period of five years before drainage, there had been 1,480 cases of malarial disease. During the next five years under a pretty good system of drainage, there were but 490 cases of such disease. These facts show that drainage not only brings material prosperity to the individual, but promotes the general healthfulness of the climate of that district, in which all are interested and all enjoy.

It is a matter of note that the Campagne about Rome, which in ancient days was the healthful home of a dense population, is now afflicted with the most deadly fevers. It is claimed by high authorities that this is due to the destruction and choking of the drains which in excavating are found everywhere, but always filled and useless.

It will be readily seen that this subject has at least two important bearings upon our prosperity, and though in considering and perfecting general farm drainage, the effect upon health may be manifested without effort being put forth in that direction, yet it should always be kept in mind and receive that consideration which it deserves.

DRAINAGE AND FANCY FARMING.

It is thought by many who have not yet tested the value of tile drainage, that it is one of those luxuries often indulged in by so-called fancy farmers. By such farmers is meant those who farm for pleasure rather than for profit; those who raise wheat which costs them $1 per bushel, but which is worth only eighty cents on the market; those who raise beef at a cost of ten cents per lb. and sell it for six cents per lb.; in short, they are men (and there are many of them) who receive their income from some other source, and cultivate a farm for recreation. That drainage properly belongs to this class of farmers is a mistaken notion, as hundreds of thrifty, money-making farmers in the West would prove, could they now give their experience. In the example previously given, drainage increased the production of wheat and corn fully 100 per cent, which was a township report for five years. In order to emphasize these statements, we will insert a few practical examples communicated to the Drainage Journal during last year.

Geo. P. Robertson: "One ten-acre field failed to produce anything except a few small ears. I drained it, and have cropped it for eight years successively, and have paid time and again for husking 100 bushels of corn per acre."

"Mr. Losee, Norwich, Canada, says that as a matter of actual test, his underdrained land yields one-third larger crops than his undrained fields, although the same treatment in other respects is applied, and the land is of the same character throughout. The average wheat yield of his undrained land is twenty bushels per acre, while the drained fields yielded an average of thirty bushels. As the cost of draining on his farm is estimated at $20 per acre, this preparation of the soil pays for itself in two years."

Horton Ferguson, Indiana: "The swamp contained twenty-seven acres, and was regarded by all neighbors as utterly worthless except for hunting grounds. Mr. Ferguson, who has great faith in underdraining, determined to undertake to reclaim the land, confident if successfully done, it would be a paying investment. Last year he tile drained and grubbed it, paying customary rates for all the labor and tile, and this year put it in corn, with the following result:

The land proved to be remarkably rich, having produced, as shown, ninety bushels to the acre, and Mr. F. assures us that several acres exceeded 100 bushels to the acre. It will thus be observed that he realized the first year of cultivation enough to pay the entire expense of reclaiming and had $357.13 left to pay on the crop expense. Next season, if favorable, he expects a still better yield." Every farmer knows that, in these times of easy transportation, profits do not depend so much upon the price his product brings in the market as upon the quantity he has to dispose of. In other words, abundant crops are the farmer's source of income. There is evidence enough at hand to justify the statement that of all improvements put upon farms containing wet land valued at $40 per acre and upwards, drainage pays the largest profit for the outlay. Just what this profit will be will depend upon the soil drained, the necessary cost required to improve it, and the use and management of it after it is drained. All of these things vary so that each case must be considered by itself. Drainage is simply a necessary part of good husbandry which merits the careful consideration of all thinking farmers.

Plan for a Flood Gate.

To maintain a fence across a water course, is one of the trials and tribulations of the farmer. After a heavy rain, generally fences in such places are either badly damaged or entirely washed away. Having been troubled this way for years, I have hit upon the following plan, which, after two years' trial I find to be a success.

A stick of timber, three or four inches in diameter, is placed where the gate is needed, and fastened down with stakes, driven slanting, on each side, the tops of the stakes lapping over the piece so as to hold it securely, and driven well down, so as not to catch the drift, but allowing the piece to turn freely; inch and half holes are bored in the piece and uprights are fitted in them; the material of which the gate is made is fastened to these uprights. A light post is driven on the lower side and the gate fastened to it.

This will keep the gate in place in any ordinary flood, but when a Noah comes along, it turns down on the bottom of creek, and waters and drifts pass over it. When the water subsides all that is necessary to do is to turn the gate back to its upright position. If the gate is not needed during the winter, it is better to lay it down and let it remain in that position until spring, for if it is fastened with the post in an upright position, it will be broken with the spring floods.

A. E. B.
Carthage, Ill.

Great Corn Crops.

It having been mentioned in the Iowa State Register some weeks ago that Mr. Hezekiah Fagan, of Polk county, in that State, had once grown one hundred and fifty-eight bushels of corn per acre, a son of Mr. Fagan writes the following regarding the kinds of corn, the ground, and the manner of cultivation:

"Father's farm joined Brown's Park on the north and run a mile north; the corn was raised where the old orchard now is; it was part prairie and part brush land, and was about the third crop. The ground was plowed in the spring, harrowed and marked out with a single shovel both ways, the rows being four feet apart each way. The corn was dropped by hand and covered with a hoe, and left without harrowing until large enough to plow, and was plowed twice with single shovel, and once with the two horse stirring plow and hilled up as high as possible, and hoed enough to keep clean. The seed was from corn father brought from Rockville, Ind., with him when he moved to Des Moines, in the spring of 1848, and was of the large, yellow variety which matured then and matures now with anything like a good season, and I verily believe that with as good ground and as good treatment and as