VOL. XVI. NO. 18. 



AND G A R D E N E B ' S JOURNAL 



139 



BLIND DITCHES AND WELLS. 

 Mr Editor — An adrniralile plan of draininf; in 

 the West is after tlie Fr(!ncli fasliion, l)V wliicli, 

 whole fields can lie worked with the plough, wiih- 

 oiit the oi)staidos ari.-siiig from open ditches, — Be- 

 low ciilture-uiark, a ditch is diiy with the plouffli 

 lioe and spade, and "eased off" aceonling to the 

 declination recpiired. Two [tine saplings, or cy- 

 press i)oles, of e(|ual length and similar thickness, 

 are then laid about fonr inches apart in the ditch, 

 parallel to one another : n()on these two saplings 

 is laid another of tlie same lerigth, and of thick- 

 ness sufficient not to fall lo) deep between them, 

 and obstruct the passage of water. The larger 

 the vent the better. The whole is thtn covered 

 with pine trash, and if that cannot be procured, 

 iny trash difticnit of dccoinposition in water; 

 then the earth is thrown in this, and the ditch 

 filled np. The consequence will be this — the 

 water finding its level from the surface of, and the 

 circumjacent soil, percolates through the pine 

 Tash into the drain, and is carried oflT at the 

 irionth of the drain into a main ditch. In this 

 way, the coMest and sourest lands have been re- 

 jlaimed and sweetened ; and there cr,n be no in- 

 :erruption to the working of the plough, inasmuch 

 is the drain is below plough mark. These drains 

 nay he made as deep as is <leenied requisite, with 

 he largest pines, atid of any length, if some care 

 rie had in parking the pine trash, and jamming 

 lie ends of the saplings close together. I have 

 leard they will last for a century — that is, pine 

 ■>r cypress. In fict any other kind of wood would 

 lo nearly as well, for woods always in fresh wa- 

 er an<l not exposed to the atmosphere, take a 

 ong time to decay. 



What excellent use could be made of the blind 

 (itches in the flat lands of our State. How many 

 icres now unavailable, would they not reclaim. — 

 I'hey may be made serviceable in every sort of 

 and, whether rolling, level or broken, at a com- 

 larative expense of little consideration, when it 

 s remembered, how often open ditches are clean- 

 'd out to let off the water. Nor are we required 

 o take as much pains in digging those ditches, as 

 ve do with others, — get the declination and space 

 'or laying down the saplings, and packing the 

 rash, and you may not heed nice work or the fig- 

 ire of the sides.. On the fine cotton lands not 

 ufficicntly high, I would respectfully suggest 

 heir value — they could be used even on sandy 

 I,. (Is, with good efl^ects, so as to luard against a 

 eason of continued rains. 



This plan of ditching is common in the West, 

 t has its opponents, yet, a notion has occtired to 

 ne, which, when understood, will doubtless, at 

 mce, comfirm their impurtanre. Some contend, 

 iiat they do very well to keep the land sweet, 

 nd carry ofl"a light fall of rain, but, are iiietficient 

 n broken fields, where the water from the sur- 

 iice concentrates on the lowest parts. To obviate 

 his, permit me, Mr Editor, to propose the dig- 

 ;ing of blind wells. Suppose, sir, one is cultivat- 

 iig a field, elevated on the boundaries and declin- 

 !ig to tlie cent -e, or to any other part, where the 

 i'nter concentrates — to drain off, not only the lin- 

 er, lint the over surface run of water from this 

 entre, 1 would dig a well, say four feet deep, (I 

 nti not particular) the sides of which should be 

 lade of two inch, or one inch and a half plank, 

 ere ami there bored with a three-quaiter incii 

 ilger — the plank to be nailed outside of the four 



[losts, that should be let into the well to constitute 

 its frame work. Inio each side of Una t/iere should 

 be an opening for the mouth of a blind ditch, two feet 

 or more from the top of the well. Around the sides 

 oftlie well should be packed pine trash — the top 

 of it should be a level with the c?arth, or an inch 

 below, covered with plank, and bored as aforesaid, 

 in such a manner, that the top could be taken ofl" 

 at pleasure. The water above the surface and 

 below it, would run from every part of the field 

 to this well ; and should it bear sand along with 

 it, the san I from its specific gravity U'illfall below 

 the mouths of the blind ditches in the bottom of the 

 well, and the water would be carried off". The 

 sand at the bottom could be taken out whenever 

 necessary, and to obstruct the ingr-ss of trash, 

 straws, &c., a wire covering, at a trifling expense, 

 could be nailed over the mouth of the ditch. 

 That fall of water, which would seem to bear 

 along with it sand in quantities so rapidly a-i to 

 [iroduce the choking u|) of the ditches, will accu- 

 mulate in the well in bulk sufficient to force 

 through the sand along with the flow of water to 

 the outlets of the ditches. However, the choking 

 of the ditches need not be feared, the incessant 

 run of water at all seasons Will keep them clean. 



These wells should not be covered, if the plough 

 be not used ; if it be used, they should be made 

 strong enough, to allow a horse to walk on' them, 

 without endangering his limbs. 



