DEVOTED TO IGRICULTURS OS ALL ITS UIMM iRfS iMO S^CrENCES. 



ACTicullure not only gives s-ich«s to a nation, but th? o.tly richss sb.e can call her ovtxi.-^iOHKSOV. 



VOL, IL 



SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 1860, 



NO. 9, 



S. W. COLE, Editor. 



QUINCY HALL, BOSTON, 



I. NOIIKSE Pf'h-rietor, 



DRAINING. 



At the agricultural meeting, April 9, Ken. Mr. 

 Daggett in the chair, the subject of Dniinmj was 

 discusseil. 



Mr. B. V. French, of Braintrcc, opened the discus- 

 sion. He thought draining of great importance. 

 Cedar swamps, that are worth no more than a dollar 

 an acre, as it requires one hundred years for them to 

 produce a new growth of cedar, may be mad« to 

 bear good grass, and the vegetable matter in them is 

 vahiable manure for upland. The drains should gen- 

 erally be about twenty-five feet apart, and so con- 

 structed as to cut off the springs. When walls are 

 made on wet land, drains may be made in a trench 

 under the wall. Judge Bucl used pine boughs in 

 the bottom of drains, and he saw that they worked 

 well fifteen years after they were constructed. 



Mr. Felton, of Brookficld, had some experience in 

 draining. He made wall drains by trenching and 

 filling with small stones, which cost but a trifle. In 

 under-draining, he digs two and a half feet deep, and 

 liUs one and a half feet with stones, which affords an 

 opportunity to till above the stones. In draining flat 

 lands, he cuts ditches at the margin, to cut off the 

 water that runs in from the high land ; and then 

 makes ditches about four rods apart, and leaves them 

 open. Sometimes, in under- draining, he sets flat 

 stones together in the form of a roof, and tlicn fills 

 in small stones. 



^Ir. Buckminstcr, of the Floughman, said that we 

 had but little high land that needs draining. We 

 have many bog meadows that require it, which may 

 be made to produce merchantable hay. But on the 

 borders of brooks we get very good fodder, without 

 draining or manuring. On flat lands drains should 

 not be covered, as this would be an injury. 



Mr. French said that he had a great deal of land 

 covered with hardback, alders, &c., that required 

 draining, in order to render them productive. In 

 making drains, it was best to dig down into the hard 

 pan. 



Mr. Lathrop, of South Iladley, said that in rela- 

 tion to lands bordering on streams, he had improved 

 a piece of land of this description, so that he now 



cut t^^Xl^ty tons of good hay for cowrj, where before 

 he cut only fourteen toas ef fowl meadow and other 

 coarse grasses. 



A gentleman, whose name we did n'ot learn, said 

 that he cleared a piece of land fourteen years ago. 

 He cut ditches around it, but this was not suflicient ; 

 he then cut drains through, about three rods apart, 

 spread the mud from tlae ditches over the land, and 

 sowed grs.ss seed. The land was rough ; he took 

 out the roots and burnt them, and iraw he gets good 

 crops, without having used manure. 



Mr. Brigham, of Westborough, said that the man- 

 ner of draining depended on the situation of the 

 land, and the materials at hand for filling the drains. 

 He had land full of cold springs, which he had 

 drained, and he found that it was greatly improved 

 by manure. He found that draining his lands im- 

 proved them very much, both for tillage and mowing. 



Hon. Mr. Daggett remarked that he had been 

 much interested in the subject, which was not a dti/, 

 though a cokl one. He thought it was not e\])cdicnt 

 to drain some lands, and he named several cases in 

 his region, where large crops of cranberries were 

 obtained from wet lands. Where a manufactory was 

 established, land was flowed, and the owner recov- 

 ered damages nearly equal to the estimated value of 

 the laud ; and in consequence of flowing, cranberries 

 came in, and fine crops were obtained. The flowing 

 of the land continued till the 20th or last of April. 



GRAIN CROPS. 



At the agricultural meeting, April 16, Hon. Jlr. 

 Daggett in the chair, the general subject of grain 

 crops was discussed. 



Mr. Cole, of the N. E. Farmer, said that the 

 cheapest mode of improvement in raising grain or 

 other crops, was in procuring superior varieties of 

 seed, as it cost no more to cultivate valuable kinds 

 than inferior sorts, and the produce is frequently 

 much greater. We have other kinds of com as val- 

 uable as the Parker, Dutton, or Brown, which are 

 not generally known ; and wc ought to make exp.;. - 

 imcnts that will show what are tho best kinds, and 



