Chapter XII: Part IV: Soils, Fertilizers and Irrigation (3)

Straw, by its decay in the soil, produces humus and, therefore acts in the same way just as does the decay of other forms of vegetation. As, however, straw is less easily decomposed than fresh vegetation, it is less valuable and may be troublesome by acquiring a greater amount of moisture by interfering with cultivation or by tending to dry out the soil to the injury of other plants. If the soil is heavy and moisture abundant, straw may be desirable, while in the case of a light soil and scant moisture, may be injurious. There is no particular difference in the straw of the different grains from this point of view.

The Best Legume for Cover Crop.

What would you advise to sow as a crop to plow under? When should it be sowed, and when plowed under?

The best crop for green-manuring in any locality is the one which will make the best growth when surplus moisture is available for it, and when its growth can be undertaken with least interference with irrigation, cultivation and other orchard operation. Generally in California, such a crop can be most conveniently grown during the rainy season, but in some parts of the State where irrigation water is available, a summer growth can be procured with very satisfactory results; so that we are now growing in California both wintergrowing legumes, like field peas, vetches, burr clover, etc., which are hardy enough to grow in spite of the light frosts which may prevail, and are also growing summer legumes which thrive under high temperature, like cowpeas and other members of the bean family, and for which water can be spared without injury to the fruit trees which share the application of the land with them. The plants which are worth trying are burr clover, common or Oregon vetch, Canadian field pea, and the common California or Niles pea. Whichever one of these makes the best winter growth so that it can be plowed under early in the spring, say in February or March, while there is still plenty of moisture in the soil for its decay, without robbing the trees or rendering the soil difficult of summer cultivation, is the plant for you to use largely. All these plants should be sown in California valleys and foothills, as soon as there is moisture enough from rainfall to warrant you in believing they will catch and continue to grow. If the land is light they can be put in with a cultivator and plowed under deeply in the spring, as stated. If the land is heavy, probably a shallow plowing would be better to begin with.

Cowpeas for Cover Crop.

I planted cowpeas between peach trees which I have kept irrigated; when should they be plowed under?

Cowpeas will be killed by frost in most places and should, therefore, be plowed in this fall whenever you have a large growth of green stuff and the ground gets moist enough so that the trees will not be endangered by drying out of the soil, which is likely to occur after plowing in coarse material, unless the soil is kept moist by rain or otherwise.

Garden Peas for Green Manure.

Would it be possible to plant the Yorkshire Hero pea in on orange grove as late as December 25 and get a crop from the peas? Would this pea add much to the fertility of the soil?

You can sow any garden peas as late as December 25, if the ground is in good condition and the temperature not too low. They are grown as a winter crop except when the ground freezes. You would not get as much good for the grove by growing these peas for the market as you would by plowing the whole growth under green, but you certainly will get advantage from the decomposition of the pea straw and of the root growth of the plant.

Grass for Green Manuring.

I wish to sow this fall some green grass to be plowed in next spring to improve the soil of part of my land. I read for that purpose a bulletin I had from the government, but the conditions are so different here in California that I am very much puzzled which kind to select.

There is no grass which grows quickly enough to be worth seeding in the fall for spring plowing. It is a good deal better to use a grain, either barley or rye, for the seed is cheap, the growth quick and you can get a good deal of green stuff to plow under. Legumes are, of course, better because of their ability to absorb atmospheric nitrogen, but any plant which makes a large green growth is good, and it is better to have a heavy weight of wild vegetation than to have a light growth of an introduced legume.

Manure with a Clover Crop.

I have an old apple orchard in which I intend to sow burr clover. In order to get the clover to grow I know that I shall have to use fertilizer of some kind and this is what I want your advice about.

If you can get it, use stable manure at the time of sowing the clover seed. Stable manure alone will restore the humus and overcome the rebellious behavior of the soil. Possibly you cannot secure sufficient quantities of it. In that case a little with the burr clover seed will give the plant a good start, or use a complete fertilizer to secure the growth of a legume in the freest and quickest way.

Fenugreek as a Cover Crop.

Fenugreek has been recommended to be as a nitrogen-gathering plant, but I cannot find information as to the amount of nitrogen it gathers in its roots and tops, nor the amount of crop per acre.

