352 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



side, making uii embankment of thirty feet ^vide at the base and five feet high, 

 which has proved eifectnal in keeping out tlic ^vater. The dcptli of water on 

 the land for about two-thirds the length of the line of ditch, was from one to 

 one and a half feet, under which, for the first foot and a half, was a layer of 

 decayed vegetable matter of the color of black snuff, under that was one foot 

 thick of a substance (largely intermixed with decaying shells) which partakes 

 of the properties of the layers directly above and below it. The layer below I 

 supposed Avas a fine quality of clay for brick-making till I learned from Pro- 

 fessor 1\. C. Kedzie, after he had analyzed a sample of it, that it was marl, 

 containing thirty-six parts of carbonate of lime and sixty-four parts of clay, or 

 a matter that was insoluble in acid, and that it was valuable as a fertilizer of 

 land; and also, that upon a test by burning like other lime, grinding and mix- 

 ing with sand, it miglit prove valuable as a water lime. Xo actual test has yet 

 been made of it for any purpose. The ditch and embankment of the south 

 line of our improvement is over one mile in length, running from the creek 

 directly east to the timbered land. In running our ditch back from the creek 

 we found so great a rise in the land we were unable to float our dredge, so we 

 made a dam across the ditch and improvised a pump, by making of plank a 

 box sixteen feet long and ten feet wide, leaving one end open and having a 

 valve in the bottom of the other end ; this we balanced across our dam with a 

 hoisting apparatus affixed to the valve end, by which, with horse power, after 

 filling the valve end of the box we raised it, causing the water to flow out of 

 the other end above the dam, which enabled us to keep the dredge afloat, and 

 supply water as fast as the dredge displaced the earth. It was there that we 

 had the first practical demonstration of the sufficiency of our bank to hold 

 water. 



We were obliged to throw the earth on each side of our ditch, and after fill- 

 ing it fifteen inches higher than the water in the ditch below, or on the sur- 

 rounding land, the water settled only one inch during the night while operations 

 were suspended. The earth at that point was as porous as at any other part 

 of our embankment, so we were satisfied that the weight of the bank pressed 

 so hard on the surface of the ground that there was no chance for the water 

 to penetrate it. The land gradually rises from the creek to the timbered land 

 from two to two and a half feet, the lower portion of tlie land (except where 

 tlie water was so deep as to prevent the growth of vegetation) is covered with 

 a heavy growth of rushes, reeds and flags, and as the land rises the character 

 of the vegetation changes, first to sour grass, then blue joint, and on portions 

 near the timber there is a growtli of buffalo grass and rosin weed. As you pass 

 back from the creek the soil gradually becomes firmer, and tiie higher portions 

 have the appearance on the surface of being hard clay, but dredging through it 

 has demonstrated the fact that there is a depth of two feet of rich dark clayey 

 soil before coming to the harder substance. There is no part of the tract with 

 a sandy soil except a portion of tlie grove of timber containing fifteen or 

 twenty acres referred to as formerly having been known as "Pine Island." 

 Our ditch and embankment surrounds on three sides seven hundred and sixty 

 acres of land, about six hundred acres of which is prairie and fit for the plow. 

 On the southeast it connects with our partially cleared thimbered farm of one 

 hundred and sixty acres. In constructing our embankment along the margin 

 of the creek we passed a small bayou in which the water was about three feet 

 deep and the substance below the water was so soft that it was difficult to 

 make a sufficient bank of it; after making an excavation eighteen feet deep 



