NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



I'UHMSHF.L) BV THOMAr^ W. SIIKI'AIU). HOCLilS' l!UII-ni NtiS, CONCilU-SS STKKI.T, (roiMrni \^Ui I U()M >^-ATK^HTi<KIT 



Vor,. II. 



BOSTOiN, SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, liVlX 



Fariner^s and Gardencr^s Remembrancer. 

 [bv the editor.] 

 It is supposed tlinf by this liirifi you liavc 

 iiipleted your haying, and finished the I'ormer 

 T\ est, and perhaps h;ive leisure and occ^ision 

 attend to the process of 



Druiiiing, or freeing your land fmm svperjltious 

 wislure. — This is an operation of great i'mpor- 

 ince in agriculture, though comparativciv 

 .leaking, it has not so strono- claims to alien- 

 on in the United Stales, where labor is dear, 

 nd land is cheap, as in older and more ])opu- 

 )us coniili-ies, vviiere it is necessary that " cv- 

 ry rood of ground maintain its man." It is 

 ot often advisable to neglect, or half cultivate 

 ar dry lands, for the sake of undertaking ex- 

 ensive projects of draining bogs and morasses, 

 ut it sometimes happens that labor, skilfully 

 reeled, can in no way be so prolilablv bestow- 

 I as in drawing ol? the superabundant water 

 om a soil which is rendered unproductive by 

 1 excess of that elemenl. A piece of ground, 

 hich is made useless, and unhealthy, by too 

 uch water, may be situated near a" farmer's 

 use or barn ; or it may be well for the sake 

 heallh, safety to his cattle, or for improving 

 e prospect from his place of residence, to 

 ain some particular spots, although there 

 ould be no probability that the proilucts, or 

 e addiiional value of the soil itself will ever 

 mpensate for the expense of such draining. 

 We shall not attempt to give any very elabo- 

 e remarks on this subject, nor to enter at all 

 o what may be called the philosophy of drain- 

 j^ AVe shall say nothing under this head lel I 

 vc to the different strata or layers of sub-' 

 nces of which the earth is composed, and 

 ' ; cracks or tissures between them, which form 

 ipty caves or reservoirs ot water, as the case 

 :y be. What has already been published res- 

 cting Mr. Elkington's improvements in drain- 

 :, in our paper, vol. i, p. 409, will suffice, as 

 ales to this branch of the subject, tor prac- 

 al cultivators. Those who wish for a thor- 

 rh knowledge of the principles of the art of 

 ining, must not only attend to geology and 

 leralogj-, study a numt)er of books written on 

 ■se topics, but must view the operations of 

 lire in hilly countries, and trace the .signs ot 

 ings from mountain to valley, follow under 

 lund brooks and rivulets by appearances 

 ive ground, which indicate their course ; and 

 rn by viewing the shape and materials of the 

 th"s surface what is the probable structure 

 its interior. 



Drains used in farming are of two kinds, open 

 ' covered. Drains should be of a size and 

 th proportioned to the extent of the swamp 

 the probable quantity of water for which 

 y are designed to be channels. They should 

 lerally be carried through the lowest and 

 ttest part of the soil, although it should be 

 essary, in order to effect that purpose, to 

 latc from straight lines. Open drains some- 

 es answer the double purpose of conveying 

 superrtuous water, and of inclosing lields. 

 they make a hazardous and inconvenient 

 :e without the addition of a bank, hedge or 

 ■"'-. The Farmers Assistant says, " when 



No, 2, 



a ditch is made for a fence, it ought to be four 

 feet wide at the top, one or less at the bottom, 

 and about two and an half deep; with the earth 

 all thrown out on one si<io, and banked up as 

 high as possible." Sir .lohn Sinclair stales that 

 '^ it is a general rule regarding ojien drains, 

 with a view of giving sufficient slope and sta- 

 bility to their sides, that the width at lop should 

 be three times as much as that which is neces- 

 sary at the boltom, and in the case of peat 

 mosses or soft soils, it should be such as to al- 

 low the water to run off without stagnation, but 

 not with so rapid a motion as to injure the bot- 

 tom." 



But before you attempt to drain a piece of 

 land, it will be well not only to calculate the 

 cost, but to ascertain the nature of the soil 

 which it is proposed to render fit for cultiva- 

 tion. If the subsoil or under layer he clav, the 

 swamp may be worth draining, though "there 

 should be no more than six inches of black soil 

 or mud over it, for the clay and the mud mixed 

 will make a fertile soil. But if the sub-soil or 

 under stratum be gravel or white sand, it will 

 not, in common cases, be best to undertake 

 draining unless the depth of black mud be as 

 much as from fifteen to eighteen inches deep; 

 for the soil will settle after draining and be less 

 deep than it was before. But the situation of 

 the land to be drained may authorize some va- 

 riation Irom these general rules. 



