e regretted that the average ditcher does work far below the
standard of excellence. If by some magic means the conditions of many of
the drains in our State could be spread out before us in open view, it
would be a wonder to this convention that tile drainage has wrought out
such favorable results as it has. We would see tile laid on the siphon
plan, good and poor joints, faulty connections, ditches crooked enough
to baffle the sagacious mole should he attempt to follow the line.
Patience would scarcely hold out to enumerate the exasperating defects
of much of our drainage work. Nothing can overcome the egotism and
self-confidence of the average ditcher except the constant supervision
of the employer. Such work is so soon covered, and errors placed beyond
immediate detection that nothing else will suffice. To guard against
such mistakes, know what work you want and how you want it done, and
then look after it yourself or employ some one in whom you have
confidence to superintend it. When any mistake is guarded against, from
beginning to end, the work will not be too well done. The cut-and-cover,
hurry-scurry methods of doing things, common on some Western farms, will
not do in drainage work. Carefulness in regard to every detail is the
only safe rule to adopt.

MISTAKE NO. 7--FAILURE TO MAKE OPEN DITCHES FOR WATER COURSES.

The farmers of Illinois have, in many sections, been avoiding the main
question in the drainage of our rich prairies, and that is the
improvement of the natural water courses so that they will carry off the
drainage water of sections for which they afford outlets. Every feasible
plan and device has been used to circumvent the forces of nature and
relieve valuable farm lands from surplus water. In the flat sections of
our State nothing will serve this purpose but the deepening of our large
sloughs by constructing capacious open ditches. Our land can not be
properly drained without them. They must be of ample depth and width,
and well made in every respect. No problem connected with the drainage
interests of our State should, at present, receive more careful
attention than this. Nature, has, in most cases, marked out the line for
work, and says, "let man enlarge and complete for his undivided use
according to his strength and skill." When such work is done, the demand
for tile to supplement the drainage thus made possible will be
unprecedented. The drainage of our roads will be facilitated, and the