be considered as an absolutely permanent improvement. During the first years of the working of the drains, they will require more or less attention, and some expense for repairs; but, in well constructed work, these will be very slight, and will soon cease altogether. In proportion as we resort to cheap devices, which imply a neglect of important parts of the work, and a want of thoroughness in the whole, the expense for repairs will increase, and the duration of the usefulness of the drains will diminish.

Drains which are permanently well made, and which will, practically, last for all time, may be regarded as a good investment, the increased crop of each year, paying a good interest on the money that they cost, and the money being still represented by the undiminished value of the improvement. In such a case the draining of the land may be said to cost, not $50 per acre,-but the interest on $50 each year. The original amount is well invested, and brings its yearly dividend as surely as though it were represented by a five-twenty bond.

With badly constructed drains, on the other hand, the case is quite different. In buying land which is subject to no loss in quant.i.ty or quality, the farmer considers, not so much the actual cost, as the relation between the yearly interest on the cost, and the yearly profit on the crop,-knowing that, a hundred years hence, the land will still be worth his money.

But if the land were bounded on one side by a river which yearly encroached some feet on its bank, leaving the field a little smaller after each freshet; or if, every spring, some rods square of its surface were sure to be covered three feet deep with stones and sand, so that the actual value of the property became every year less, the purchaser would compare the yearly value of the crops, not only with the interest on the price, but, in addition to this, with so much of the prime value as yearly disappears with the destruction of the land.

It is exactly so with the question of the cost of drainage. If the work is insecurely done, and is liable, in five years or in fifty, to become worthless; the increase of the crops resulting from it, must not only cover the yearly interest on the cost, but the yearly depreciation as well. Therefore what may seem at the time of doing the work to be cheapness, is really the greatest extravagance. It is like building a brick wall with clay for mortar. The bricks and the workmanship cost full price, and the small saving on the mortar will topple the wall over in a few years, while, if well cemented, it would have lasted for centuries.

The cutting and filling of the ditches, and the purchase and transportation of the tiles, will cost the same in every case, and these const.i.tute the chief cost; if the proper care in grading, tile-laying and covering, and in making outlets be stingily withheld,-saving, perhaps, one-tenth of the expense,-what might have been a permanent improvement to the land, may disappear, and the whole outlay be lost in ten years. A saving of ten per cent. in the cost will have lost us the other ninety in a short time.

But, while cheapness is to be shunned, economy is to be sought in every item of the work of draining, and should be studied, by proprietor and engineer, from the first examination of the land, to the throwing of the last shovelful of earth on to the filling of the ditch. There are few operations connected with the cultivation of the soil in which so much may be imperceptibly lost through neglect, and carelessness about little details, as in tile-draining. In the original levelling of the ground, the adjustment of the lines, the establishing of the most judicious depth and inclination at each point of the drains, the disposition of surface streams during the prosecution of the work, and in the width of the excavation, the line which divides economy and wastefulness is extremely narrow and the most constant vigilance, together with the best judgment and foresight, are needed to avoid unnecessary cost. In the laying and covering of the tile, on the other hand, it is best to disregard a little slowness and unnecessary care on the part of the workmen, for the sake of the most perfect security of the work.

*Details of Cost.*-The items of the work of drainage may be cla.s.sified as follows:

1. Engineering and Superintendence.