The manner of draining a swamp is as fol- 

 lows: Beginning at the outlet, pass a large ditcli 

 through it, so as mostly to cut the lowest parts. 

 Then make another ditch quite round it, near 

 to the border, lo cut off the springs which come 

 iVom the ujdand, and lo receive the water thai 

 runs down from the hills upon the surface, in 

 great rains. These ditches should be larger or 

 smaller, in some proportion lo the size of tht 

 swamp, the shape and size of the hills which 

 surround it, and other circumstances, which 

 might lend to greater or less quantities of wa- 

 ter's being occasionally or generally led to the 

 ditches. If the swamp be large it may be nec- 

 essary that some smaller cross drains should be 

 cut in several of the lowest parts. The bottom 

 of the main dilches, when the soil is not of an 

 extraordinary depth, must bo lower than the 

 bottom of the loose soil ; otherwise the soil wiii 

 never become sufficiently dry and firm."* 



It is said by Sir John 'Sinclair (Code of Agri- 

 culture, page 182) that " in all drain.?, it il a 

 rule lo begin at the lowest place, and to work 

 upwards, by which the water will always pass 

 from the workmen and point out the level. — 

 This enables the laborers also lo work in coarse 

 weather, and prevents their being interrupted 

 by wet, so early in the season as otherwise 

 might happen." 



The mud and other materials, which are dug 

 out of a ditch or drain should not be suffered to 

 lie in heaps or banks by the side of the dilch, 

 but should be spread as equally as possible over 

 the surface of the drained land. In this way 

 the matter taken from the ditches will tend to 

 level the surface of the swamp, will, perhaps. 



* See Deane's Xew England Farmer, Art. Dkain. 



serve m some measure tor manure, and will not 

 present any iinpediinoiit lo tbo passage of the 

 water to the ditches. In some c.w.^ Ct may he 

 advisable to traii'^pcrt the earth which ii t.'djen 

 from the ditches, lo the farm-yard, or the ho^ 

 pen, to form a part of ihat layer, which good 

 farmers generally spread over those places in 

 autumn to imbibe liquid manure or make into 

 compost with dung. In many instances, we are 

 told, that the earth thus dug out of dilches is 

 thought to be worth enough to pay for the ex- 

 pense of digging the dilches. 



The American editor of Sir John Sinclair's 

 Code of Agricultuie, lias the following amon" 

 other judicious remark* on this imporlant sub°- 

 ject. " The most expeditious, effectual, and 

 economical mode of making a <lrain would un- 

 doubtedly be to use oxen, a~nd a scraper or ox- 

 shnvcl, as it is sometimes called ; an instrument 

 well known in this couniry in the making of 

 roads. In some cases this mode might not an- 

 swer, 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 "gen- 

 erally be made so dry as to allow being trodden 

 upon in a proper season ; and in this way a 

 drain may by degrees be carried on towards 

 the centre. In nineteen cases out of twenty, 

 diains m.ay be probably effected in this mode. 

 Where the ground will admit of it, two men 

 and a boy, and two yoke of oxen, will accom- 

 plish more business of this sort in a day, than 

 half a dozen tnon in the same time with only 

 -prides ami snovels. Wb.'iever the labor of 

 caltic can be substituted in this couniry, for hu- 

 man labor, policy requires it to be done. The 

 surface of wet and miry lauds is usually full of 

 inequalities: i{ a scraper is employed in drain- 

 ing them, the earth taken from "the drain is 

 easily landed in any hollow spot which needs 

 to be filled ; and if there are no such hollows, 

 or they have already been filled, the earth may 

 be spread over the surface in such a manner as 

 to do the most good. If the earlh is not wanted 

 Tor other purposes, it is recommended to drop 

 and spread it, if practicable, in such a manner 

 as to leave the general surface of the land slop, 

 ing towards the drain, that the water may the 

 more readily incline towards it and pass off. At 

 some distance below the surface in peat grounds, 

 there is usually found a hard stratum of earth, 

 called in the common language of our 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 in draining, for in no other way can 

 the upper earlh taken out of the drains be so 

 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 obtain- 

 ed for the purpose of spreading it over the sur- 

 face with a view to improve the texture of the 

 soil. If the object be to pile the earth from the 

 drains into heaps with a view to composts, this 

 [lurpose is completely accomplished by meaus 

 af the scraper." 



