588 AGRICULTURAL REPORT: 
at the outlet. Itis an excellent practice to grade the entire ditch before laying any 
tiles; then Jet in the water at T to test the descent. In case the water does not dis- 
Fie, 2 ; appear from the swamp in a few weeks 
Bs after the tiles are laid, let another ditch 
“ be made directly through the pond. 
Another difficulty of common occurrence, 
when swamps are drained, is that the 
ditches are.made too shallow. In case a 
frog-pond covers an area of only a few 
square rods, and it is a long distance from 
and nearly level with the final outlet, it 
would be allowable to sink the ditch at 
T onlytwofeetdeep. Still, if the bottom 
of the ditch can be graded with only two 
inches fall in every one hundred feet, it 
would be desirable to sink every part at 
least thirty inches in depth. 
In most instances one-inch tiles will be 
sufficiently large to convey all the water 
that would be collected around a pond 
occupying half an acre to an acre. In 
some instances two-inch tiles will be re- 
quired, with those having a two and one- 
half inch caliber for the main drain. If 
25 tiles are somewhat expensive, many dol- 
ab lars’ worth may be saved by employing 
+ those of a small size when there is only 
iad asmall quantity of water to be conducted. 
_ Thorough draining of slopes.—On the table-lands between many of our lakes and 
rivers there will be found large swamps, and in some instances extensive ponds, many 
of which never dry up, even during the summer. In numerous instances the water 
from these swamps percolates through the strata below, and spreads far and wide in 
the fissures until it reaches the surface soil on the slopes, which it keeps thoroughly 
saturated, even in dry weather. In one such instance, a type of many others, a field 
lay on a slope, as in Fig. 3, above which, on the table-land, was a large tract of 
swampy ground, chiefly woodland. This slope descended about six inches per lineal 
rod; and there seemed to be no reason why the soil should be so wet when such land 
ought to be dry. The entire slope, over 
an area of many acres, was rendered very 
wet by the water that came to the surface 
from the swampy land above. 
| _ The first step toward draining that field 
thoroughly was to sink a three-foot ditch, 
{ with a stoned throat, across the upper 
end from a to b, from b to c, and from ato 
e, letting the water discharge into a deep 
gutter at one side of the highway. .As 
there was a' low place at f, a ditch was 
sunk from f tog. The deep “ catch-water 
drain” across the upper end, from a to }, 
cuts off a large proportion of the water. 
Yet six or eight yards down the slope 
the water would soak out from the catch- 
water drain, rendering the soil on ,the 
lower side of the slope as wet as ever. It 
is probable, also, that the veins which 
conducted the water from the swamp to 
= the lower part of the field were not yet 
reached by the catch-water drain ab. Hence other drains were made about forty 
feet apart, as shown by the dotted lines up and down the slope, ending four or five 
rods below the catch-water drain. These latter drains collected the surplus water 
in the most thorough manner. For the catch-water drain two-inch tiles would have 
been preferable to stones, and one-inch to one and one-half inch tiles would have been 
sufficiently large for the parallels, as represented by the dotted lines. Ate was the 
lowest point. Hence, if there had been no deep highway gutter along e, g, ¢, it would 
have been necessary to make a drain in that place to receive the water from the paral- 
lels. As the slope below, which was wet also, belonged to another person, it would 
be necessary for him to sink parallels directly up and down the slope, ending two or 
three rods below the highway, if he would carry out the system of thorough drainage 
commenced above the highway, as represented by the diagram. 
Fea 
4 
. 
ee ee ee ene 