Fenugreek is a good nitrogen gatherer and is desirable for green manuring wherever you can get a good growth of the plant. You can count it worth as much as peas, vetches, etc., if you can get as much growth of the plant. It is most largely used in the lemon district near Santa Paula. The best way to proceed would be to try a small area of all the nitrogen gathering plants of which you can get the seed easily, and determine by your own observation which makes the best growth under your conditions.

Improvement of Cementing Soils.

I would like some advice in handling the "cementy" gravel soil. Manure is beneficial in loosening up the soil, but there is not enough available. Would the Canadian field pea make a satisfactory growth here if sown as soon as the rains begin? I would try to grow either peas or vetch and plow under in February or March and then set trees or vines on the land.

The way to mellow your soil is certainly to use stable manure or to plow under green stuff, as you propose. This increases the humus which the soil needs and imparts all the desirable characters and qualities which humus carries. You ought to get a good growth of Canadian field peas or common California field peas or the common Oregon vetch by sowing in the fall, as soon as the ground can be moistened by rain or irrigation, and, if the season is favorable, secure enough growth for plowing under in February to make it worth while. Be careful, however, not to defer planting trees and vines too late in order to let the green stuff grow, because this would hazard the success of your planting by the reduction of the moisture supply during the following summer by the amount which might be required to keep the covered-in stuff decaying, plus loss of moisture from the fact that the covered stuff prevented you from getting thorough surface cultivation during the dry season. For these reasons one is to be careful about planting on covered-in stuff which has not had a chance to decay. This consideration, of course, becomes negligible if you have water for summer irrigation, but if you expect to get the growth of your trees and vines with the rainfall of the previous winter, be careful not to waste it in either of the ways which have been indicated, and above all, do not plant trees and vines too late. Theoretically, your position is perfect. The application of it, however, requires some care and judgment. Rather than plant too late, you had better grow the green stuff the winter after the trees have been planted.

Needs Organic Matter.

I have what I believe to be decomposed sandstone. Many rocks are still projecting out of land which I blast and break up. The soil works freely when moist or wet, but when dry it takes a pick-axe to dig it up; a plow won't touch it. Among my young fruit trees I tried to grow peas, beans, carrots and beets, and although I freely irrigated them during the summer and fall, and although I planted at different times, my peas and beans have been a total failure, and the beets, carrots and onions nearly so. For years the land has grown nothing but weeds.

Your soil needs organic matter which would make it more easy of cultivation, more retentive of moisture, and in every way better suited to the growth of plants. Liberal applications of stable manure would produce best effects. No commercial fertilizer would begin to be so desirable. If you can dig into the soil large amounts of weeds or other vegetable waste material, you would be proceeding along the same line, but stable manure is better on account of its greater fertilizing content. You ought to be thankful that the soil has spunk enough to grow weeds. The Immanent Creator is still doing the best he can to help you out; take a hand yourself on the same line.

Two Legumes in a Year.

I have land on which I wish to plant to fruits, and I wish to build up the soil all I can, by planting cover crops and plowing under. What would be the best to plant this fall, to be plowed under next spring, and to plant again next spring to plow under in the fall? I will not be able to plant any trees before next fall or the following spring.

Get in vetches as soon as the ground is in shape in the fall. Plow them under early in the spring and close the covering and compact the green stuff by running a straight disk over the ground after plowing. This will help decay and save moisture. Follow with cow peas as soon as you are out of the frost, disking in the seed so as not to disturb the stuff previously covered in. Do not wait to put under the winter growth until it is safe to put on the cowpeas, for, if you do, you will lose so much moisture that the cowpeas will not amount to much.

Handling Orchard Soil.

We average about 35 inches of rainfall. With this heavy rainfall, is there any advantage to be gained by early plowing and clean cultivation right through the winter? Would such plowing and cultivation result in any serious loss of plant food? Would you advise an early or late application of nitrogen, such as nitrate or guano? If there is any loss from an early application, can it be determined by any means?

The old policy of clean winter cultivation has been largely abandoned. Nearly everyone is trying to grow something green during the rainy season to plow under toward the end of it. Even those who do not sow legumes for this purpose are plowing under as good a weed cover as they can get. This improves the soil both in plant food and in friability, which promotes summer pulverization and saves moisture from summer evaporation. Much less early plowing is done than formerly unless it be shallow to get in the seed for the cover crop; the deeper plowing being done to put it under. Guano can be applied earlier in the winter than nitrate, which can be turned in with the cover crop, while the former may be sown with the seed to promote the winter growth. Whether you are losing your nitrate or not the chemist might determine for you by before-and-after analyses. If you are a good observer you may detect loss by absence of the effects you desire to secure.

