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VOL. XXIJI.11- 3 ~ry •     INDIANAPOLIS, IND., SATURDAY, JAN. 7,1888       37,0 ^o
NO. 1
The Needs of the Hour.
BY J. J. W. BH.LINO.SLKY.
[A paper read before the late meeting of the Indiana
Tile and Drainage Association ]
It is often the ease, tbat things that are
judged by us, to be misfortunes, prove,
when we get far enough beyond them to
see the effect,to be blessings instead. They
have at least a silver lining. .
Drouths are not always the worst events
that can happen to a country. It is our
observation,and the observation of others,
that seasons of drouth are succeeded with
years of plenty.
The year 18S0 was one of severe drouth
in the greater portion of this State, and it
was followed with abundant harvests in
the years of 1881-2.
We might refer to other years of drouth
as further illustrating the fact if it was
necessary.
The cause of this, suggesting itself to
our mind, is, that during the drouth the
water line is carried down to a depth that
admits the air to circulate through the
spaces of the soil. The air coming in contact with the elements of fertility, causes
oxidation, and otherwise effects chemical
combinations of the. utmost importance
in the preparation of plant food. During
the continuance of a drouth there is at all
times during the day more or less evaporation of moisture from the surface of the
soil. This moisture is brought up through
the capillary tubes formed in the soil, the
■ same as oil passes up the lamp wick to
supply the flame.
This upward flow of moisture from the
greater.depth of earth, brings with it, in
solution, fertilizing elements, but parts
with them at the surface when the moisture evaporates. This deposit fit earth's
treasure, in the way of plant food, goes on
until the surface soil is greatly enriched,
as in the late continued season of drouth.
The raius that'have followed have fallen
as a benediction from the skies—so gentle,
that the earth's surface has drank in the
water, carrying this added fertility down
sufficiently below the surface to hold it in
store for the coming crop or crops. If our
first rains had been heavy flood tides,
washing and leaching the surface, rushing
oft" into the streams, then there would
have beeh a great loss, covering in most
part, the gain to the fertility made during
the continuance of the drouth. But somehow or other, there is a Providence that
interposes in our behalf—sending them so
gently.
Again, years of drouth are usually succeeded with seasonable year-s having the
early and latter rainfalls. So that we very
confidently look forward to years of plenty in this State and consequently to years
of prosperity.
There are some practical lessons to be
learned from this season of drouth, in the
use of tile, and the benefits to be derived,
or not derived, from under draining, that
it is well to heed and profit by. The first
that we mention is, that shallow under-
drainage does not afford the protection
against damage to the crops from drouth
like that of deep underdrainage. Where
the tile drains have been laid within 18 or
20 inches, or two feet of the surface, there
has been little difference, if any, obsei v-
able between the tiled and untiled lard.
But where the drains have been put in to
a depth of 3 or 4, or more feet, the effect
has been marked, and usually the greater
depth has shown the best results. And
there are reasons why this is so. One rea-
onis, that the air in passing along the
line of the deep drains comes in contact
with earth at a temperature sufficiently
low to cause the moisture, which is always
present in our atmosphere in greater or
lass quantities, to condense and deposit
on the particles of cooler earth like dew
deposits in the night time on vegetation,
and in this way supply needed moisture
to the roots of the crops.
,In some of the excavations made during the late drouth to test this matter, the
tile at a depth of 3% and 4 feet were found
to be quite moist. In one instance where
the tile had been laid at a depth of five
feet, near the outlets, it was observed
that in the time of the drouth when the
air indicated considerable moisture and
the clouds threatened rain, but it did not
rain, a small stream of water not larger,
the gentleman said, than a rye straw, ran
•from the mouth of the drain for several
hours until the threatened rainfall was
passed.
Shallow drains are too near the surface
in extreme hot and dry weather to be cool
enough to cause the deposit of moisture
before referred to.
Another reason that we mention in this
connection is that the deeper drains will
give a greater depth of porous earth for
the roots to penetrate for both food and
moisture supply. A condition very necessary to the growth and well being of the
crop. It is well to- remember the fact,tbat
roots of crops will go down deep if the
way is opened for them by making the
earth porous. One of the lessons to be
learned from the effects of the late drouth,
and of all drouths in fact, is that the
drains should be deeper than they are
commonly laid.
