34 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Fer. 



DEEP AND SHALLOW DRAINING. 



It is loss of time to discuss whether deep or shallow drains 

 are best, till you know what kind of strata you are going to 

 cut through. Both are good when the soil is adapted for 

 them ; and nothing but experience and great practical know- 

 ledge con tell what depth, what distance, and what direction 

 they should bo cut in ; and not then, till he sees what form 

 the land is in. and what kind of strata lies under. There can 

 be no uniform system for draining. The process must be 

 entirely governed by the nature of the strata and how it lies. 



In the length of my practice, which is upwards of forty 

 years, I have drained almost all kinds of lands from 2 ft. and 

 2 ft. 6 in., to 3 ft. 6 in. and 4 feet. The different kinds of 

 subsoil rule these, and what depth they lie, and whether 

 they are porous above and retentive below, or retentive above 

 and porous below. A man cannot tell which of these depths 

 are best until he comes to execute the work. I have found 

 them all to answer when the strata is adapted for them. 

 Respecting the distance, that depends upon the form the land 

 lies in, and what kind of strata lie under. I cannot find any- 

 body that can give a reason why drains should be cut 5 feet 

 deep in stiff clay, and the clay put on the bare pipe or tile 

 again. In the course of my practice I have seen one of clay 

 put upon the brushwood which was put upon the tile ; and 

 which prevented the drain from having the desired effect. 

 Every farmer that is a little acquainted with the spirit level, 

 considers himself competent to the drainage of his land, 

 without the assistance of a practical man ; and in cases 

 applying solely to clay and surface water the object is gen- 

 erally well effected ; but where the land is springy, the 

 strata varies, and the water breaks out at different levels, the 

 spirit level must be used with great care, and with the aid 

 of a practical man. In these cases I consider parallel drain- 

 ing of no use, as it would double the cost of the land, and 

 not have the desired effect. But these tilings would require 

 a practical man, and he must have the knowledge and use 

 of the spirit level, or else he cannot make an estimate of 

 what the draining of an acre of land will cost. In the course 

 of my practice I made an estimate to the amount of £1,921 

 18s. u'd., and contracted for that sum before a drain was cut. 

 VY henever I find it necessary to cut to any depth in clay, I 

 always fill the drain up again with some kind of material that 

 will admit of free access for the water to the tile, and spread 

 the clay on the land. I have known a piece of land drained 

 from three to four feet deep, and the clay put in again, and 

 the land was none the better.— Cor. of Chester (England) 

 Chrou'u ie. 



Coming from a practical man of large experience, 

 vre regard the above brief remarks on deep and shal- 

 low draining, and also on the impropriety of filling 

 a ditch with compact, impervious clay, over a stone, 

 tile, or brushwood drain, as exceedingly valuable. 

 The writer says that he has had 40 years experience 

 in draining lands, and made estimates and contracts 

 in single jobs of £1,921 18s. 6d., equal to nearly 

 $ 10,000 our currency. 



The practice of carting off the clay excavated in 

 digging ditches, after it has undergone the mellowing 

 and chemical influences of sunshine, frost, oxygen 

 and carbonic acid, above ground one year, and spread- 

 ing it as a fertilizer over the field, we have seen 

 performed with great success at the South. It may 

 be removed as fast as the clay is dug out in making 

 the ditch ; and some planters have horse carts at hand 

 for that purpose— each shovelfull of earth being thrown 

 into a cart, rather than on the ground by the side of 

 the excavation. Others use a scraper, and with it 

 haul the clay thrown out back into any low places 

 that may exist in the vicinity. Whether the soil and 

 subsoil thrown out in digging a ditch be taken off 

 immediately, or allowed to dry, freeze, and more or 

 less decompose, before it is carried away to be used 

 as a fertilizer, or to fill hollows and depressions, is, 

 probably, not very important. It may not however 

 be amiss to inform our young readers why such soils 

 often partake of the character of marl, and are of far 

 more value as a top-dressing than would be an equal 



quantity of dry upland surface and subsoil excavated 

 in a similar manner. The elevated position and per- 

 viousness of the latter, naturally favor the washing 

 away of all their soluble salts of lime, potash, soda, 

 magnesia, alumina, &c, and all decomposing, soluble 

 mold, by the rains and snows that fall in the course 

 of the year. Low grounds are less exposed in this 

 way. On the contrary, the surface of the earth in 

 such places is often saturated with water that has 

 leached through the fertile soils of uplands, and dis- 

 solved out of the same not a little of both the organic 

 and inorganic food of plants. This water evapora- 

 ting in natural basins, or on level surfaces, leaves its 

 fertilizing lime and other elements behind. The 

 cream of high rolling lands, and especially when cul- 

 tivated, is constantly flowing, both in limpid springs 

 and turbid surface streams, into the basins and over 

 the flats of lower levels. The same causes which 

 render the ocean and seas salt, and furnish an abund- 

 ance of nourishment for the support of myriads of 

 marine plants and animals, operate to enrich all low 

 lands. Valuable as these generally are when well 

 drained, they are usually worthless without it for 

 agricultural purposes. 



Having intimated the impropriety of filling up 

 ditches over wood, tile, and stone drains, with Com- 

 pact clay, it follows that they should be covered with 

 sand, gravel, or some earth through which water can 

 easily percolate. It is proper to remark in this con- 

 nection, that Englishmen of large experience are not 

 agreed in regard to the propriety of using the clay 

 dug from a ditch to fill the same over the conduit for 

 carrying off water at its bottom. Maliy adopt this 

 practice and say that it answers every desirable pur- 

 pose. Others fill with small round stones, gravel, 

 sand, or loose earths. To prevent the filling up and 

 stoppage of the drain, no surface water with its mud 

 and sediment should be permitted to flow into it. All 

 water should filter through soil or sand before it enters 

 the subterranean passage. This alone will prevent 

 the necessity of taking up and opening the drain 

 anew, and often. A drain well made will last for 

 ages and need no repair — operating as a perennial 

 spring. As one means of promoting the health of 

 the human family and domestic animals, the drainage 

 of swamps and all wet, low grounds, deserves far 

 more attention in this country than it has yet received. 



Pea Bugs. — Various remedies have been suggested 

 to get rid of the pea bug — such as scalding the seed, 

 putting it in bottles hermetically sealed, &c. The 

 first has its objections, and the second retards the 

 growth and exit of the bug until after planting time, 

 but does not in all cases destroy it unless more air is 

 abstracted from the bottles than can well be done 

 without apparatus. A certain way is to gather in 

 one year your seed peas for two, put them in separate 

 bottles, and leave the bottles for the second year 

 corked up until you want the peas to plant. Peas 

 lose none of their vitality by being kept, (they have 

 been found to grow taken out of an Egyptian mummy,) 

 and it is a question whether, like melon seed, they 

 are not all the better for keeping. A. H., Meadville, 

 Penn., 1848. 



Never allow the seeds of any weed to ripen on 

 the ground. If this were always attended to, a 

 garden or farm would soon be cleaner, and in time 

 clean. 