Soaking Seeds.

Do you think it a good practice to soak seeds before planting?

It is more desirable with some seeds than others and when the ground is rather dry or the sowing time rather late, than when sowing in moister ground or earlier in the rainy season, when heavy rains are to be expected. Soaking is simply a way to be sure that the seed covering has ample moisture for softening and the kernel has what it requires for awakening it germ and meeting its needs. The soil may not always have enough to spare for these purposes and germination may be delayed or started and arrested. Ordinarily seeds can be helped by soaking a few hours in water at ordinary temperatures. Some very hard seeds like those of acacia trees, etc., are helped by hot water - even near the boiling point.

Irrigating Palms.

My palms are quite small, but they do not seem to grow; they seem to be drying up.

The growth of palms is proportional to the amount of soil moisture available, providing it is not in excess and not too alkaline. Some palms are quite drouth-resisting, but it is a mistake to think of a palm as a desert plant and try to make a desert for it. A young palm, especially, needs regular and ample water supply until it gets well established. Your plants may be drying up, or they may have had too much frost or too much alkali. If they are not too far gone, they will come out later if you give them regular moisture and cultivation.

Water from Wells or Streams.

One of our neighbors insists that water from a well is, in the long run, very hard on the land, and that irrigation water is much to be preferred.

There is no characteristic and permanent difference between waters from wells and waters from streams so far as irrigation is concerned. The character depends upon the sources from which both are derived. Some wells may carry too much mineral matter in the form of salt, alkali, etc., and some stream waters sometimes carry considerable alkali. For this reason some wells may be better than streams and some streams better than wells. There is no general rule in the matter. Your neighbor may be right as applied to your location, and may know from his experience that the well water carries too much undesirable material. That could only be determined by analysis, and the analysis must be made when the water is rather low, because during the rainy season, or soon after it, the water may have less mineral impurity than later in the season when it may be more concentrated.

Shall He Irrigate or Cultivate?

Our soil is of an excellent quality, and I feel if the moisture were properly conserved by suitable methods it could be made to produce fruits or some other very much more profitable than from hay and grain crops.

Whether you can grow deciduous fruits successfully without irrigation depends not only upon how well you conserve the moisture by cultivation, but also whether the total rainfall conveys water enough, even if as much as possible of it is conserved. Again, you might find that thorough cultivation will give you satisfactory young trees, but would not conserve moisture enough for the same trees when they come into bearing. This proposition should be studied locally. If you can find trees in the vicinity which do give satisfactory fruit under the rainfall, you would have a practical demonstration which would be more trustworthy than any forecast which could be prepared upon theoretical grounds.

Condensation for Irrigation.

If a circular funnel of waterproofed building paper, or some better cheap device, were fastened about the base of the tree in such a manner as to catch and concentrate most of the drippings from the leaves, and that water made to run down through a tube leading a suitable depth into the earth, it seems to me that the number of foggy nights that occur in many localities during the season might thus supply ample water for a tree's needs.

The probability is that water would not be secured in sufficient quantities to serve any notable irrigation purposes, or if the fogs were so thick as to yield water enough, the sunshine would be too scant for the success of the plant. Put your idea to the test and see how much water you could get from a tree of definite leaf area, which could be readily estimated.

Winter Irrigation.

Last May I irrigated my prune trees for the first time, again during the first two weeks of last December. If no rain should come within the next two weeks, would you advise me to irrigate then? Should I plow before irrigating, or should irrigation be done before the buds swell?

Unless your ground is deeply wet down by the rains which are now coming, irrigate it once, and do not plow before irrigating. The point is to get as much water into the ground and as much grass growth on top as you can before the spring plowing. Never mind about the swelling of the buds. The trees will not be affected injuriously by getting a good supply of winter water into the soil. There might be some danger with trees which bloom late in the spring, like citrus trees or olives, because by that time the ground has become warm and the roots very active. At the blooming time of deciduous trees less danger would threaten, because there is less difference between the temperature of the ground and the water which you were then applying from a running stream. If you irrigated in furrows and, therefore, did not collect the water in mass, its temperature would rise by contact with air, which would be another reason for not apprehending trouble from it.

How Much Water for Oranges?

How much water would you consider absolutely necessary to carry to full-bearing citrus trees an clay loam-that is, how many acres to a miner's inch, figuring nine gallons per minute to the inch?

