Farm drainage Part 36

It is believed that Mr. Nourse's experiment is one of the most thorough and successful works of drainage yet executed in America. His plan is upon page 195.

STATEMENT OF B. F. NOURSE, ESQ.

GOODALES CORNER, ORRINGTON, ME., Sept. 1st, 1858.

MY DEAR SIR:--So much depends upon the preliminary surveys and "levels" for conducting works of thorough-draining and irrigation cheaply, yet to obtain the most beneficial results, that a competent person, such as an engineer or practiced land-drainer, should be employed to make them, if one can be obtained.

Unfortunately for me, when I began this operation, some years ago, there were no such skilled persons in the country, or I could learn of none professionally such, and was forced to do my own engineering. Having thus practically acquired some knowledge of it, I use and enjoy a Summer vacation from other pursuits, in the prosecution of this; and this employment, for the last few weeks, has delayed my answer to your inquiries. Nor could I sooner arrive at the figures of cost, extent, &c., of this season's work.

This is expected to be completed in ten days, and then I shall have laid, of

Stone drains, including mains 702 rods Tile drains (two inches, or larger) 1043 "

---- In all 1745 "

or, about five and one-half miles, laying dry, _satisfactorily_, about thirty-five acres. The character and extent of the work will better appear by reference to the plan of the farm which I send with this for your inspection.

The earlier portion was fairly described by the Committee of the Bangor Hort. Soc.--(See Report, for 1856, of the Maine Board of Agriculture.) It was far too costly, as usual in works of a novel character conducted without practical knowledge. No part of my draining, even that of this season, has been done so cheaply as it ought to be done in Maine, and will be done when tiles can be bought at fair prices near at hand. I call your attention particularly to this, because the magnitude of the cost, as I represent it, ought not to be taken as a necessary average, or standard outlay per acre, by any one contemplating similar improvement, when almost any farmer can accomplish it equally well at far less cost. My unnecessary expenditures will not have been in vain, if they serve as a finger-post to point others in a profitable way.

My land had upon its surface, and mingled in its super soil, a large quant.i.ty of stones, various in size, from the huge boulders, requiring several blasts of powder to reduce them to movable size, to the rubble stones which were shoveled from the cart into the drains. To make clean fields all these had to be removed, besides the many "heaps" which had been acc.u.mulated by the industry of my predecessors. A tile-drain needs no addition of stone above the pipe; indeed, the stone may be a positive injury, as harboring field vermin, or, if allowed to come within two feet of the surface, as obstructing deep tillage, and favoring the access of particles of soil upon or into the tile with the rapid access of water which they promote. Carefully placed to the depth of six or eight inches in a four-foot drain, quite small stones are, perhaps, useful, and they certainly facilitate the drawing of water from the surface. Such was, and still is, with many, the prescribed method of best drainage in Scotland, and some parts of England. The increased cost of adding the stone above the tile is obvious; and when the width of that drain is enlarged to receive them, the cost is materially enhanced. Yet such has been my practice, at first, under the impression of its necessity, and all the time from a desire to put to use, and out of sight, the small stones with which I was favored in such abundance. The entire cost of moving, and bringing more than 2,500 heavy loads of stone, is included in the cost of drains, as set down for the 1,745 rods.

Including this part of expense, which is never _necessary_ with tile, and cannot be incurred in plain clay soils, or clay loams free of stones, the last 700 rods cost an average of 97 cents per rod completed. This includes the largest mains; of which, one of 73 rods was opened four feet wide at bottom of the trench, of which the channel capacity is 18 18 = 324 square inches, and others 110 rods of three and one-half and three feet width at bottom, all these mains being laid entirely with stone. The remainder of the 700 rods was laid with two-inch tile, which cost at the farm eighteen dollars per 1,000. These last were opened four rods apart, and lay dry about seventeen acres, at a cost, including the mains, of $678, or $40 per acre. In this is included every day's labor of man and beast, and all the incidental expenses, nothing being contributed by the farm, which is under lease.

I infer that an intelligent farmer, beginning aright, and availing himself of the use of team and farm labor, when they can best be spared from other work--as in the dry season, after haying--or paying fair prices for digging his ditches only, and doing the rest of the work from the farm, can drain thoroughly at a cost of $20 per acre, drains four rods apart, and four feet deep; or at $25 per acre, forty feet apart, and three feet nine inches deep.

