THE TIM BIHSTKER CAPERS. 141 



or beast. When I get my channels properly constructed, 

 I can irrigate this lot from two sources the wash of the 

 road, and a brook that I can turn from its course at a cost 

 of not over twenty dollars. You see, the lot lies right in 

 a hollow between my house and Jake Frink s, and can 

 now be made to catch all the water from the two hills, a 

 distance of at least a mile, which used to go into the pond 

 before it was drained. The wash of a road is good any 

 where, I suppose partly from the manure that drops from 

 passing animals, and partly from the soil, which is ground 

 up very fine by the continual tramping of iron-shod feet, 

 and the crushing of wheels. I have noticed that where- 

 ever any of this dirt is run on to a mowing field, even 

 where there is hardly a trace of manure, it makes the 

 grass much stouter, and you will see the effects of it for 

 several rods from the fence. I have sometimes thought it 

 would pay to have a machine for grinding up soil very fine 

 for top-dressing. At any rate, there can be no doubt that 

 all the wash of roads ought to be saved, wherever it can 

 be turned on to grass land. 



In the roads that lead into villages and cities this wash 

 is particularly valuable, because there is more travel to 

 grind up the soil, and more manure dropped. Hooker- 

 town is a place of considerable trade, and I suppose on an 

 average there are fifty carriages and teams that go by this 

 lot every day. I calculate to make them all pay toll, and 

 contribute to the growth of my grass without knowing 

 it. Suppose I get from each passing team only five mills ; 

 this amounts to twenty-five cents a day, or over ninety 

 dollars a year. I think the wash that comes into this hol 

 low, when spread over five acres, will make more than 

 ninety dollars difference in the yield of the hay. Every 

 farmer who owns a lot similarly located, can erect an in 

 visible toll gate, and collect the tolls without robbing his 

 neighbors. 



The water from the brook I can turn on, in dry times 



