298 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



considered the amount of the investment, which would ordi- 

 narily be from fifty-five to sixty dollars per acre. 



I do not propose to go further into the details of laying tile- 

 drain, having only suggested some general principles, as no 

 one should attempt thorough drainage (except on a small, 

 scale and where a simple system only would be necessary) 

 without the aid of experience and competent engineering. 

 Mr. Childs's system was substantially conducted as indicated 

 above, and has proved a complete success ; for after ploughing, 

 manuring liberally, and sowing down to grass, the land has 

 yielded two heavy crops of hay per year, and, with an occa- 

 sional top-dressing, will continue to do so for a long time. A 

 careful, observing farmer of good judgment, who owns an 

 adjoining farm, has said that the lot of thirty-eight acres, of 

 which this meadow is a part, is worth more as a farm since 

 it has been drained than the whole two hundred acres 

 which included this meadow was worth before the improve- 

 ment; and I have no doubt of it myself. 



I wish to call attention to one other swamp, of an entirely 

 different nature from either of those described, which has 

 been drained with very profitable results. In the town of 

 Arlington there is a large swamp, covered with maple and 

 other trees, the roots of which do not run deep, on account 

 of the water-level being within eighteen inches of the sur- 

 face. The upper end of this swamp is owned by a market- 

 gardener, who has cut off the wood, and dug up and burned 

 the stumps and roots. The peat here is of a fine compost 

 quality. Several acres have been drained by the use of sole- 

 tile laid on strips of board, as low as the level of the water 

 will permit. These drains, being necessarily shallow, are laid 

 nearer together, so that the rainfall is rapidly disposed of. 

 So much of this swamp as has been underclrained has been 

 very profitably used for the last twelve or fifteen years for 

 the production of market vegetables, especially for celery ; 

 while the rest of the swamp remains of no value, except 

 for the wood that may be on it. 



To show how underdraining forwards land in the spring 

 for cultivatioiymd growth of vegetation, by allowing air to 

 take the place of water, and the warmth of the sun to enter 

 the soil, instead of being carried off by evaporating the water 

 which the drains take away, I will state my own experience. 



