PREPARATION OF SOIL BY DRAINAGE. 8 1 



glance to see that a drain, which could carry off this surface 

 water immediately, would render it the best land on the 

 place. I tried, in vain, the experiment of digging a deep, 

 wide ditch across the entire tract, in hopes of finding a 

 porous subsoil. Then I excavated great, deep holes, but 

 came to a blue clay that held water like rubber. The 

 porous subsoil, in which I knew the region abounded, and 

 which makes Cornwall exceptionally free from all miasmatic 

 troubles, eluded our spades like hidden treasures. I event- 

 ually found that I must obtain permission of a neighbor to 

 carry a drain across another farm to the mountain stream 

 that empties into the Hudson at Cornwall Landing. The 

 covered drain through the adjoining place was deep and 

 expensive, but the ditch across my land (marked A on the 

 map) is a small one, walled with stone on either side. It 

 answers my purpose, however, giving me as good strawberry 

 land as I could wish. On both sides of this open ditch, 

 and at right angles with it, I had the ground plowed up 

 into beds 130 feet long by 21 wide. The shallow depres- 

 sions between these beds slope gently toward the ditch, 

 and thus, after every storm, the surface water, which for- 

 merly often covered the entire area, is at once carried away. 

 I think my simple, shallow, open drain is better than tile 

 in this instance. 



As may be seen from the map, my farm is peculiar in out- 

 line, and resembles an extended city lot, being 2,550 feet 

 long, and only 410 wide. 



The house, as shown by the engraving, stands on quite 

 an elevation, in the rear of which the land descends into 

 another swale or basin. The drainage of this presented a 

 still more difficult problem. Not only did the surface water 

 run into it, but in moist seasons the ground was full of 

 springs. The serious feature of the case was that there 



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