84 QUARTERLY JOURNAL. 



indicated by the absence of a crop ; but they are never so readily 

 distinguished as when the land is in grass. The cold water that 

 issues to the surface and flows over the land, is not congenial to 

 the growth of the better kinds, of grasses, but favors that of the 

 coarser sort, which thrive, not so much because of the absence of 

 better kinds, as because the better kinds cannot grow there. The 

 coarse grass, then, indicates the parts to be drained. 



In draining upland, it is desirable to bring the surface of the 

 parts requiring it as near as may be to the same degree of dryness 

 as the parts adjacent, in the same enclosure, because the land 

 thereafter is to be subject to the same treatment ; thus, if the bal- 

 ance of the enclosure is dry land, suitable for Indian corn, the 

 parts drained should also be brought to a state suitable for Indian 

 corn ; but if the surrounding land, though too wet for grain, be 

 dry enough to grow timothy and clover, it is best adapted to the 

 cultivation of grass, then the draining of the wetter parts should 

 be in reference to bringing them to the same state, and for the 

 same purpose. 



A great deal of upland is light enough to bring the best of the 

 cultivated grasses in profusion, without an admixture of wild 

 grass, and yet too wet in most seasons for corn. Such land fre- 

 quently has its wet spots, which require draining to improve tlie 

 quality of the grass. Now the question is, is it all to be made 

 corn land, or grass land 1 I say, unhesitatingly, that it should all 

 be adapted to grass ; therefore, the wet spots should be drained in 

 reference to that purpose merely. 



Some land is naturally adapted to grain, other land to grass. 

 It is more profitable to till the former and pursue a rotation of 

 crops, than to leave it all the time in grass. In fact, the grass 

 will so far run out of most grain land in a few years, as to impose 

 the necessity of ploughing it up to renew the grass, if for no other 

 purpose. But it is so clearly designed for tillage, that it is the most 

 profitable use that can be made of it. Not so with grass land, for 

 if that is to be made into grain land, it would require drains so 

 numerous to take away the moisture which would be a surplus 

 for a grain crop, as to make the outlay too great to be realized in 

 returning profits. 



What I would call thorough draining for the production of 



