PRIZE ESSAY ON THOROUGH DRAINING. 



BY EDWARD MASON, OF DETROIT. 



The utility of drainage is too evident to require proof; nature drains 

 on a magnificent scale. The Amazon, the Mississippi, the St. Law- 

 rence, in fact every river is a main drain, and tributary streams are fre- 

 quent, or minor drains, conveying the water of their several vallies to 

 the main trunk. 



The necessity of artificial drainage was understood at a very early 

 age; Palladius, Columella and Pliny describe various methods of con- 

 structing open or covered drains. Drainage works have been executed 

 in England by the Romans when they occupied that country; among 

 these may be mentioned Romney Marsh, and the fosse-dyke at Lincoln. 



Draining was not much practiced in England during the sway of its 

 Saxon, Danish, or Norman conquerors; English history up to the time 

 of Queen Anne, and even later, is filled with the records of domestic 

 war. The sword and the plow cannot work together, neither can the 

 spear and the draining spade. Ceres and her industrious train lly from 

 the fields at the approach of Mars. How fortunate are American farm- 

 ers, to enjoy the blessings of peace, whilst the nations of Europe are 

 suSering the horrors of war. 



Great benefits are conferred on American farmers by means of the 

 Patent Office. There art stands at the right hand of agriculture, 

 bringing from her laboratories every useful invention ; and commerce on 

 the left, presenting the treasures of foreign countries, in the shape of 

 animals, plants and seeds. 



The utility of deep drainage seems not to have been discovered in 



England until the middle of the seventeenth century, and to Captain 



Walter Bligh belongs the merit of having brought it before the public 



He compiled a valuable work on draining, called " The Improver Im- 



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