750 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



proper draining by the plough, by ditches, and mode of draining meadows, would apply against 



by dams, instead of producing the richest crops the only practicable mode of draining corn-fields 



of every kind for man and beast, of any other by the plough ; for the latter object can only be 



part of the country, without inlecting the air. eHected by abolishing the habit of cross plough- 



The swamps, bogs and marshes constitute one ing. 



of our best resources (or recovering the exhausted The difference of the level between the ridge 



high lands, as furnishing employment for labor, and the furrow, in almost every case, enables us to 



aad funds lor manure ; to the liirmcr, they offer 

 a certainty of profit, in exchange for the frequency 

 of loss; and to the worn out laud, an intermission 

 of its tortures, and a cure for its wounds. 



If the bounties of draining include an improve- 

 ment in salubrity, in subsiftence, in profit, and of 

 exhausted lands, (hey ought to excite an ardor 

 which will presently leave behind the lijw and 

 plain remarks which I shall make upon the sub- 

 ject; or at least to awaken great districts of coun- 

 try to the facts, that their bestlands, those capable 

 of yielding the most profit, if not those, only capa- 

 ble of yielding any or much profit ; lands able 

 to support more people than those at present under 

 culture lie wholly useless ; except it may be use- 

 ful to kill people who are employed in killing land, 

 and thus shelter the survivors in some measure 

 against the evils of penury. 



The simplest mode of draining is by the plough, 

 and yet even this is rare. Considerable districts 

 of flat, stifi^and close land, are soured by stagnant 

 water and baked by the sun, for want of this plain 

 operation ; so as to increase labor, diminish crops 

 and taint the air. Sometimes this rigid land, 

 though intended for Indian corn, is left unbroken 

 through the winter, and retains its excessive mois- 

 ture, Ibf want of a declivity to discharge it; at others 

 being fallowed level, the water becomes a men- 

 struum lor melting down the soil into a brick-like 

 cover, which is generally rendered excessively 

 hard by the sun, before the water is evaporated 

 Bufficienlly to admit the plough. If the glutinous 

 quality of water had not been demonstrated in the 

 familiar operation ol' brick making, it ought to 

 have been instantly perceived in tee case under 

 consideration. This soil holds it upon the surface 

 with such surprising reteniiveness, as often to 

 show it in a rut or some other small aperture, at a 

 lime when the crop is suffering by drought. Be- 

 ing naturally adapted to extract and retain the 

 gluten in water, a surlfice is formed which ob- 

 structs absorption, and suspends the water exces- 

 sively exposed to evaporation ; so that the crops 

 suffer more than those of any other kinds of land, 

 both from its excess and deficiency, under the flat 

 culture habit. 



For both these misfortunes, draining is the only 

 remedy, and in most cases it can be effected by the 

 plough. This will make ridges and furrows, 

 difi'ering in their level in proportion to the breadth 

 of thelormer. The wider the ridge, the deeper 

 the furrow may be made ; and in ridges calculated 

 for Indian corn, of five leet and a half wide, the 

 bottom of the furrow may easily be made fifteen 

 inches lower than the top of the ridne. Land of 

 the nature described, from the worst, is capable 

 by skilful plough-drainings, of being converted 

 into the beat of our soils. II a habit had existed 

 of draining wet meadow lands, first by cutting 

 lines of ditches from north to south over the 

 whole surface of the meadow, and then by filling 

 them all up, in cutting the same number from 

 east to west, and so cutting and filling ditches 

 gjterijately; all the argument in liavor ol this 



seize upon some descent in the field (as the 

 smallest will suflice) by which to dispose of the 

 superfluous moisture. However distant, a descent 

 comes at last, and adjoining land-holders would 

 find a mutual benefit by uniting in the operation, 

 because stagnant water on the hi<j;her field, does 

 an injury to the lower, only capable of being re- 

 moved by allowing it a passage. 



Supposing however the unusual case of a per- 

 fect level, essential benefit will yet accrue from the 

 proposed mode of draining by the plough. The 

 climate of the country under consideration is by no 

 means a wet one, and therefore, even in this case, 

 an instance would rarely happen of a fall of rain 

 so excessive as to drench the earth, fill the pro- 

 posed furrows, and overflow the ridges ; because 

 the earth of these ridges having been retrieved 

 from a saturity of moisture, keeping it in winter 

 constantly unsusceptible of an addition, and hav- 

 ing been rendered triable by lying in ridges exposed 

 to frost, will absorb nfiniiely more than the same 

 earth in its flat compact state ; because the deep 

 furrows having passed below the crust caused by 

 the union between the earth of (he surface, and 

 the gluiness of the water, will thereby have 

 opened new channels for absorption ; and because 

 the capacity of tlie furrows if properly constructed 

 will generally or invariably be adequate to the 

 quantity of superfluous water. 



An infallible mode however of perfecting the 

 operation of draining by the plough, exists in sub- 

 joining to It a dry ditch, which in no case need be 

 above eighteen inches deep, and twenty-four wide, 

 to be placed on the side of the field most proper 

 for conveying off the water. If there is any 

 descent, this ditch must run at its foot ; if none, it 

 must receive the water nearest to some descent, to 

 which the ditch must be continued. In both 

 cases every furrow of the field must deliver its 

 water into the ditch. 



Those readers who have seen large flats of 

 close, wet land on the eastern water courses, em- 

 ployed in killing teams, poisoning the air, and 

 disappointing the hopes of the husbandman, will 

 not consider the suggestions of this number aa 

 useless. Our agriculture is hardly prepared for 

 the plainest improvements, and an attempt to 

 introduce (hose of a compHcated nature, would of 

 course be unsuccessful. The double paradox 

 however contended lor, having been the result 

 of experience, may safely be referred to the same 

 tribunal, with a word or two to solicit a fair trial. 

 It is asserted that the flat surface in the kind of soil 

 1 have been speaking ®i\ will produce the evils, 

 both of too much and too little moisture ; and that 

 the high ridges and deep furrows earnestly recom- 

 mended, will prevent both. In addition to the 

 previous observations in this number, applying to 

 the reconciliation of these apparent contradictions, 

 the reader will be pleased to recollect those in a 

 former one, designed to prove that evaporation 

 will be greater from a flat than from a ridged sur- 

 face, and therefore in winter, when it is too slow, 

 the furrows may carry off the superfluous water, 