In this way, Mr Editor, 1 flatter myself the 

 whole field could be drained and worked with the 

 plough. 1 have supposed a case — the judgment 

 of the planter would tell him under vvhat peculiar 

 circumstances of location of soil how far h; should 

 vary from the [ilans I have adopted in this imagi- 

 nary field. The plan of making the blind ditch 

 and well, may be estimated without referring its 

 utility 1(1 the localities of ai particular descrip- 

 tion of land — and should it serve your readers, or 

 any one of them, I shall he amply repaid for the 

 time consumed in the composition of this article. 

 Yours, with great respect, Sir, 



C. 



Remarks by the Editor. 

 Our correspondent is entitled lo the merit of 

 originality for his sngge.siion of bVind wells — the 

 ditches of which he writes, we liave no doubt, 

 could be turned to account by our long cotton 

 planters, inasmuch as their delicate staple calls 

 for the driest soils. How far they would sOc- 

 ceed in carrying off" the water in low. lands, more 

 especially if level, we are yet incredulous. For 

 broken lands they might do very well — but in the 

 low country, where the fine cotton is cultivated 

 with the lioe, we should prefer the open ditches. 

 The blind might be used with gnat good efl'ect 

 between the open quarter ditches, to keep the 

 soil dry ; indeed we are pleased with this notion, 

 ai.d recommend its consideration to those interest- 

 ed. Should this plan of the blind ditch and well 

 be sufficient to carry otTtlie surface water, as our 

 correspondent says, it woulil eidiance the price of 

 those fields which are cultivated with the plough 

 — particularly in sandy lands, interspersed with 

 low bottoms, it would be the most eflfectual way 

 of draining them, for o[ieu ditches in sand are too 

 liable to cave in and choke after the lightest rains, 

 or from the power of the winds. We recommend 

 the whole article to the grave consideration of our 

 readers. — Southern Jla-riculturist. 



L.iRGF, Vegktable PiioDUCTio.\s. — We ha»e 

 been presented with two [lotatocs, one from the 

 fiirm of Capt. S. St John, of Ellswonh, Conn., 

 measuring one foot in circumference, and weigh- 

 ing two pounds. It is of the Scotch grey species. 

 Eighteen of them fil.Cd a half bushel. '1 he other 

 is from the ftuiii of Mr George Tripp, of Wash- 

 ington, in this county, and weighs two and a half 

 pounds. It is of the kind ca led " Lady-fingers." 

 Can these be beat .' 



If'ithout a rival. Mr P. Ward, gardnerof Gen. 

 J. T. Tallmage, of this town brought to our office 

 a few days since two stalks of corn, which meas- 

 ured _^/een/'cc< two inches in height. One stalk 

 hadyoiirand the other_yf?'C large plump cars upon 

 it. The seed was presented to Gen. T. at the 

 American Institute by a gentleman from Califor- 

 nia. Mr W. also presented an egg plant, which 

 measures two feet four inches in circumference. 

 He sent one to the fiiir of the American Institute 

 last year, not as heavy as this, which was pro- 

 nounced the largest ever exhibited there. Mr W. 

 also presented a squash of a superior kind, (failed 

 the white cocoa-nut ; the seed came fiom IMa- 

 nilla. 



More Prodigies. — We have been shown a squash 

 raised in the garden of John R. Stuyvesant, of 

 this town, which measured two feet three and a 

 half inches in length, three feet ten and a half inch- 

 es in cirtMimference, and weighed sixly-three. 

 pounds I It is oftlie Manilla species. 



" Pleasant valley against all creation !" Said an 

 acquaintance the other day, as he dropped in to 

 give lis a recital of a Dutchess county farmer. Mr 

 Thomas Stontenburgh, in the employ of Mr John 

 Marshall, of that town, dug two hundred and sev- 

 entij-five bushels of potatoes in seven hours and a 

 quarter! Pour men and a boy picked after him, 

 and at the end of the time he had nearly half a 

 cart-load ahead ! Who'll accept the challenge ! — 

 Poughkeepsie Telegraph. 



It is highly gratifying to read the favorable ac- 

 counts oftlie progress of agricalture in this State. 

 More atlention during the present year has been 

 paid to this branch of national industry than for 

 several preceding years ; and it is a source of 

 great satisfaction to know that our farmers have 

 reaped so rich a reward for their labors. It proves 

 that Maine may yet he ranked among the first, if 

 not as the first, of the agricultural States of the 

 Union. Enoouraged by their success the past 

 season, our farmers are laying out largely for 

 another year. In many towns in this county, 

 tlicy are busily engaged in ploughing up a large 

 quantity of land. In Minot, New Gloucester, 

 Danville, cfcc, many of them have raised larga 

 quantities of corn and whelft, and the eminent suc- 

 cess that has crowned their past efforts, will stiin- 

 uhite them to enter more fully the comingyenr up- 

 on the laudable and useful work in which they 

 have engaged. May abundant harvests reward 

 their labors ! — Port. Adv. 



A Cure for the scouring is calves. — Take 

 a table spoonful of finely powdered chalk and a 

 like cpiantity of ground ginger, put it in a bowl, 

 pour boiling new milk on it, say half a pint, stir 

 it well and then give this dose about milk-warm, 

 night and morning, to the calf, and in nine cases 

 out often two doses will be sufficient to stop the 

 disease. — Bolt. Far. 



