752 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



above the lowest ground in sandy eoils, is liable ] 

 to be filled up. To obviate this inconvenience 

 (which in these small cute is not very <xreai) 1 

 have frequently tried covered druins, constructed 

 as follows, wilh invariable success. 



A ditch at least four feet deep is cut so as com- 

 pletely to intersect the whole line of these oozing 

 springs, to the depth ol about three feet, and it is 

 continued to the open drain into rehich it must 

 discharge its water, by the route alFording the most 

 convenient (all lor that purpose. The ditch is cut 

 gradually narrower Irom the top to the bottom, 

 where it is not above eight inches wide. A row 

 of poles, of such a size as nearly, but not entirely 

 to touch, is laid on each side oC the ditch at bot- 

 tom. Green or seasoned brush, without leaves, 

 trimmed to lie close, is then packed into the ditch, 

 with the small ends downwards, and touching 

 the poles, beginning at the upper end of the 

 ditch. The inclination of the brush must be up 

 stream, at an angle ol about forly-five degrees 

 vvfith the bottom of the ditch ; it must be packed 

 as close with the hand as possible, and cut inlo 

 lengths proper for the end of filling the diich 

 within ten inches of the top. The brush is then 

 to be covered with four inches of dry sound leaves 

 of any kind, and the whole of the earth to be 

 returned upon the ditch and well rammed. It will 

 press down the brush and leaves low enough to 

 admit of any species of culture without di.=turbing 

 them. The oozing water will be received by the 

 former, and must trickle through the apertures 

 caused by having its small ends at bottom, and by 

 the poles, down to the open drain, and the soured 

 ground will lose every boggy appearance. 



This mode of draining seems in description to 

 be more troublesome, than I have found it to be in 

 practice. Unless its duration could be ascertained, 

 we cannot certainly pronounce as to its cheapness. 

 The oldest I have had an opportunity of attending 

 to, was constructed about ten years past. Its ol> 

 jects were to render a road dry, and about two 

 acres of soured barren land better, by sinking a 

 line of oozing springs lying collaterally with the 

 road, which made it a quagmire in wet weather, 

 and rendered the two acres barren. — The road has 

 been ever since dry and firm, and the land, of the 

 best in the field. I cannot help thinking that a 

 well constructed drain of this kind, wiH last a 

 century. Where stones can be had, they may be 

 made to last for ever, but I doubt whether brick 

 work would be equal to the brush. 



But this is hke shooting e|)eculation a century 

 beyond hope. It is superfluous to invent modes of 

 preserving spots, whilst we are destroying districts. 

 i will therefore return to the subject, as^ii relates 

 to draining the vast body of land lying on creeks 

 and smaifrivers. There is no species of draining 

 60 cheap or beneficial, as where there is wate" 

 sufficient to perform a chief part of the work. 

 Most streams can perform some of it. In either 

 case, the rennoval of obstructions of wood or loose 

 elone, requires infinitely less labor, than to dig an 

 equivalent canal ; and the water thus aidedj'^will 

 continue to deepen its channel, until its eflorts are 

 controlled by withholding the assistance. The 

 earth it scoops out of the channel, becomes an 

 alluvion (cr curing an abundance of chasms and 

 inequaliiiee, the (ruit of torrents and obstructions. 

 And by correcting some angles, and deepening the 

 channels of the creeks, and small rivers, a very 



large quantity of the best land now yielding foul 

 air, may be brought at a trifling expense to yield 

 fine crops. 



For the introduction of this mode of draining, 

 the cheapest, the most practicable, and the most 

 profitable, a law is necessary. 1 do not know that 

 Coke's Suinma Ratio provides for the case, and the 

 absurdities (0 be ibund in the code, upon which 

 this exalted encomium is pronounced, are records 

 of human foil}' sufficient to shake a confidence 

 in the good sense and justice of an entire nation, 

 however plain the case may be, A proprietor 

 below may perhaps be found, blind to the clear 

 moral obligations which require him to remove the 

 obstructions against the draining of a proprietor 

 above ; Avhilst one above may be so lynx-eyed, as 

 to see injuries to himself from draining land below. 

 And yet the prosperity and the health of the 

 whole nation is at least as deeply affected by the 

 object, as by the establishment of roads; nor 

 would a lower country which should stop all the 

 roads leading fi-om above, act as unjustly or ab- 

 surdly as those who stop the drains from above. 

 It would not injure the climate, and by arresting 

 commodities, it would establish some monopoly 

 beneficial to itself; but the obstructor of draining 

 gains no exclusive advantage, and shares in the 

 general calamity of a bad climate. 



Such laws are nut novel. Pennsylvania is in- 

 debted to them for some of her finest farms. 1 

 much question whether the state legislatures have 

 a power to pass any laws equally beneficial; 

 They might try the experiment, short of that re- 

 quiring social embankments, by only imposing 

 the simple and easy obligation of keeping up a 

 social current, sufficient to drain all lands above, in 

 every stream lying above tide water. Such laws 

 might at first be limited to the removal of obstruc- 

 tions of wood or earth, until experience should 

 decide, whether they might*not be beneficially ex- 

 tended even to obstructions of stone. 



The residue of this subject contains in every 

 view its most important division, and unfortunately 

 meets with less capacity to do it justice. The 

 benefits arising from draining the kind of ground 

 we have passed over, though great in themselves, 

 are inconsiderable, conapared with those which 

 would result from draining the marshes and 

 sunken grounds upon tide water. A new country 

 and climate would be gained by it. We know 

 that the Dutch, in both hemispheres, have re- 

 claimed rich countries Jl-om the ocean, whilst we 

 abandon them to the rivers; but I do not recollect 

 to have heard of a book upon draining and bank- 

 ing. My whole experience is confined to a single 

 experiment, yet unfinished, the occurrences of 

 which I shall relate, so far as they may be useful. 

 It is made on ground similar to the body of marsh 

 and wet land, abounding on the tide rivers and 

 creeks of the eastern states, to an extent suflicient, 

 if reclaimed, to dispense wealth and comfort, and 

 unreclaimed, unvvholesomenessand death. 



About two hundred acres of such land, three 

 fourths of which were subject to the tides, which 

 fluctuate to the extent of about three feet, and 

 within half a mile of a large river, is the subject 

 of the experiment. The remaining fourth, though 

 a few inches above tide water, was sunken land, 

 covered with the usual growth of such ground. A 

 large portion was soft marsh, subject to common 

 tides, and nearly as much a sheet of water, shal- 



