300 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



tile are the next in value ; the horseshoe-tile are less desira- 

 ble, and are now used but little. No soft-burned tile, or 

 those with the ends melted or over-burned, should be used, 

 or received by the purchaser. A whole line of drain may be 

 obstructed by a single imperfect tile. Stone drains are more 

 costly than tile, even if the stones are near at hand, on 

 account of the additional digging required, unless the mate- 

 rial dug out is valuable for other purposes, and the stones 

 used are to be disposed of as a nuisance. Such a drain may 

 be serviceable for many years, but will in time become 

 choked up. 



An efficient and serviceable drain may be made in a peat- 

 swamp, where the material dug out is of value, by tumbling 

 in brush as high as the water-level, and covering with coarse 

 sod first, and then with the finer portions of the muck. For 

 very wet swamp of soft muck, a cheap and durable drain 

 may be made with three pieces of board, three or four inches 

 wide, nailed together in a triangular form. As a general 

 rule, drains should be laid in the line of the greatest fall, 

 and of a regular descent ; that is, if the upper portion of a 

 drain has a fall of two feet to a hundred, and the lower 

 portion one foot or less, the last would suffer more from silt 

 than if the whole were uniform But circumstances may 

 require some deviation from either of these rules. 



Silt deposits should be constructed in long lines of drain. 

 As the greatest cost of draining is in digging the trenches, care 

 should be exercised against digging them wider than neces- 

 sary. Fifteen inches wide at the top is usually sufficient; 

 while an inexperienced man would make it two feet or more, 

 thereby adding much to the cost. And finally, where corn is 

 worth fifty cents per bushel, under-draining may be under- 

 taken with a good prospect of a profitable investment. 



Benjamin P. Ware, 



Chairman of the Committee. 



Voted, To appoint a committee of three to examine and re- 

 port upon the credentials of newly-elected members : Messrs. 

 Slade, Hersey, and Macy. 



Voted, To sanction the change of time of holding " the 

 exhibition of the Martha's Vineyard Agricultural Society to 

 Oct. 7 and 8 for the year 1879. 