My subsoil is very hard, requiring constant use of the pick, and sharpening of the picks every day, so that the labor of loosening the earth was one-third or one-half more than the throwing out with a shovel. The price paid per rod, for opening only, to the depth of three and a half feet (or, perhaps, three and three-quarters average,) of a width for laying tile, was 25 cents per rod. At this price, the industrious men, skillful with tools, earned $1.12 to $1.25 per day, besides board; and they threw out one-third more earth than was really necessary, for "room to work" as they said.

_But they labored hard, 14 hours per day._ The same men, working in a soil free from stones, and an easier subsoil, would, in the same time, open from 50 to 100 per cent. more length of ditch.

The greater part of these drains were laid four rods apart. When first trying this distance upon a field, of which the soil was called "springy and cold," and was always too wet in the Spring and early Summer for plowing, a partial, rather than "thorough"

drainage was attempted, with the design, at some future day, to lay intermediate drains. The execution of that design may yet appear expedient, although the condition of soil already obtained, is satisfactory beyond expectation.

Owing to the excess of water that saturated the soil in Spring and Fall, the former proprietors of the farm had not attempted the cultivation of the field alluded to, for many years. Originally producing heavy crops of hay, it had been mowed for thirty years or more, and was a good specimen of "exhausted land," yielding one-half or three-fourths of a ton of hay per acre. This field is designated in the plan, as the "barley field, 1858," lies south-west of the dwelling-house, and contains nearly six acres.

Its northerly half, being the lower end of the field, was drained in 1855, having been Summer-plowed, and sowed with buckwheat, which was turned under, when in flower, as a fallow crop. The other half was drained in 1856; plowed and subsoiled the same Fall. In 1857, nearly the whole field was planted with roots--potatoes, rutabagas, mangolds, carrots, English turnips, &c.--and one acre in corn. For these crops, fair dressings of manure were applied--say ten or twelve cartloads of barn-manure plowed in, and one hundred pounds of either guano or bone-dust harrowed in, or strewed in the drill, for each acre; about fifteen loads per acre of seasoned muck or peat were also plowed in. There was a good yield of all the roots; for the corn, the season was unfavorable. Last Spring, a light dressing of manure, but all that we could afford, was applied, the whole well ploughed, harrowed, seeded to gra.s.s with barley, harrowed, and rolled. The barley was taken off last week; and, from the five and three-quarter acres, seventeen heavy loads were hauled into the barn, each estimated to exceed a ton in weight. The grain from a measured acre was put apart to be separately threshed, and I will advise of its yield when ascertained.[A] This was said, by the many farmers who saw it, including some from the Western States, to be the "handsomest field of grain" they had ever seen. The young gra.s.s looks well; and I hope, next Summer, to report a good cut of "hay from drained land."

[Footnote A: This was threshed about the middle of November, and yielded "51 bushels, round measure." The entire field averaged 45 bushels per acre.]

Last Winter, there were no snows to cover the ground for sleighing until March; and, lying uncovered, our fields were all frozen to an unusual depth. But, _our drains did not cease to run through the Winter_. And Mr. O. W. Straw, who works the farm, and was requested to note the facts accurately, wrote to me this Spring, "the frost came out of the drained land about one week first" (that is, earlier than from the undrained land adjacent); and, "in regard to working condition, the drained land was in advance of the undrained, ten days, at least." The absence of snow permitting this unusual depth of frost, had caused a rare equality of condition the last Spring, because, until the frost was out, the drains would not draw surface-water. Usually, when early snows have fallen to protect the ground, and it remains covered through the Winter, the frost goes off with the snow, _or earlier_, and, within a few days, the land becomes in good condition for plowing--quite two weeks earlier than the driest of my undrained fields, or any others in the vicinity.

These remarks apply to land in which the drains are four rods apart. The farm lies with an inclination northerly and easterly, the fall varying from 1 in 33 to 1 in 8; that in most of the drains laid four rods apart, being about 1 in 25. The drains in the "barley field" fall 1 in 27, average, all affording a rapid run of water, which, from the mode of construction, and subsequent subsoiling, finds ready access to the drain-channels. Hence, we never observe running water upon the surface of any of our drained lands, either during the heaviest rains, or when snows are melting, and the wasteful "washing" from the surface that formerly injured our plowed grounds, has ceased.

