VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 83 



In draining hillsides the ditches should be made to follow 

 the greatest incline, and spaced so as to do a thorough job. If 

 made diagonally along the hill "water will find its level" 

 and more or less leakage will occur which will find its way to 

 the surface below the drain. Sometimes an open ditch to catch 

 the surface water may be required along the upper side of a 

 field which has higher land above, which is the only open 

 drain I would ever use. At the bottom of the field if there is no 

 natural outlet for drains a main drain maybe laid, into which all 

 the others may discharge and the water be carried to some bluff 

 or stream. Some have advocated dumping stones into the bottom 

 of a ditch and allowing the water to work its way through 

 them. When there is a small amount of water and considera- 

 ble fall this may do fairly well, but such drains are apt to be 

 short lived and unsatisfactory. A drain filled with very coarse 

 gravel in the bottom with fine gravel or sand on top will be 

 more durable and less likely to clog than one made of loose 

 stone. Do not expect to do draining without hard work by 

 some one, and when done they require care. " Eternal Vigi- 

 lance" is required in most of the affairs in life. The outlets 

 must be kept clear, and occasionally when the best of care is 

 used a drain will clog. The sooner it is dug up and cleared 

 out after it is discovered the less work it will be to remedy it. 

 It may be the work of a few minutes at first, which if neglected 

 will require days to make right again 



I have raised more than one hundred and fifty baskets of 

 corn per acre on land from which before it was drained the hay 

 had to be carried off by hand, as parts of it were so soft that a 

 team could not be driven over it and some of it was so wet that 

 it would raise nothing but cat tail flags. 



