DRAINAGE AND ITS RESULTS. 119 



get the start ; but it is only for a short time. My land is 

 not rich enough to grow a crop of weeds in addition to what 

 I cultivate for market. 



Although, as I have already stated, I commenced in debt 

 for every thing, yet I have always avoided making debts at 

 the grocer's, butcher's, or with any other dealer. 



I preferred to owe on notes, and pay interest even, rather 

 than to run up bills, which, at the end of the year, might 

 astonish me at their magnitude. 



My rule has been, from which I have rarely if ever de^d- 

 ated, to buy for cash, and usually in such quantities as to get 

 at wholesale prices. 



I have for a good many years deposited the proceeds of 

 my sales in a bank, to an amount sufficient to pay my yearly 

 bills, to be checked out as wanted. I am satisfied that thus 

 it has paid me a larger per cent than in any possible invest- 

 ment. 



I have previously mentioned the mud-holes and wet parts 

 of my different fields. The trouble and loss resulting from 

 the same were serious. Some seasons, it was absolutely 

 necessary to leave the whole field intended for hoed crops 

 to so late a date before planting, that the crop would not 

 mature, or else leave a part of the land, and plough and 

 plant the remainder. Tlie latter I have done repeatedly. 

 Some springs dry enough to plant have been followed by 

 great rains later in the season, and the promised harvest par- 

 tially or wholly destroyed. 



To remedy this I experimented in under-draining, using 

 stone. This was a failure ; the dirt washed in, and choked 

 the drains. My land being mostly somewhat sandy, it washed 

 in very readily, and that would not answer a good purpose. 

 Seven or eight years ago I commenced draining with round 

 tile, using inch and a half, two-inch, three-inch, four-inch, 

 and five-inch tiles, according to the amount of water to be 

 carried off. I followed it up during four autumns, till all my 

 land that needed it, more than a mile in length, was drained. 

 It works in the most perfect manner. I am satisfied, that, in 

 some seasons, the extra produce resulting from the drainage 

 has paid the whole cost for draining the whole farm. 



I have made many improvements on my farm, but none 

 which have given such entire satisfaction as this. The tile 



