AND WHERE TO FIND ONE. 121 



ground. Mr. Carey proved that the facts were ex 

 actly the reverse that the land which man culti 

 vates in the beginning is of the poorer qualities, and 

 that that which he last brings under tillage is inva 

 riably the best. 



Take our own country as an illustration, because 

 all can judge from facts that are occurring every 

 where around them. Here, the settler invariably 

 begins by occupying the high and thin lands, which 

 require little clearing and no drainage. uch yield 

 him but moderate returns for his labor. But in 

 time, as population and wealth increase, he travels 

 down the hills, clearing up as he goes, until the 

 bottom has been reached. There the hill terminates, 

 and there the meadow or the swamp begins. It 

 contains the rich deposits which for centuries have 

 been washing from the hilltop and the hillside, the 

 loss of which had thinned the poorer soil into which 

 he first struck his spade. 



Every reader knows that no settler begins his 

 clearing either in swamp or meadow, yet every one 

 is aware that in such spots the richest land is to be 

 found. He knows, moreover, that lowlands are the 

 last to be reclaimed. To bring them into tillage re 

 quires money, skill, and time, courage, also, may 

 be mentioned as an indispensable auxiliary, the 

 courage to undertake a task which a succession of 

 owners had carefully avoided. Ditching is familiar 

 to most of us, and can be cheaply done ; but thor 

 ough underdraining was comparatively unknown 

 among us until within a few years ; and it is only 

 by resorting to it that the lowland can be effectu- 



