AGRICULTURAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 79 



left and those farms would now be worth twice as 

 much as they are. Through short-sighted, unin- 

 telligent farm practice, for the most part, the 

 markets during the first seventy-five years of the 

 nineteenth century were glutted with the most 

 easily produced farm products and with the woods 

 of the forest so that prices were often reduced to 

 a point below reasonable profit and the soil was 

 depleted besides. 



In addition to this loss, as soon as the roots had 

 decayed the drainage channels left thereby filled 

 with silt, the soil lost something of its humus and 

 the fields became too wet for early and easy tillage. 

 An effort was then made to improve the condition 

 of the soil by cutting rather narrow, shallow 

 ditches which were partly filled with broken stone 

 and then covered with straw, and the straw with 

 dirt. But these soon became obstructed and were 

 then replaced by deeper stone ditches, constructed 

 by laying, on both sides of the ditch, small round- 

 ish stone from the lake shore, of four to six inches 

 diameter; and upon these, broad, flattish stone to 

 make an open throat. Finish stones were then 

 chinked in, after which the straw and dirt cover 

 followed. These larger drains were fairly efficient 

 but in time required frequent repairs. Finally 



