Tile Draining Swales, Cat Swamp, etc. 83 



But do you think our troubles were over when we got the 

 drain in? Not by a good deal. When the old settlers cleared 

 this land, timber was of no value. Ransom Sanford, now living, 

 tells me that his father sold a man a great noble white wood tree 

 that it took two of them all day to get down and cut up, and 

 helped the buyer cut it, for 50 cents, and the man always felt as 

 though Mr. Sanford charged too much for it. The tree stood in 

 the road, and I got the stump out since I came here, and I think 

 it cost me more than 50 cents to do it. Well, with timber so 

 plenty, when they cleared the farm they threw every tree they 

 could into these little swamps, to get rid of them. What was out 

 side, stumps, etc., was all rotten and gone, but when we come to 

 get into swamp where water had nearly always been, we had a 

 picnic. Many of the oaks were as sound as the day they were 

 thrown in. We had to pull them out. Some were dried and cut 

 into wood. Some are down in there yet below the reach of plow. 

 Once in a while one works up, and we pull it out. 



But, at last, we got the place ready for tillage. It hadn't 

 cost much money, only a few tiles. The work was done in the 

 spring, when it was too wet to do any regular work. I do not 

 now remember exactly, but think it took my man and me a week 

 to do the job. It is now always dry, and usually grows a heavy 

 crop. We have grown in a dry season potatoes in there that 

 yielded at the rate of $240 an acre. But in a wet year the con- 

 stant saturation of the soil, by surface water running down into 

 the hollow, makes potatoes almost a failure right in the centre. 

 It is almost too rich yet for wheat. My wheat in that spot is 

 down to-day (May 24th). Still, with all drawbacks, it has paid 

 tremendously. We have had to mow the wheat in there, and 

 cock it up, but I would hardly dare tell you how many bushels 

 we got three years ago. It is better this year, and will grow bet- 

 ter, as we are able to exhaust the extreme fertility a little. Of 

 course, such places have been accumulating fertility for ages. They 

 will need none put back for a lifetime or more. All that grows 

 on them, and is removed, can be used to bring up the higher 

 and less fertile land. Were you to ride by my farm to-day you 

 would hardly notice this place, except from overgrowth of wheat. 

 You could hardly realize what it was and how man had made it 

 over. And now we use the whole corner, and go right straight 

 through and breathe purer air. The only loss is the old-time 

 music of the frogs. I would say that this drain and all others 

 work just as well to-day as ever, and I see no reason why, if the 

 outlet is cared for, they may not last for hundreds of years. 

 With good tiles, rightly laid, there is no need whatever of filling 

 up, or any other trouble. 



We have drained other little swamps where there was a clay 

 bottom by laying tiles right up through the centre. Or, perhaps, 

 two or three parallel drains may be needed, after you get into the 