It would, of course, depend upon the age of the trees, as old bearing trees may require twice as much as young trees. We would estimate for bearing trees, on such retentive soil, 30-acre inches per year applied in the way best for the soil.

Damping-off.

My orange seed-bed stack has "damp-off." Same say "too much water;" "not enough water;" "put on lime;" etc. I use a medium amount of water and more of my stack is affected than that of any other grower. One man has kept his well soaked since planting, and only about six plants were affected. Another has used but little water, keeping them very dry; he has lost none.

Damping-off is due to a fungus which attacks the tender growth when there is too much surface moisture. It may be produced by rather a small amount of water, providing the soil is heavy and the water is not rapidly absorbed and distributed. On the other hand, a lighter soil taking water more easily may grow plants without damping-off, even though a great deal more water has been used than on the heavier soil. Too much shade, which prevents the sun from drying the surface soil, is also likely to produce damping-off, therefore, one has to provide just the right amount of shade and the right amount of ventilation through circulation of the air, etc. The use of sand on the surface of a heavier soil may save plants from damping-off, because the sand passes the water quickly and dries, while a heavier surface soil would remain soggy. Lime may be of advantage if not used in too great quantities because it disintegrates the surface of the soil and helps to produce a dryness which is desirable. Keeping the surface dry enough and yet providing the seedlings with moisture for a free and satisfactory growth is a matter which must be determined by experience and good judgment.

Irrigated or Non-Irrigated Trees.

Is there any difference between the same kind of fruit trees grown without irrigation and with it?

It does not make a particle of difference, if the trees are grown well and matured well. Overirrigated trees or trees growing on land naturally moist may be equally bad. Excessively large trees and stunted trees are both bad; with irrigation you may be more likely to get the first kind; without it you are more likely to get the latter. There is, however, a difference between a stunted tree and a wellgrown small tree, and as a rule medium-sized trees are most desirable than overgrown trees. The mere fact of irrigation does not make either good trees or bad trees: it is the man at the ditch.

Too Little Rather Than Too Much Water.

Looking through an orchard of 18-year-old prune trees on riverbottom land, I found a number of the trees had died. A well bored in the orchard strikes water at about 15 feet. I find no apparent reason far the death of these trees unless it is that the tap roots reach this body of water and are injuriously affected thereby.

We do not believe that water at 15 feet depth could possibly kill a prune tree. It is more likely that owing to spotted condition of the soil, gravel should occur in different places, and with gravel three or four feet below the surface a tree might actually die although there was plenty of water at a depth of 15 feet. There is more danger that the trees died from lack of water than from an oversupply of it, and it is quite likely also that you could pump and irrigate to advantage large trees which did not seem to be up to the standard of the whole place, as manifested by lack of bearing, smallness of leaves, which would be apt to turn yellow too early in the season.

Possibly Too Much Water.

My trees are four years old and are as follows: Peach, fig, loquat, apple, apricot and plum. Last year they had plenty of blossoms, but I got no fruit. I always watered them twice a week in summer.

You are watering your trees too much; stimulating their growth too much, and this, while a tree is young, is apt to postpone its fruit bearing. Give the soil a good soaking about once a mouth, unless you are situated in a sandy or gravelly soil, in which more frequent applications may be necessary.

Too Little Water After Dynamiting.

In planting almonds on a dry hard soil I dynamited the holes and ran about 200 gallons of water into each hole before planting. About 95 per cent of the trees started growth, but seem now to be in a somewhat dormant state, the leaves of some being slightly wilted. All the trees were watered since planting. I have been told I made a mistake by throwing water in the dynamited holes. When the holes were watered the ground was very dry and the water disappeared in a few minutes.

You have used too little water rather than too much. Dry soil of fine texture can suck up an awful lot of moisture, which can be drawn off so far, or so widely distributed, that there will not be enough for the immediate vicinity of the roots. The dynamiting tended to deep drying and necessitated much more irrigation.

Irrigating Young Trees.

We have just put out 50 acres to walnuts. The party who put them out wants me to have some boxes or troughs made 15 inches long with a 3-inch opening, and put in on the slant so as to have the water hit the roots.

