556 



ble industry and perseverance. By placing our goal suflBcieutly high, 

 we can attain to that degree of excellence to which we aspire. Enter- 

 taining these views, your committee do not feel justified in awarding 

 the first premium. We thei-efore recommend that Ptobert Tolford of 

 Raisinville, receive the second premium, and that Mile Tracy of Raisin- 

 ville receive the third premium, as awarded by the Society. 



^^Respectfully submitted. 



\, WM. H. MONTGOMERY, 



SAMUEL M. BARTLETT, 



Commiitee. 



As one of the Committee above named, I cannot permit the opportu- 

 nity to pass, without calling the attention of my brother farmers to im- 

 provements now being made on the farm of Samuel M. Bartlett, in La- 

 salle. Improvements easy and simple in their construction, within the 

 means of every farmer, and of undoubted and lasting benefit. I refer 

 to the system of under-draining, as by him adopted. After describing 

 the process, or " modus operandi," I will endeavor to notice some of the 

 advantages resulting. For all ordinary purposes, the eye is a sufficient 

 leveler, but where there is doubt about the declivity, resort should be 

 had to a spirit or other level. Having ascertained the direction in 

 which the surplus water can the most easily and effectually be disposed 

 of, open a trench so deep as to be below the effect of frost, say from 

 two to three feet deep, as a main trunk ; this should be varied in width 

 in accordance with the volume of water it is designed to convey ; from six- 

 teen inches to two feet^ will answer for quite a heavy flow. Continue 

 the trench through the lower parts of the field to be drained, giving it a 

 gradual rise as you proceed, so that the water may pass off freely but 

 not too rapidly. This done, cut poles of almost any \'ariety of timber 

 the most lasting being the most desirable, which, lay somewhat com- 

 pactly to the depth of six, eight or ten inches, over which lay a coating 

 of fine brush, and if the soil is sandy, on these a coating of straw or 

 prairie grass, if clay the inverted turf is sufficient, then fill with earth 

 and the drain is finished. Side drains need not be so large, but finish- 

 ed in the same way, observing to have them a little more elevated than 

 the main trunk. This mode of drainage is within the means of every 

 one ; it has not the virtue of a patent except it be in the more abun- 

 dant 'products realized from a soil, which previously had been next to 



