52 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Angost 29, 1832. 



Rural Economy. 



and iflliere are no such hollows, or lliey have al- 

 ready been filled, the earth may be spread over 

 the surface in such a manner as to do the most 

 oood. If the earth is not wanted for other pur- 

 poses, it is recommended to drop and s|)read it, if 



DRAINS. 



Dy llic Editor. 



Drains used in agricnlliire may be divided into | pfacticalile, in such a manner as to leave the gen- 

 two kinds, open and covered. They sliould be of; ^^.j^] s,|,.|ace of the land sloping towards the drain, 

 a size and depth proportioned to the extent of the Lj^j^j jj^g ^yater may tlic more readily incline to 



tract which it is wished to drain, and the proba 

 ble quantity of water for which they arc designed 

 to be channels. They should, generally, be car- 

 ried through the lowest and wettest part of the 

 soil. It is a rule in making drains, to begin at 

 the lowest place, and work upwards, by which 

 means the water will pass from the workmen, and 

 point out the level. The mud and other materi- 



wanis it, and pass off. At some distance below 

 the snrfai;e, in peat grounds, there is usually found 

 a hard f^tratiiin of earth, called, in the common 

 language of otir farmers, hard pan. The hard pan, 

 if ploughed into, scraped out, and spread on the 

 surface, would greatly improve the texture of such 

 soils. This furnishes another argument in favor 

 of using a scraper iu draining, for in no other Way 



als, which are dug out of a ditch or drain, should i ^.^^ t]|e upper earth, taken out of the drains, be so 



not be suffered to lie in heaps by the side of the 

 ditch, but should be spread as equally as possible 

 over the surface of the drained land. In some 

 cases, it will be expedient to transport the earth 

 taken from ditches to the larm-yard or the hog- 

 pen, to form a part of that layer, which good farm- 

 ers generally spread over those places, to imbibe 

 liquid manure, or make into compost. In many 

 instances, it is asserted, that the earth dug out of 

 ditches, is worth enough for manure, to pay the 

 expense of digging the ditches. 



Open drains often answer the purpose not only 

 of conveying off superfluous water, hut serve for 

 inclosing fields. But they make a hazardous and 

 inconvenient fence without the .addition of a bank, 

 hedge, or railing. The Farmtr's .Assistant says, 

 " When a ditch is made for a fence, it ought to be 

 four feet wide at the loji, one or less at the bot- 

 tom, and about two .and a half feet deep ; with the 

 earth all thrown out on one side, and banked 

 up as high as jiossible." Sir John Sinclair states, 

 that "it is a general rule, regarding open drains, 

 with a view of giving sufficient ^lope and stability 

 to their sides, that the width at top should he 

 three times as much as that wliicli is necessary at 

 the bottom ; and, iu the case of peat inosi^es, or 

 soft soils, it should be such as to allow the water 

 to run off without stagnation, but not with so rap- 

 id a motion as to injure the bottom." 



The American editorof Sir John Sinclair's Code 

 of Agricidtwc observes, that "The most expedi- 

 tious, etiectual, and economical mode of making a 

 drain would undoubtedly be, to use oxen, and a 

 scraper, or ox-shovel, as it is sometimes called, — 

 an instrument well known in this country in the 

 making of roads. In some cases, this mode might 

 not answer, as in very miry grounds, and lands 

 just cleared of timber. But where lands are very 

 miry, if the process is begun at the outlet of the 

 water, — and there, indeed, it ought always to be 

 begun, — the next adjoining portion will, general- 

 ly, be made so dry as to allow being tredden upon 

 in a proper season ; and in this v\ay a drain may 

 by degrees be carried on towards the centre. In 

 nineteen cases out of twenty, drains may probably 

 be efTected in this mode. Where the ground will 

 admit of it, two men and a boy, and two yoke of 

 oxen, will accomplish more business of this sort 

 in a day, than half a dozen men in the same time, 

 with only spades and shovels. Wherever the la- 

 bor of cattle can be substituted in this country for 

 human labor, policy requires it to be done. The 

 surface of wet and miry land is usually full of in- 

 equalities ; if a scraper is employeil in draining 

 them, the earth taken from the drain is easily 

 landed in any hollow spot which needs to be filled ; 



cheaply removed, and put on the adjoining; nor 

 in any other way can the hard pan be so easily 

 broken up and carried off; nor in any other way, 

 oftentimes, can suitable earth be so well obtained, 

 for the purpose of spreading it over the surface 

 with a view to improve the texture of the soil. If 

 the object be to pile the earth from tlie drains in- 

 to heaps, with a view to composts, liiis purpose 

 is completely accomplished by means of the scra- 

 per." 



To make a covered drain, dig a channel be- 

 tween thirty and thirtysix inches wide at the top, 

 and six inches, or the breadth of a spade, at the 

 bottom, and three feet dee)), giving it just descent 

 enough to make the water run briskly. Fill it 

 half full or more of small stones, thrown in at ran- 

 dom, and rover them with a Inyer of straw, leaves, 

 or the small branches of trees with the leaves on 

 them ; then fdl it up to a level with the surface, 

 with the earth that was thrown out. 