Many such arrangements of boxes, perforated cans, pieces of tile, etc., have been proposed during the last fifty years in California for accomplishing the purposes which are mentioned in your letter, and all such devices have been abandoned as undesirable. They may bring the water to bear upon a lower level as intended, but the free access of air and the fact that, with their use, proper stirring of the soil is neglected renders them undesirable. The best way to water young trees singly is to make a trench around tree, but not allowing the water to touch the bark, applying the water and then thoroughly hoe when the surface soil comes into proper condition. Young trees treated in this way, with the surface always in good condition, do not require much water. The amount depends, of course, upon whether the soil is naturally porous or retentive.

Underground Irrigation.

How extensively used and with what results is the underground tile system for irrigation used, and what especial character of soil is it best suited for?

Not extensively at all; in fact, if there is an acre of it which has been for three years in continuous and successful operation, it has escaped us. After forty years of trial of different systems, none has demonstrated value enough to warrant its use. Theoretically, they are excellent; in practice they are defective. Surface application in different ways, according to the nature of the soil, accompanied with thorough cultivation, is the only thing that at the present time promises satisfactory results, except that where the land suits it, irrigation by underflow from ditches on higher elevations is being successfully used on small areas in the foothills. For gardens the most promising arrangement seems to be a laying of drain tiles rather near the surface, which shall be taken up each year, cleaned of silt and plant roots, and relaid along the rows before planting; but this calls for too much labor, except perhaps for amateur gardeners. The kind of soil best suited to such a system is a medium loam which will distribute water sufficiently to avoid saturation and air-exclusion. Both a heavy soil which does this, and a coarse sandy loam which takes water down out of reach of shallow-rooting plants too rapidly and lacks capillarity to draw it up again, are ill adapted to underground distribution.

Irrigation of Potatoes.

Will you kindly tell me when is the proper time to irrigate potatoes, before they bloom or after they bloom, and do they require much water?

It should seldom be necessary to irrigate potatoes after the bloom appears. Potatoes do not need much water, and there is danger of giving them too much. It is absolutely essential to see that there is no check in the growth of the plant, for once the growth is at all checked by drought, and irrigation is done, a new lot of potatoes start and new and old growth of tubers are worthless. Give what irrigation is needed and make cultivation do the rest. The secret of success is keeping the soil continually at the right moisture, so that the first growth of the plant may continue regularly until the tubers are brought to maturity.

Irrigated or Non-Irrigated Apples.

Where soil and climatic conditions are favorable to the raising of apples, what effect has irrigation an them?

The commercial product of California apples is chiefly made upon deep soils in districts of ample rainfall so that the fruit can be perfected and the trees maintained in thrift by thorough cultivation and without irrigation. In the foothill and mountain regions, however, apple trees are irrigated and first-class fruit produced by the process. There is no particular virtue in the absence of irrigation nor in the presence of it. All that the tree requires is that the moisture supply should be adequate and timely. There are undoubtedly many apple orchards grown without irrigation where a little water during the latter part of the summer would be a great advantage for the perfection of winter varieties.

Irrigating Walnuts-Checks or Furrows.

Which is the best method to irrigate a tract of 25 acres of sandy sediment sail, nearly level, preparatory to planting walnuts?

By all means use the furrow system of irrigation unless your land should be so light that the water would sink in the furrows and distribution would be very unequal without covering the whole surface as is done by filling checks. When the land cannot be covered well by the furrow system, checking is resorted to, but not otherwise.

Summer and Fall Irrigation.

Is it desirable to irrigate peach trees in the fall after the crop is gathered?

The popularity of autumn irrigation for peaches in the San Joaquin valley is based upon the experience of the last few years where trees that have been allowed to become dormant too early in the season and have been weakened by a long period of soil-drought during the autumn, have cast their blossoms or manifested other indications of weakness during the following year. It is thoroughly rational to apply irrigation to hold the leaves and secure their service in the strengthening of bloom buds for the following year by irrigation. Such irrigation should be applied immediately after the fruit is gathered or even before that, if the yellowing of the leaves indicates lack of strength in the tree and the frequency and amount of irrigation during the autumn depends upon whether the soil will hold moisture enough to carry the tree to its proper period of dormancy. This may be determined by the aspect of the trees and by digging down two or three feet to see whether the soil carries moisture which is likely to be sufficient until the coming of the rains. Whether late irrigation will be necessary is also determinable by the character of the soil; on close retentive soil it may not be necessary, while on loose, sandy or gravelly soil it may be essential to the life of the tree. One has to settle all these matters by judgment and not by recipe.

