90 SL'CCESS WITH SMALL FRUITS. 



gulches, and fields and gardens overwhelmed with debris. 

 The Idlewild brook, that the poet Willis made so famous, 

 seemed almost demoniac in its power and fury. Not con- 

 tent with washing away dams, roads, and bridges, it swept a 

 heavy wall across a field as if the stones were pebbles. 



My three diverse systems of drainage had thus practically 

 stood the severest test, perhaps, that will ever be put upon 

 them, and my grounds had not been damaged to any extent 

 worth naming. The cost had been considerable, but the 

 injury caused by that one storm would have amounted to a 

 larger sum had there been no other channels for the water 

 than those provided by nature. 



My readers will find, in many instances, that they have 

 land which must be or may be drained. If it can be done 

 sufficiently, the very ideal strawberry soil may be secured, — 

 moist and deep, but not wet. 