And the lesson is not without compensation to those who are engaged in the
business of manufacturing tile, for the
reason ihat'as "soon as the brainy men ol
the country are convinced that deep and
thoroughunderdrainage will protect them
in a dry season, as well as a wet, that
they may put their land in such a mechanical condition by underdrainage that
their crops will not likely fail any season,
and in addition gain 25 or 30 per cent in
the increased production, they will then
put in more tile and do the work better.
It has been in the past a difficult problem
to get the greater number of men to believe it to be to their interest to do such
thorough work. Indeed some of our tile
men have felt that it was not to their interest to advocate deep underdrainage, for
fear the greater cost of it would discourage
the farmers from putting in tile.
There are two men living side by side,
with only a highway dividing them. One
has advocated and practiced shallow, and
the other deep drainage—the years since
they commenced to underdrain, in 1881,
have been alike seasonable, until this season. The advocate of shallow drainage
insisted that his drains did quite as well
every way as his neighbor's, and so en-
thusisatic did he become over his view of
the matter,that he laid many of his drains
as shallow as 18 or 20 inches. His neighbor, however, was not discouraged a whit,
but being a little stubborn went deeper
still, 3J4 and 4 feet deep, and in some instances a greater depth. His crops did
well, quite as well as his neighbor's and a
little better perhaps. He would occasionally say: "You'll see Charley, by and by,
that I will have deeper soil at least." In
this he was right. But the day of testing came, this season, and the superiority
of the deeper drains tells the story of 50
bushels of corn to the acre, well matured,
while the neighbor across the road on
quite as good land by nature and with
faithful cultivation, but with shallow
drains, has not more than half the number of bushels per acre, and light and
chaffy as we say, at that.
The farmer who did the deeper and better work, has drawn as many or more tile
this fall than any season before, to put in
this winter and next spring, and says "I
am going to have my entire farm thoroughly underdrained before I quit." The
other neighbor sees his mistake now, but
much of what he has done is in the way
of better work, and it will take him a year
or two to mend up what he has done if he
does even that.
The lesson is,that it is not only better to
do thorough work, but it is in addition an
encouragement to make larger investments in the purchase of tile, to extend
the work. The best laid drains are better
for both the tile maker and the tile user.
A man may in a single season put in more
tile by putting them only a little below
the plow, and may be satisfied, yea, enthusiastic over the result of a wet season.
Some men are enthusiastic over dead
furrows in a field and think them sufficient, and there comes a day of testing
when they do not come up to the demands
of the hour.
This severe drouth which we have just
passed, will, where men have brains
enough, prove a corrective of much of the
faulty work that would otherwise have
been done..
What we want and what we need now
more than anything else, in our judgment is, to get the facts, as to the benefits
of deep and shallow drainage before the
people. If they are once convinced that
deep and thorough work will pay them,
and pay them well, and pay them certainly every year, wet or dry, or drouth—then
they will wheel into line in this work as
never before. Men act when they are
convinced that it is to their interest, and
the more in proportion to the increased
interest. The cause and effects and the
lessons to be learned are not myths, they
are as true as it is that the sun shineth.
They are lessons of great practical value
if we will only study them well. At other
meetings of this body when the reports
from the field were favorable as to sales
of tile, the writer then urged the need of
a thorough understanding of the effects
of underdrainage, and the need of doing
the work well, so that the greater benefits would come of the work, but some
said "no, no; just so they buy the tile
that's all we want." But the drouth came
and the slight difference between lands
not drained and these shallow drained
has been discouraging to many, and now
it will take a little flood or so to float them
on, in the work.
But why not do this work intelligently?
Go at it like laying the foundation of a
structure intended for the generations to
come, as tile drainage deserves to be considered, if well done.
There is need for getting on in this work.
We are upon the eve of a prosperity if the
signs of the times deceive us not, that will
call upon the farm lands of the State for a
yield of products for home markets never
before experienced in the past. We will
need to have every acre of our soil put
into the best possible condition for culti
vation. Our soils are highly favored by
nature in their elements of fertility—and
only need the mechanical improvement of
deep underdrainage to make them laugh
with fatness at the good husbandman's
touch.
