120 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



ing water. I have seen many a stone drain sunk in a swamp, 

 carrying down many a dollar with it. If such spots are to be 

 drained at all, let it be done as the Venetians drained the 

 laguncs upon which they built their city — by canals, and not 

 by sewers. 



With the exception of certain portions of swamp land lying 

 upon a firm subsoil, shallow swamps, as they may be called, 

 furnished with a rapid outlet, and lying in some convenient 

 locality for cultivation, few swamps can be» reclaimed and 

 subjected to thorough drainage. 



There can be no doubt that all lands in this country so situ- 

 ated as to pay for careful cultivation, may he profitably under- 

 drained whenever they require it. And all land requires 

 draining where " stagnant water " cither " in or on the soil, 

 impedes the growth of all our valuable crops." 



I am frequently told that nature has provided most of our 

 farmers with materials for draining close at hand, in 'the stones 

 of their fields, and that under such circumstances tiles are an 

 unnecessary expense. I am aware that it is a good plan to bury 

 the stones which interfere with cultivation. But I doubt the 

 economy of attempting to convert them into drains, except for 

 the purpose of constructing a large free water passage, tapping 

 a copious spring, or furnishing a culvert for a rapid stream. I 

 should never expect to thorough drain with stones, and should 

 consider it a misfortune to find enough in my land to tempt 

 me to use them. I should certainly never haul them upon the 

 land for the purpose of constructing a drain, and if I found 

 them there I should be tempted to haul them off rather than 

 use them. Stone drains cannot be constructed as economically 

 as tile drains. They require vastly more digging, and they are 

 bulky and heavy to transport. They cannot be laid so as to 

 prevent the particles of earth from entering their crevices, and 

 their walls offer retreats for moles and mice too comfortable to 

 be neglected. Owing to their liability to be obstructed, they 

 are not permanent, and, except as conductors for rapid streams, 

 I doubt if they are ever effectual. In the field which I have 

 described, there are 7,5G2 feet of drains. The work, began 

 on the 8th, was finished on the 24th of December — sixteen 

 days, including Sundays and foul days. Let any one compute 

 how long it would have taken to haul stones enough for these 



