1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



575 



entific culture. Comparing; this land with certain 

 other portions of similar character in the vicinity 

 Avhich had not received the same treatment, the 

 contrast was very perceptible. The one was light, 

 porous, arable and free from water; the other hard, 

 lumpy, cohesive or miry. The one had been drain- 

 ed, the other drowned. 



The whole farm lies upon the northerly inclina- 

 tion of a hill several hundred feet above t'de water, 

 and extends to the summit. The super soil 's gen- 

 erally clay loam with some gravel ; the latter is 

 present in some places in sufficient quantity to con- 

 stitute gravelly loam. Near the top of the hill, the 

 loam rests directly upon a ledge of rock similar to 

 that which crests the neighboring hills, and this 

 ledge appears at the surface in a few spots of one 

 or two rods extent each. When cleared and 

 plowed, enough loose stones and boulders of gran- 

 ite were exposed on the surface to build the exter- 

 nal walls. It might be called a 'rocky' farm. With 

 the exception of two places, each of about two acres, 

 the whole farm was wet and 'springy,' unfit for 

 plowing or any other agricultural process until 

 quite late in spring or early summei*. Water is 

 found everywhere quite near the surface. The deep- 

 est well on the premises, dug in the dry season of 

 1854, extends down only thirteen feet. The excess 

 of water made it cold and rather discouraging for 

 any crop except grass, and even this was too readi- 

 ly killed by the action of winter frost. The surface 

 soil is underlaid throughout (except immediately on 

 the ledge of rock) by an impervious sub-soil or 

 hard pan of stiff clay, quite retentive of water. 



The first draining was done in 1852, on a piece 

 of about li acres, designed for a pear orchard. 

 Thirteen drains 15 rods in length, and 20 feet 

 apart were opened down the hill. The duct or 

 channel was made by placing two fiat stones apart 

 on their edges, and letting the upper edges fall to- 

 gether ; these were wedged in place filled above 

 with six or eight inches of small cobble and broken 

 stones. Inverted turfs or boughs were then spread 

 upon them, to prevent the washing of earthy parti- 

 cles into the drain, and the earth was relumed over 

 all. These drains empty by bending at an acute 

 angle into a main drain which is at right angles 

 with the general course of the former, following a 

 more gentle inclination westward, and laid with flat 

 stones resting upon side stones covered and filled 

 in as the others. This main discharges the VKater 

 at the road-side which has never ceased flowing from 

 it during the coldest winter weather. The land was 

 then plowed across the drains with six oxen and 

 the largest plow obtainable, opening a furrow twelve 

 inches deep, in which followed a sub-soil plow diawn 

 by four oxen, cutting twelve inches deeper. 



Upon this piece of land the frost comes out some 

 days earlier, is later in fall, and of less depth in 

 winter than in contiguous land undrained. The 

 whole is dry enough for spading or plowing as soon 

 as the frost is out in the spring, or within two hours 

 after any heavy rain. During the drought of 1854, 

 there was at all times sufficient dampness apparent 

 on scraping the surface of the ground (with the 

 foot in passing,) and a crop of beans was planted, 

 grown and gathered therefrom, without so much 

 rain as will usually fall in a shower of fifteen min- 

 utes duration, while vegetation on the next field, 

 was parching for lack of moisture. 



The small drains were laid with sole tile that 

 cost ^24, .30 per thousand, delivered at the farm, 



(double the cost in Albany, where manufactured,) 

 and the mains with flat stones, resting on side stones, 

 filled in and covered as before described, the earth 

 being returned easily Avith a two horse-scraper. A 

 field of one acre and two-fifths 'thorough drained' 

 in this way, 40 feet apart, 3i feet deep, required 

 105 rods, including main, and cost $67,50 per acre 

 completed. This field was plowed and sub-soiled 

 each about ten inches deep, and a hoed crop taken 

 off last season. During the heaviest rain no run- 

 ning or standing water could be seen on its surface. 

 When your committee made its visit, we were 

 shown an acre of this field, which had been manur- 

 ed and partly plowed for corn, when a protracted 

 rain came on. The seed being in soak and manure 

 wasting, after the second day's rain, it was resolved 

 to prosecute the planting, and the plowing was fin- 

 ished, the land harrowed, furrowed, dressed in the 

 furrow, and planted in a drizzling rain, working easi- 

 ly and well. The corn all came up, and has grown 

 well ; and still we did not see many clods or other 

 appearances of wet weather working. Yet this was 

 a clay loam, formerly as wet as the adjoining grass 

 field, upon which oxen and cart could not pass on 

 the day of this planting without cutting through 

 the turf and 'miring' deeply. The nearest neighbor, 

 a member of your committee, said 'if he had plant- 

 ed that day it must have been from a raft !' 



In 1855, provisions were so high that such labor 

 as ditchers rendered could not be cheapened in cost 

 per rod ; but an experiment was tried on a field oi' 

 three acres by laying tile drains 3A feet deep, 4 rod& 

 apart, leading into a stone main, all of them coves-- 

 ed and filled as before. An acre required 45 rods. — 

 average cost 90 cents per rod, or $40,50 per &3te. 

 More time is needed with wet and dry seasorii to . 

 test the efficiency of drains so far apart. 



This field was plowed, but not sul)-soiled last fall. 

 It was ia good working order in three daya after 

 the frost was out, two weeks earlier than the adja- 

 cent land was ready to plow. If not so thorough 

 in laying the land dry and given it such an open, , 

 porous soil as is desirable, its evident benefit at so 

 small a cost per acre makes the expevJEaant worthy 

 of imitation. 



Appended are some statistics of the- cast, as as- 

 certained, in draining this farm. 



MAINS. Psr Pad. 



DiggJDg 4 feet deep, 2 feet wide at bottom, - 44 eta. 

 Hauling stone for channel, - - - - - 15 _ 



Laying same, .--.---12 

 Hauling and picking small stones for filling, - 12 

 Sods, boughs or moss, ..... 6 ,. 



Returning earth with scraper, - - - - 12 



$1 (0 



SMALL DRAINS. ' 



Digging 3i feet deep, 20 inches at bottom, - 37^ cts. 



Hauling stone for channel, ----- 124 



Laying same, ------- 10 



Hauling and picking small stones for filling, - 12 

 Sods, boughs or moss, . . . - _ 4 



Returnihg earth with scraper, - - - - 10 



88 cts. 

 TILE-2 INCHES CALIBRE. 

 Digging SJ feet deep, 6 inches at bottom, - - 33 cts. 



Tile, -- o3 



Laying same, ..--.--4 



Stone fitting, ---... -lo 



Sods, &c., 2 



Refilling, 6 



88 cts. 



In conclusion we would represent that the con- 

 current testimony, of all in this country and Eu- 

 rope, who have tried this system of draining, prove* 



