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become alino5:t useless as meadows. Near his farm was a 

 creek from ten to fifteen miles in length, and along it was a 

 swamp varying from a quarter to a mile in breadth. He did 

 not see how individuals would drain it, because of its extent, 

 and of the necessity of straightening the creek. The State 

 might do it. But when drained these lands would be among 

 the best in the State. A neighbor of his, who purchased at 

 the head of this swamp, had succeeded, at a little cost, in drain- 

 ing his farm, and it was now as productive in wheat and corn, 

 as the best farms. And where lands can be drained by the 

 usual ditching, he would recommend to their owners the re- 

 marks of Mr. Morgan, published in the last number of the 

 Indiana Farmer. But in the county in which he lived, there 

 were swamps that could not be drained by any method yet 

 referred to. These swamps were in the centre of large ba- 

 sins, through which no ditches could be cut. 



Mr. McDonald remarked that the subsoil of these basins 

 was a tough ane tenacious clay, which prevented the water 

 from passiny through into the sand beneath. A well sunk in 

 the centre of the basin, through the clay, would, he thought, 

 effect a drainage of the whold basin. 



Judge Smith said, that in draining the swamps of the 

 Kankakee, the first step taken should be to ascertain the fall 

 in that river, by a survey. Such survey would also show 

 the probable cost of the drainage, and if too expensive, the 

 State ought not to undertake it. The current of water car- 

 ries with it portions of the sides of the banks, and deposits 

 them in bars, sometimes raising these bars above the level of 

 the land adjacent to the river. Hence swamps are formed, 

 but these may be drained by removing the obstructions which 

 have produced them. 



The draining of swamps in most places will require uni- 

 formity of action, on account of their length. And it is hard 

 to get this, where the land has been sold, because some of 

 the landholders would not be willing to pay their average 

 portions. Two systems to drain the swamp land donated to 