The discovery of natural gas and the
prospective future of our State in the up
building of large manufacturing interests,
with a teeming population of operatives
who will have to be supplied from our
markets will make a future for our State
in all probability that few of us have little
dreamed of.
Are we ready to respond to the needs of
the hour? Are you ready gentlemen to go
to your homes and sound the bugle notes
of advance, by telling of the future that
lies before us, the wonderful markets
that are near at our doors for every product that can be grown, and the need of
putting the land in the best condition by
underdrainage and intelligent cultivation ?
We have now (probably) a population
of 70 to the square mile,—look forward to
a time in the near future when our population shall be doubled, say 6,000,000, or
166 to the square, mile, which will be more
than double. It is not a thing incredible,
located as this State is with her water and'
great railroad facilities, soil, water and
fuel resources developed and being developed, with gigantic manufacturing
interests springing up on every side, that
the present population should be doubled
in the next twenty years, and even then
we shall not be so densely populated by
half as some of the European countries,
and that too, with abetter soil and a
greater wealth of resources. Besides there
are the cities of Louisville, Cincinnati
and Chicago on our border whose markets
are to be supplied in part from our State.
We have great faith in the soil resources
of this State, with underdrainage and an
agriculture alive to the needs of the hour.
We can support easily a population of
7,000,000 or 8,000,000 people. But are we
alive to the importance of impressing the
people with the need of getting ready for
such a coming prosperity. To our shame
it can be said that even now we do not
supply our markets in full with such
products as can be grown abundantly in
this State. "Vegetables of all kinds are
shipped into this capital city to supply
her markets, from adjoining and other
States, amounting to an enormous sum of
money.
Take the item of Irish potatoes, this city
ships in Irish potatoes more or less every
year. Will any one dare to say that our
soil, if well underdrained, will not grow
an abundance of potatoes, if they are only
planted in season and properly cultivated?
A low ou such 3t.il to our kuoivleugo have
had a return of from 80 to 150 bushels in
this seassn of drouth, which at ?1 per
bushels, or 75 cents per bushel, makes
quite a sum of money. Do you know of
any thing much better? But what has
this to do with the tile business? The tile
business ought to have much to do in
bringing about such remunerative returns.
We are behind, as a State.what we ought
to be in the area of tiled land and in the
character of the work that has been done.
What we need to do, is to get the facts as
to the benefits of underdrainage, and the
prospects before us, fixed in the public
mind. Our State has the largest area of
natural gas so far discovered, a cheap fuel
for manufacturing purposes, a cheap fuel
for the people, a cheap fuel to bnrn tile
and brick, and coal, fields the limits of
which have not been determined, sufficient for ages, and above all a soil as rich
as the best, well watered and healthy,
with transportation not excelled by any of
our sister States. There are millions in
its future development.
What you need to do as tile manufacturers is to resolve the whole of your 600 •
and odd in number, if there is any way to
do it, into a committee of the whole, to
consider the best means of gettiDg the
magnitude of our promising future before
the farmers of this State. In a word enthuse them. The capital will come with
willing hands to do the work of this great
up building not in this city alone, but in
your county towns and villages. The agricultural interests need to be advanced in
the drainage of the land in the reclamation of the waste places, that our State
may literally groan beneath the abundant
harvests of the future.
To some, this may seem to be a roseate
yiew, but let me assure you that before
the clo.«e of the next decade, you will be
roady to sing that "the half has never been
told." We may, if we allow it, let our
sister States largely supply our markets
and pocket the proceeds. We may, if we
will, underdrain our lands, the greater
proportion of which it will be profitable
to underdrain, and in this way fit them
for the highest state of fertility, and then
with enterprise in their cultivation supply our own home markets and pocket the
proceeds. Which will we do? is the question of the hour.
In conclusion may we not urge upon
you the advisability, when you return to
your homes of beginning the work of a
higher education of the people as to the
material resources and future of this our
grand commonwealth. You have the
resources and the opportunity of doing a
good work, gentlemen, in this upbuilding
—the onlyunsolved part of the question is,
will you gird yourselves for the "Needs
of the hour?"