260 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



drills, are items of expense, and considerations that cannot 

 be overlooked. I have used up two wagons, each costing a 

 hundred and fifty dollars, beside endless repairs. Two valua- 

 ble horses were worn out in the service. Bad debts have also 

 increased the amount of shrinkage from the gross receipts. 



So much for the outgo and income of the stone-crop. 



The removing of trees, shrubs, and bushes, has cost three 

 times their value for fire^wood. 



I resolved that all profits for the first ten years should 

 go back into the farm in some shape. It was my estimate 

 of what would be necessary to bring the place up to a good 

 condition for profitable work. When I took the farm, it pro- 

 duced, the first year, five tons of hay, besides a fair yield of 

 common crops, and that was about the possible capacity of 

 the farm in its run-out condition. 



In 1860 I built a five hundred and fifty dollar cottage to 

 take the place of the house that had stood a hundred and 

 thirty years, and also found it necessary to expend two hun- 

 dred dollars on the barn, and built a corn-barn and piggery, 

 at a cost of a hundred and fifty dollars. 



In 1861 all of the walls dividing my land from neighbor- 

 ing famis required rebuilding, at an expense of a hundred 

 dollars. These outlays included my principal extra costs, 

 besides the yearly running expenses, until 1863, when I 

 commenced in August a process of under-draining, which 

 I have continued to the present time, the work being now 

 complete. My first under-drain ran from east to west, and 

 emptied into the open ditch that I had dug in the twelve- 

 acre piece the first year. My subsequent subsoil drains are 

 lateral feeders to the same outlet, and are made partly of 

 drain-tile. There are between five and six hundred rods of 

 under-draining on the farm, and the cost has been not far 

 from three dollars per rod for the main, and two for laterals. 



The subject of drainage is an important one. The surface- 

 wash from adjoining land upon one's farm may carry off valu- 

 able loam, expose tender roots of young trees, or, in many 

 ways, destroy the piece ; while it is also true that tracts which 

 seem to require no under-drainage are greatly improved by 

 it. The " true inwardness," so to speak, oi one's farm, must 

 be thoroughly understood before a correct system of drainage 

 can be instituted. Drains on a level should be about three 



