the necessary tiles, in wagons, a
distance of ten or twenty miles. Then again, the prices demanded by the
few manufacturers, who now have almost a monopoly of the business, are
exorbitantly high,--at least twice what it will cost to make the tiles at
home, with the cheap works described above, so that if the cost of
transportation on the quantity desired would be equal to the cost of
establishing the works, there will be a decided profit in the home
manufacture. Probably, also, a tile-yard, in a neighborhood where the
general character of the soil is such as to require drainage, will be of
value after the object for which it was made has been accomplished.

While setting forth the advantage to the farmer of everything which may
protect him against monopolies, whether in the matter of draining-tile, or
of any other needful accessory of his business, or which will enable him
to procure supplies without a ruinous outlay for transportation, it is by
no means intended that every man shall become his own tile-maker.

In this branch of manufacture, as in every other, organized industry will
accomplish results to which individual labor can never attain. A hundred
years ago, when our mill-made cloths came from England, and cost more than
farmers could afford to pay, they wore home-spun, which was neither so
handsome nor so good as the imported article; but, since that time, the
growing population and the greater demand have caused cloth mills to be
built here, greater commercial facilities have placed foreign goods within
easy reach, and the house loom has fallen into general disuse.

At present, the manufacture of draining tiles is confined to a few, widely
separated localities, and each manufacturer has, thus far, been able to
fix his own scale of charges. These, and the cost of transportation to
distant points, make it difficult, if not impossible, for many farmers to
procure tiles at a cost low enough to justify their use. In such cases,
small works, to supply local demand, may enable many persons to drain with
tiles, who, otherwise, would find it impossible to procure them cheaply
enough for economical use; and the extension of under-draining, causing a
more general acquaintance with its advantages, would create a sufficient
demand to induce an increase of the manufacture of tiles, and a consequent
reduction of price.

CHAPTER IX. - THE RECLAIMING OF SALT MARSHES.

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