Fertilizers in Irrigation Water.

Do you recommend putting fertilizers in irrigating water? I am about to water the orchard and am thinking of putting some nitrate in the water.

You can distribute any soluble fertilizer by dissolving it in irrigation water, but few have ever done it because of the difficulties of getting equal strength in running water. It is much easier to distribute on land before irrigation.

Irrigating Alfalfa on Heavy Soils.

How does alfalfa succeed on adobe and soils slightly modified from it? Does irrigation work well an adobe planted to alfalfa?

If you get the irrigation adjusted so that the soil shall not be water-logged and so that the water does not stand on the surface when the sun is hot, you can get plenty of good alfalfa on a heavy soil. Irrigation on adobe soils must be done more frequently and a less amount at each application to guard against the dangers named above.

How Much Water for Crops?

Same of my land is heavy but the most of it is light soil. I want alfalfa mostly, same potatoes and grain, and later oranges, olives and other fruit. How much water in inches or acre feet is required per acre per year far the irrigation of it?

The amount of water required to grow different crops depends upon the crop itself, upon the time of the year in which it grows, the character of the soil, etc. There is no such thing as stating how much water would be used for all crops on all soils, and at all times of the year. The range would be from, say, ten acre inches for irrigation of deciduous fruits, which need moisture supplementary to rainfall; twice or thrice as much for citrus fruit trees; four or five times as much for alfalfa where a full number of cuttings are required. These are, of course, only rough estimates which would have to be modified according to local rainfall and soil character. Water should be applied frequently enough to keep the lower soil amply moist. A color of moisture is not enough and a muddy condition results from too much water. One has to learn to judge when there is moisture enough, and a good test of this to take up a handful of soil, squeeze it and open the hand. If the ball retains its shape it is probably moist enough. If it has a tendency to crack upon opening the hand, it is too dry. This test, of course, is somewhat affected by the character of the soil, but one has to form the best judgment possible how far allowance has to be made for that.

Sewage Irrigation.

What is the usefulness or harmfulness of the outflow from septic tanks for use an fruits and vegetables?

There is no question as to the suitability of the affluent from a septic tank for irrigation purposes. Waste waters are sometimes injurious when they are loaded with antiseptics, but the septic tank will not work unless it has a chance for free fermentation in the absence of antiseptics, therefore, this objection against waste water does not hold with the out-flow from septic tanks. It has the advantage over straight sewage irrigation because fermentation in the septic tank is believed to free the water from many dangerous germs, though not all of them.

Creamery Wastes for Irrigation.

Will the waste water from a creamery, pumped into a ditch and used for irrigating sandy loam orchard land, or nursery stack, in any way be injurious to the land or the trees?

It will depend upon the amounts of salt and alkaline washing materials which it carries. This would be governed, of course, by the amount of fresh water used for dilution in the irrigation ditch. There are two ways to determine the question. One would be to make an analysis of a sample of the water taken when it contains the largest amount of these materials after the dilution with ditch water. Another way would be to plant some corn, squashes, barley and other plants, so that they would be freely irrigated by the water during one growing season. This would be rather better than an analysis, because everybody could see whether the plants grew well or not, and would be apt to be better convinced by what they see than by an opinion which a chemist might give on the basis of an analysis. The use of this water on a sandy loam would obviously be less injurious than upon a heavy retentive soil.

House Waste Water.

Is it feasible to use wash water, etc., for watering fruit trees and vegetables?

Kitchen sink water is not desirable because of its great content of grease, but wash-tub and bathtub water are good. Strong soapsuds should be mixed with considerable rinsing water to escape excessive content of alkali. Run the water in hoe-ditches, along the rows of vegetables, hoeing thoroughly as soon as the land hoes well, changing the runs of water so that the soil does not become compacted but is kept friable and lively.

Draining a Wet Spot.

I have a spot of about an acre that in a wet winter becomes very miry and as a rule is wet up to July. Can I put in a ditch two and one-half feet deep and fill in with small stones for a foot or a foot and a half, until I can afford to buy tiles?

Drains made of small stones are often quickly filled with soil and stop running. However, it will work for a time, and such drains were formerly largely employed in Eastern situations when cash was scant and stones abundant. Dig the ditch bottom to a depth of not less than 3 or 3 1/2 feet, then put in the stones deep enough not to be interfered with by plowing. If you have flat stones you can make quite a water-way with them and fill in with small stones above it.