]NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Pl'BLISIlKl) UY riKI.MAS \V. Slir.l'AKU, lUKiKRS' IHUMH.NtiS, <'()XC;KKSS STKl.i:i\ (lOUIMll liiKlR btU)\| MAIK STUKKT.) 



Vol. II. 



BOSTON, SATUllDAY, AUGUST 1(3, l!i-2;J. 



No. :{. 



Funncr's cud Gankner's llcmcinbranccr. 



[by the editor.] 

 DRAINING LAND.— Concluded from p. 10. 

 In our former observations on this siiliject we 

 ■eatec! priucipallv of open Jriiins, and sliall now 

 lake some remarks on covcreii or holloxv draws, 

 leir different sorts, modes of construction, &.c. 

 id conclude with directions respecting; the 

 ihdning and cultivating of lands, which have 

 jen drained. 



Although covered drains are not so frequent- 

 called for in this country as in tlie old and 

 pulous parts of Europe, still there are situa- 

 uns on this side of the Atlantic in which the}- 

 II be found convenient if not indispensable, 

 (ind nothing on the subject of their con- 

 uction and advantages more concise, pcrspi- 

 ous and pertinent, than the following from 

 eane's New F'.nglaud Farmer. 

 " To make a hollow drain, dig a channel be- 

 een thirty and thirty-six inches wide at the 

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

 the bottom, and three feet deep, giving it 

 it descent enough to make the water run 

 skly. Fill it half full or more with small 

 )nes, thrown in at random, and cover them 

 th a layer of straw, leaves, or the small 

 inches of trees with the leaves on them ; 

 in till it up to a level with the surface with 

 ; earth which is thro^vn out. Such a drain 

 II not often choke or till up, or need repair- 

 If the descent should be but just so much 

 to make the water run slowly, there may be 

 ne danger of its choking up and ceasing to 

 I at all. But this danger will be grer.ltr or 

 3 according to the difference of soils. There 

 1 be no danger of it in a soil which does not 

 ily dissolve in water. 



' If stones be scarce, long faggots or fascines 

 llets of wood] laid in the trench, will answer 

 well, so long as they last, and being secluded 

 m the air, will not soon rot. Some say they 

 e known them to answer well for forty 

 rs, but this must only be in places where 

 y are always kept wet. In situations expos- 

 to wet and dryness, they perish in five or 

 years. 



• If a plain piece of ground be too wet to be 

 ie tit for tillage by ridge ploughing, it should 

 made drier by hollow drains. If no lower 

 ;e be adjoining where the drains may have 

 outlet, holes should be dug in some of the 

 est parts of the plain, to examine what 

 ta are under the soil. It is likely that a 

 turn of clay, or of some other earth not 

 ly penetrate<i by water, is the real cause «f 

 wetness of the soil. If you find it so, then 

 through the stratum and below it till yovi 

 le to loose gravel, sand, or something !ha. 

 easily imbibe water: till up the hole v.-;th 

 •es and direct your hollow drains to \i. It 

 serve for a perpetual outlet, aur", conduce 

 •.h to the drying of the soil. 

 The peculiar advantae^s of hollow drains 

 that they will nol need repairing, as they 



r,t fill .,„ . .!,_. ... "^ . , = , 



in any kind of tillage ; and carts and other car-'pense, and may continue; hollow and discharge 

 riagcs are not obstructed or incommoded by i well for many years. It may be called the turf 



them. So that these drains may pass across 

 roads without detriment when the descent re- 

 quires it. It i? often found necessary to hollow 

 drain roads to lay them dry, and found to be of 

 great advantage." 



Drains which are intended to be ultimalel}' 

 covered, may be dug with a plough, an ox- 

 shovcl, or scraper, &c. (as directed in our last 

 No. page 9) and it will sometimes be found ex- 

 pedient to begin with those implements, and 

 liiiish with the spade. Care should be taken in 

 making drains of this kind that the depth be 

 such as to allow a proper quantity of earth 

 above the drain, that the materials in the ditch 

 and the substances which cover it may not be 

 injured by the pressure of the horses or cattle 

 in ploughing, &c. 



A variety of materials besides stones may be 

 used for tilling covered drains. We iiave men- 

 tioned billets of wood, and would now add that 

 thorns bound in bunches, green bushes, either 

 taken in the season v.hen they are not in the 

 leal', or with the leaves stripped off, green wil- 

 lows bound in bundles, or laid as compact as 

 possible, and even straw, either twisted into 

 ropes as thick as a man's leg, or thrown in 

 loose, may answer in lieu of better materials. 

