250 



of 160 acres that was sold five years ago for $500, that by the expenditure of 

 less than $200 in draining and ditching, the present owner refuses now $3000. 



In England, Scotland, and portions of our own country, various plans have 

 been adopted in draining and ditching. They have, by recent improvements, 

 diminished the expense, yet the depth of the ditch, and the character of their 

 covering is such, that the expense is too much for our people. The cheapest 

 plan with them is from $12 to $18 per acre. A very large proportion of our 

 wet lands can be thoroughly drained by ditches say two feet in width by two 

 in depth; a covering of oak timber taken from that part of the tree that is not 

 suitable for rails, cut about 32 inches in length, placed inside at the bottom 

 of the ditch, then extending about half way up the opposite side— the earth 

 returned ; the whole not costing more than 25 cents per rod. Or you may 

 split your timber in greater lengths, place the same lengthwise, cover your 

 ditch, and in either way they will last 15 or 20 years. By placing these ditch- 

 es at suitable distances, all tending to a point where the water will flow off, 

 you more than treble the value of your land. 



The advantages of under-draining are numerous. They take away all the 

 sui-plus water which exists in heavy soils. The ground is prepared early in 

 the spring for the crop, furnishing a dry, warm soil, which, without the drain- 

 ing, could not be cultivated except in an advanced stage of the season. The 

 soil is also more porous, therefore much more easily tilled. 



It is known that rain water is charged with some of the most important 

 elements of nutrition for plants, especially proportions of carbonic acid and 

 ammonia. These should circulate through the soil. Air also holds vegetable 

 food; soils which are full of water do not admit of any air. 



The dense mass of wet saturated soil is impervious to air, remains cold and 

 clammy. 



By draining and ditching below the soil the warm invigorating rains pene- 

 trate the entire mass, and there diffuse the genial temperature through the 

 roots. The warm air rushes in and supplies its portion of augmented heat 

 to the land. Thus porous soils readily imbibe heat, and just as readily part 

 with it. 



These are some of the reasons assigned for under-draining. Those who 

 have tried the experiment know the great advantages that result from it. 



I have a neighbor who informed me that in 1850, a very dry season, he had 

 ditched a field that he had previously put in corn; in the low and wet parts 

 of the field he usually gathered in the fall a few nubbins, but went to the 

 high ground for his crop. In the fail of last year he obtained his good corn 

 from the low land, his poor from the high; the extra crop of the year paid for 

 the whole expense of ditching and draining. 



SPRING DRAINING. 



"We havf! in various parts of the country springs that are discovered, not 

 by a free discharge of water, but they are found in large extensive plains of 

 wet, marshy, boggy lands. In this condition their greatest paactical use is 