In forming small drains, chiefly for retentive 

 soils, the common plough may be used. A mode 

 described in Young's Annals of .'Jgnculture, from 

 very ample practice, is this : he says, when he has 

 marked the drains in a field, usually a rod asun- 

 der, he draws two furrows with a common plough, 

 leaving a balk betwixt them, about fifteen inches 

 wide ; then, w i;h a strong, double-breasted plough, 

 made on purjiose, he splits that balk, and leaves a 

 clean furrow iiaurtecn or fifteen inches below the 

 surface; hut where the depth of soil requires it, 

 by a second ploughing he sinks it to eighteen or 

 twenty inches ; it is then ready for the land-ditch- 

 ing sjiade, with which he digs, fifteen inches deep, 

 a <frain as narrow as possible. But the method 

 followed by some farmers, who do not possess 

 ploughs made on purpose for the work, is this : 

 with their common plough, drawn by four or five 

 horses, and usually stirring about four or five inch- 

 es deep, they turn a double furrow, throwing the 

 earth on each side, and leaving a balk in the mid- 

 dle. This balk they raise by a second bout, in 

 the same manner; they then go in the open fur- 

 row twice, with their common double-breast 

 plough, getting what depth they can. After this, 

 they shovel out all the loose niouhl and inequali- 

 ties to the brearlth of about a foot; and thus hav- 

 ing gained a clear, open furrow, the depth vary- 

 ing according to the soil and ploughs, but usually 

 about eight or nine inches, they dig one spit witlj 

 a draining spade sixteen inches deep, thus gaining 

 in the whole twentyfour or twentysix inches. But 

 as this depth is seldom sufficient, when necessary, 

 they throw out another, or even two other spits, 

 which makes the whole depth from thirty to forty 

 inches. — Loudon. 



Turf-covcred drains nj.iy be made ss follows : 

 Turn up a deep furrow with a strong plough, clear 

 the sod from the earth thus turned up, reduce it 

 to about three in'-hes in thickness, and lljin place 

 it in the furrow from whence it was taken. The 

 grassy side being placed uppermost, there is a hol- 

 low beneath, sufficient to discharge a considerable 

 quantity of surface water, which readily sinks ijito 

 it. This mode of draining is used on the sheep 

 farms of the Cheviot Hills in I'higlaiid, and is rec- 

 ommended by Sir John Sinclair. It would not 

 answer, however, iu lands exposed to the tread of 

 heavy cattle, as they would be apt to push their 

 feet through a covering of tmfof no more tlian 

 three or four inches. I'eihaps, in a few year.«, 

 the verdure would thicken, and the sward strength- 

 en over drains of this kind, so that there would 

 be nothing to apprehend from the tread of the 

 heaviest animals. 



Cultivation of drained land. — It is well known 

 that swamps, marshes, and other low lands arc 

 commonly places of deposit for the lighter and 

 more fertile prrts of the soil, washed from tho 

 neighboring hills. Blany marshes are iu fact in- 

 tervale land, naturally too wet for profitable culti- 

 vation. Wet lands, which receive the wash of 

 higlicr grounds of a tolerable quality, may be ex- 

 pcrlcd to be worth considerable expense in drain- 

 ing. A bog, liowevcr, on tho top of a hill, not 

 overlooked by high ground, we should suspect of 

 barrenness, and would not he at great expense in 

 draining it, without examining and analy/.ingthc 

 soil in various parts, and becoming s.itisficd of its 

 fcrtilily. But a drained marsh, which can be 

 finodcd at the will of its owner, by means of a 

 dam at its outlet, with water which has washed 

 the neighboring uplands, may be considered asin- 

 ^xhuustible, and, pcrhajis, had better he appropri- 

 ated to the raising of hemii. That plant exhausts 

 the soil very much, and it would, therefore, be 

 good economy to raise it where the land can be 

 recruited without manure from the farm-yard, &c. 

 If the land is rich, not very dry, or water can be 

 set back in the ditches, in a dry time, lo withiiv 

 three or four fi'ct of the surface, it will he quite 

 an object to introduce fowl meadow, (Agroslis 

 stricla.) 



It is often advisable to let drained lands lie over 

 one summer to ferment and rot, before any at- 

 tempt to cultivate them. Flooding them com- 

 pletely in the winter, and drawing the water quite 

 off rather late in the spring, will likewise assist 

 in rotting the sod. 



CANADA THISTLES. 



An esteemed correspondent has expressed doubts 

 of the success of" destroying Canada thistles by 

 jiloughing. I am therefore induced to extend my 

 remarks ; and the im|;ortancK of uuderslauding 

 this subject willap])ear from a recent transaction . 

 One of our wealthiest merchants lately s(dd his 

 homestead, where he has residcrl about thiriyfivo 

 years, alleging as his only reason that the Canada 

 thistle was over-running the neighborhood. Nnr 

 two miles from that place, I have just seen a large 

 field, perhaps fifteen acres, mostly covered by 

 these thistles in full flower ; and some other fichla 

 are scarcely in a better condition. 



This state of things ought not to continue 

 While we allow our farmers full liberty to rais'? 

 such crops as they please without injuring theii 

 neighbors they ought to be satisfied ; and if a fine 