It is fair to suppose that it is the considerable descent which renders the drains so effectual at four rods apart; and that where there is but slight fall, other circ.u.mstances being the same, it would be necessary to lay drains much nearer, for equal service.

The results of one man's experiments, or practice, whether of success or failure, should not be conclusive to another, unless all the circ.u.mstances are identical. These are ever varying from one farm to another; and only a right understanding of the natural laws or principles brought into use, can determine what is best in each case. Therefore, a description of the methods I have used, or any detailed suggestions I may give, as the result of experience, would not be worth much, unless tested by the well-ascertained rules applicable to them, which men of science and skill have adopted and proved, by the immensely extended draining operations in Great Britain, and those begun in this country. These are now given in elaborate treatises, and quoted in agricultural journals. But they should be made familiar to every farmer, in all their practical details, and with methods suited to our country, where labor is dear and land cheap, as contrasted with the reversed conditions in England, where the practice of "thorough-draining" has so generally obtained, and has so largely improved the conditions of both landlord and tenant. Your book will do this, and thus do a great good; for draining will greatly enlarge the productive capacity of our land, and, consequently, its value, while it will render labor more effective and more remunerative to the employer and the employed.

The fact of increased production from a given quant.i.ty of land, by draining, being ascertained beyond question, and the measure of that increase, at its minimum, being more than the interest at six per cent. upon the sum required to effect it--even at $50 per acre--the question of expediency is answered. To the owner of tillage lands there is no other such safe, sure, and profitable investment for his money. He lodges it in a bank that will never suspend payments, and from which better than six per cent. dividend can be received annually.

Very truly, yours, B. F. NOURSE.

Hon. H. F. FRENCH, Exeter, N. H.

STATEMENT OF SHEDD AND EDSON.

BOSTON, February 1, 1859.

DEAR SIR:--The plan for a system of thorough drainage, a copy of which we send you herewith, was executed for Mr. I. P. Rand, of Roxbury.

An outfall was obtained, at the expense of considerable labor, by deepening the Roxbury and Dorchester Brook for a distance of nearly a quarter of a mile, about four hundred feet of which was through a rocky bottom, which required some blasting. The fall thus obtained was only about two inches in the whole distance.

The fall which can be obtained for the main drain is less than two inches per hundred feet, but the lateral drains entering into the main, will have a fall varying from two inches to a foot per hundred.

The contour lines, or lines traced along the ground, intersecting points on an equal level, are drawn on this plan, showing a fall of four-tenths of a foot, each line being in every part four-tenths of a foot lower than the line above it. Where the lines are near together, the fall is greater, as a less horizontal distance is pa.s.sed over before reaching a point which is four-tenths lower than the line above.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Thorough Drainage BY SHEDD & EDSON. AGR'L ENG'S BOSTON, 1859]

It will be seen by the plan, that the fall in the line occupied by the main drain is very slight, while the side drains have a fall much greater.

The lateral drains are run in the line of steepest descent, which is, of course, at right angles to the general direction of the contour lines.

The water from the entire system is collected, and escapes at one outlet into the brook.

A peep hole is placed at the intersection of the sub-main drain with the main, which commands about one-half the entire area--the other, half is commanded by the outlet.

Two-inch tile will be laid in the lateral drains, and three, four, and five-inch in the sub-main and main.

It is quite indispensable, to the successful execution of a plan of drainage on land so level as this, that careful measurements be made on the ground with an engineer's level, and such a representation of its surface projected as will show to the eye at a glance what all the natural inclinations are. The work can then be laid out with ease in the best position, and executed in a systematic manner. The time and labor which is devoted to such an examination of the ground is well spent, and, with the knowledge gained by it, the work can be carried on with such economy as to save the original cost of the examination many times over.

Very truly, yours, SHEDD & EDSON Hon. H. F. FRENCH, Exeter, N. H.

STATEMENT OF HENRY F. FRENCH, OF EXETER, N. H.