 The durability of the substances which are used 

 for partly tilling covered drain=, is not of so 

 groat consequence in clayey soils as the proha 

 bility of having a sufficient opening for the wa- 

 ter to flow through; for clay generally forms 

 an arch over such substances, which supports 

 ihe superincumbent soil, an<l leaves a clear pas- 

 sage for the water below when they have de- 

 cayed. Care should be used in covering the 

 materials which have lodged in the water-course 

 of the drain, that no earth be allowed to make 

 its way, so as to obstruct the water. The loose 

 straw, leaves, branches of trees, dressings of 

 flax, &;c. which intervene between the earth or 

 soil which lies on the top of the drain and the 

 materials which lie in the water-course, should 

 be placed with a careful hand belore the drains 

 are tilled up, and the drains should be tilled up 

 as soon as possible after they are ready for that 

 operation. 



Covered drains are likewise often made hol- 

 low, and are sometimes arched ; at others regu- 

 larly built with perpendicular sides, and cover- 

 ed with tlat ston,es, but are too well known to 

 need a more particular description. There is 

 a kind of covered drain, which has been adopt- 

 ed in F,nglish husbandry, and may be thus des- 

 crib^^d : A trench is dug of a proper and conve 

 r-icnt width, not less than three feet deep.— 

 When it is dug down to within four or five in 

 ciies of the whole depth designed, shoulders 

 are left on each side, and a kind of groove or 

 channel is cut for the water-course at the bot- 

 tom of the drain, or trench, below those shoul- 

 ders. On the shoulders sods or turfs are Ian! 

 in such a manner as to cover the grooves or 

 water-course which lies below, and at the bot 



lot fill up; ti<7.; no soil is wasted, or render-|tom of Ihe trench. The grass side of the turf 

 useless '■^y them; that a plough may pass I is placed down, and the earth is thrown over 

 ''. Vaem to as great a depth as "is necessary 1 the whole. This kind is made at a small ex- 



covcred drain, and is not only a very cheap 

 mode of consfi uctiiig tlrains, but probably new 

 in this country. 



Another mode of making turf covered drains, 

 still more simple, may be tlius described: Turn 

 up a deep furrow with a strong plough, clear 

 the sod from the earth thus turneil u[i, reiluce 

 it to about three inches in thickness, and then 

 place it in the furrow from whence it was taken. 

 The grassy side being placed uppermost there 

 hollow beneath, sufHciont to discharge a 

 considerable quantity of surlace-water, which 

 readily sinks into it. This mode of draining is 

 used in the sheep farms of the Cheviot hills in 

 England, and is recommended by Sir John Sin- 

 clair. It would not answer, however, in lands 

 exposed to the tread of heavy cattle, as they 

 would be apt to push their feet through a cov- 

 ering of turf of no more than three or four in- 

 ches. Perhaps however in a few years, the 

 venlure would thicken and the sward strength- 

 en over dniins of this kind, so that there would 

 be nothing to apprehend from pasturing the 

 largest animals in fields drained by this method. 

 It is almost too obvious to require any remark 

 that the water ohlainod by draining may be 

 employed to turn radls, or to irrigate lands, S:c. 

 We.have now completed our observations on 

 the different kinds of drains, and the different 

 modes of making them, and shall dismiss the 

 subject with some remarks on the cultivation 

 of drained land. 



l! is not necessary to dwell on the fertility 

 of most drained lands. It is well known that 

 swamjis, marshes, and other low lands are com- 

 monly places of deposit for the lighter and more 

 ,'ortile parts of the soil washed from the neigh- 

 boring hills. IMany marshes are in fact inter- 

 vale land, naturally too wet for prolitable culti- 

 vation. Wet lands, which receive the wash of 

 higher grounds of a tolerable quality, may be 

 expected to be fruitful and worth going to somo 

 considerable expense for draining. A bog how- 

 ever on the top of a hill not overlooked by high 

 ground, we should suspect of barrenness, and 

 would not be at great expense for draining U 

 without examining and analyzing the soil in 

 various parts, and becoming satisfied of its fer- 

 tdify. But a drained marsh, which by the help 

 of a sluice and gate, can be flooded at the option 

 of the owner, with water which has washed the 

 neighboring uplands, may be considered as in- 

 exhaustible, and perhaps had better be appro- 

 priated to the raising of hemp. That plant re- 

 quires such strong land to produce it that it 

 would need all our m:mure to raise it in great 

 quantities on common upland. II the land is 

 rich, not very dry, or water can be set back in 

 the ditches in a dry time to within three or four 

 feet of the surface, it will be quite an object to 

 introduce Fowl Meadow (Agrostis stncta.) The 

 value of this grass is too well known to need 

 eulogy. Once introduced in land to which it is 

 adapted, it will remain good for a great length 

 of time, and generally yields from three to four 

 lon^ to an acre of the best of hay. And this 

 great and valuable product is yielded without 



