TILE DRAINAGE 12o 



I rather think he never utilized the spring, or the ground 

 that it was spoiling by making it too wet. I have met quite 

 a number of cases quite similar. 



MAKIXU CROOKED WATER-COU USES STRAIGHT. 



All over our land we find streams of greater or less size 

 running through fields cultivated and uncultivated. The 

 natural course of these streams is zigzag here and there. 

 And that is not all. The greater part of them are constantly 

 changing their course. Each freshet starts a new channel. 

 The consequence is, a large part of the field, especially when 

 under cultivation, is wasted. On page 14, Fig. 5, friend 

 Chamberlain graphically describes this state of affairs. See, 

 also, page 62. Such a place was on our own ground when I 

 first settled here ten or twelve years ago. When I spoke of 

 using the low ground for a market-garden, everybody laugh- 

 ed at me. The first thing I did was to cut a straight chan- 

 nel for Champion Brook. We started where it came on my 

 land, and 'carried it almost in a straight line to a point 

 where it left my land. To do this I was obliged to cut 

 through a bank in one place six or eight feet deep. I soon 

 found I had made a mistake in thinking that I must cut my 

 ditch wide enough for the creek in time of high water. Had 

 I cut a shallow ditch and waited a little, the water would 

 have widened it very quickly, much cheaper than it was done 

 with horses, plow, and scraper. Of course, at every very big 

 freshet I was annoyed by seeing the water break over my 

 embankment and take its old course. It was a good deal 

 like bad habits ; with every fierce temptation, resolutions 

 are very apt to be swept away, and the water of passion 

 comes deeper than it did before. Pretty soon it began to be 

 a sort of standing joke, the fight I was having with Cham- 

 pion Brook ; and most people thought for a while that I 

 would give way and do as they did let the brook go where 

 it wanted to. But I didn't. I do not like to fight or quarrel 

 with my neighbors ; but I do really enjoy a tussle with the 