The drained field represented in the plan (Fig. 102), contains about eight acres. I purchased it in 1846. The upper part of it is sand, with underlying clay at depths of from four to ten feet. The field slopes towards the river, and, on the slope, the clay strata coming out to the surface, naturally bring out the water, so that the side hill was so wet as to produce cranberries--quite too wet for any hoed crop. At the foot of the hill the soil is a stiff clay, with veins of sand and gravel. Through the centre was a wet ravine, which served as a natural outlet for the springs, and which was so full of black alders as to make an excellent cover for woodc.o.c.k. Until the land was drained, this ravine was impa.s.sable in the hay season even, except by a bridge which I built across it.

Now it may be crossed at any season and at any point.

I first attempted to drain the wettest parts with brush drains, running them into the wet places merely, and succeeded in drying the land sufficiently to afford good crops of hay. I laid one brush-drain across the brow of the hill, five feet deep, hoping to cut off all the water, which I supposed ran along upon the surface of the clay. This dried the land for a few rods, but the water still ruined the lower parts of the field, and the drain produced very little effect upon the land above it. In 1856, finding my brush drains quite insufficient, I thorough-drained the side-hill on the lower part of the plan at the reader's left hand, at fifty feet distances, up and down the slope, at an average of about four feet depth, going five feet deep on the brow of the hill, to cut through the brush-drain. I used two-inch sole-tiles for minors, and three-inch for the main.

The effect was instantaneous. The land which, in the Spring of 1856, had been so wet that it could not, even though partially drained with brush-drains, be planted till the 5th of June, was, in 1857, ready to work as soon as the snow was off. My farm journal says, under date of April 6th, "plowed drained land with double plow two days after a heavy storm--dry enough." I spent that Summer in Europe. The land was planted with corn, which produced a heavy crop. I find an entry in my journal, on my return, "My drained land has been in good condition--neither too wet nor too dry--all Summer."

In the Fall of 1857, I laid about 170 rods in other parts of the field, at similar depths and distances, and in 1858 completed the upper part, on which is an orchard of apple trees. A part of this orchard was originally so wet as to kill the trees the first year, but by brush-drains I dried it enough to keep the next set alive.

There was no water visible at the surface, and the land was dry enough for corn and potatoes; still the trees looked badly, and many were winter-killed. I had learned the formation of the earth about my premises, of which I had at first no adequate conception, and was satisfied that no fruit tree could flourish with its feet in cold water, even in Winter. All nursery-men and fruit-growers agree, that land must be well drained for fruit. I therefore laid four-foot tile drains between the rows of trees, in this apparently dry sand. We found abundance of water, in the driest season, at four feet, and it has never ceased to flow copiously.

I measured accurately the discharge of water from the main which receives the drainage of about one and a half acres of the orchard, at a time when it gave, what seemed to me an average quant.i.ty for the Winter months, when the earth was frozen solid, and found it to be about 480 barrels per day! The estimate was made by holding a bucket, which contained ten quarts, under the outlet, when it was found that it would fill in fifteen seconds, equal to ten gallons per minute; and six hundred gallons, or twenty barrels per hour, and four hundred and eighty barrels per day.

I have seen the same drain discharge at least four times that quant.i.ty, at some times! The peep-holes give opportunity for inspection, and I find the result to be, that the water-table is kept down four feet below the surface at all times, except for a day or two after severe rain-storms.

There is an apparent want of system in this plan, partly to be attributed to my desire to conform somewhat to the line of the fences, and partly to the conformation of the land, which is quite uneven. At several points near the ravine, springs broke out, apparently from deep fountains, and short drains were run into them, to keep them below the surface.

The general result has been, to convert wet land into early warm soil, fit for a garden, to render my place more dry and healthful, and to ill.u.s.trate for the good of the community the entire efficiency of tile-drainage. The cost of this work throughout, I estimate at fifty cents per rod, reckoning labor at $1 per day, and tiles at $12 per thousand, and all the work by hand-tools. I think in a few years, we may do the same work at one-half this cost.

Further views on this point are given in the chapter on the "Cost of Drainage."

After our work was in press, we received from Mr. William Boyle, Farmer at the Albert Model Farm in Ireland, the paper which is given below, kindly sent in reply to a series of questions proposed by the author.