276 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



niARCH 1, IS43. 



for a few years. But the lowland, sour grasses 

 and coarse herbage, thongli checked in their growth 

 for a season, are by no means exterminated, and 

 will, in due time, make their appearance, and flonr- 

 ish with a vigor inereased by the very means which 

 have been used to destroy them. Like all ineffeo- 

 tual attempts to overcome haunts of vice, they 

 Forve only to weaken the power of resistance, and 

 the unsubdued prosperity, flushed with the pride 

 of victory, returns to the attack with redoubled 

 force. The plan now generally pursued by our 

 best farmers, after thorough and perfect draining, 

 is to cultivate the surface a year or two with some 

 hoed crop, by which every species of the natural 

 grasses may be eradicated, and then, at the time 

 of sowing the grass seed, to top dress with com- 

 post made of stable manure mi.xed with a portion 

 of loam or subsoil. By this means, the softest 

 meadows will in a few years become sufficiently 

 firm to allow loaded teams to pass over them with- 

 out injury. This course, it is believed, will be 

 found to be more economical than graveling. Be- 

 sides, the labor and expanse of plowing or turning 

 over with the bog hoe, which must be ultimately 

 resorted to, incase of graveling, will be found to 

 be much greater and more difficult after graveling 

 than before. 



Mr Morgan says he first cut a ditch around the 

 border of his meadow. This is well. But he has 

 omitted to state whether this is an open or covered 

 drain. Our agricultural ancestors had strong ob- 

 jections to ditchings their low meadows — particu- 

 larly to cutting ditches near the borders of the up- 

 land — for the alleged reason, that these open 

 drains received and conducted off into the brooks 

 and rivers, the enriching matter which is occasion- 

 ally brought down by washing rains from the sur- 

 rounding uplands. This argument against drain- 

 ing, it must be allowed, is not without some weight, 

 especially where meadows are surrounded by rich 

 and extensive uplands that are liable to bo washed 

 by heavy rains. This objection is at once obvia- 

 ted by substituting covered for open drains. Cov- 

 ered drains are quite as effectual as open ones, in 

 intercepting the cold springs that flow in from the 

 uplands, (which are the great source of injury to 

 the low grounds,) while the fertilizing matters, 

 which are washed from the uplands, are deposited 

 and allowed to remain upon the surface of the 

 meadow. These covered drains, if rightly con- 

 structed, will not be liable to become choaked. 



A few hints upon the location and construction 

 of covered drains, may not be useless. After cut- 

 ting an open ditch through the centre of the mea- 

 dow, the drain intended to be covered, should be 

 opened parallel with the line of the upland, and as 

 near to it as the effects of a redundancy of water 

 may be perceived. This should be dug quite three 

 feet deep, where it is intended ever to use the 

 plow, and two feet in width. Common stones 

 from the field, as near eight inches in width and 

 thickness, as may be, are then placed at the bot- 

 tom of the drain, on each side, and these covered 

 with slate or common flat stones from the field, 

 thus leaving an open space for the passage of the 

 water, of about eight inches square. Over these 

 is to be placed a layer of small stones, from eight 

 inches to a foot in thickness ; then a covering of 

 tough sods from the meadow, grass side down, or 

 a layer of coarse hay, straw, shavings, or fine brush, 

 to prevent the dirt from working into the drain 

 before the covering of earth becomes settled, and 

 the whole to be covered and leveled off with the 



earth taken from the drain. From this, side drain 

 to the centre open ditch ; cross-covered drains are 

 then to be made, at such distances apart as the 

 state of the land and quaniity of water to be car- 

 ried off, may require. The meadow is now put in 

 a condition to be drained, and after remaining a 

 year or two to settle, operations may be commenc- 

 ed, in such way as the farmer's judgment may dic- 

 tate. 



There is a species of soil existing in greater or 

 less portions upon almost every farm, which would 

 be particularly benefited by under-ground draining. 

 This is a kind of land situated at the foot of high 

 lands on one or two sides — not peat or swamp 

 land, but having a thin vegetable mould on the 

 surface, and a hard pan of gravelly clay beneath. 

 These are supplied with a redundancy of water, 

 which, in the early part of the season breaks from 

 springs fed by the highlands, and remains upon it 

 till near midsummer, when it bakes and becomes 

 hard, producing nothing but a small crop of worth- 

 less sour grass. Such lands are neither fit for 

 grazing, mowing or tillage. Plowing and manur- 

 ing, to any extent, are of no avail, till the redun- 

 dant waters are taken off. This species of land 

 would derive peculiar benefit from covered drains 

 at the border, and by the aid of the subsoil plow, 

 (that wonderful improver of all soils,) to break up 

 the hard pan beneath the surface, it may be made 

 exceedingly productive, and, in most cases, much 

 more valuable than peat or swamp lands. 



Taking into view the great improvements made 

 by Mr Morgan, his spacious barns and sheds, stor- 

 ed with hay and grain, his ample means for making 

 and saving manure, and judicious mode of applying 

 it, his numerous acres of renovated ground, clothed 

 with luxuriant crops, and his eight hundred rods of 

 stone wall, and all brought about in the short space 

 of three years, the committee have no hesitation 

 in recommending that the first premium of Ttvo 

 Hundred Dollars, be awarded to Mr Morgan for 

 the best cultivated farm. 



The claims of Mr Elias J. Werden, of Richmond, 

 and Mr Ebenezer Richardson, of Pcpperell, were 

 considered so nearly balanced, that your committee 

 having doubts to which the preference should be 

 given, concluded to recommend that the second 

 and third premiums offered, be divided between 

 them. Both have strong claims, on the score of 

 economy in the management of their respective 

 farms, and both merit equal praise for their enter- 

 prise and great personal industry. In irrigating 

 his grass lands, Mr Werden has given an example 

 of the beneficial effects of this much neglected 

 means of increasing the crop of hay, and worthy 

 the notice of farmers. Much has been done in 

 other countries in redeeming vast tracts of unpro- 

 ductive and worthless land from a state of utter 

 barrenness to great fertility, by no other means 

 than the use of water. As much may, no doubt, 

 be done in this country, if our farmers would but 

 engage earnestly in the business. Not a stream 

 that winds its way among our hills and valleys, but 

 what may be made, in a greater or less degree, to 

 increase the product of our farms. How many of 

 these sources of fertility arc suffered to pass by, 

 with as little benefit to our lands as the winds that 

 blow over them, leaving nothing on their way, but 

 often allowed to carry off much of the natural 

 richness of the soil. Besides these, many of our 

 farms have small ponds or reservoirs of water, 

 which overflow in the spring of the year, and may 



be made to contribute greatly to increase the crop 

 of grass. 



It requires but little skill, and very little ex- 

 pense, to avail ourselves of this means of fertility. 

 With no instrument but his own eye, the farmer 

 may judge with almost unerring certainly, how to 

 conduct the water upon his ground with the great- 

 est advantage. An important principle to be known 

 in irrigation, is the necessity of keeping the water 

 constantly moving. That it will be useful only on 

 declivities, where its movement will be subject to 

 no interruption. Whenever motion ceases, injuri- 

 ous effects will commence. Stagnant water, on 

 grounds however elevated, will invariably destroy 

 the better kind of grasses and introduce the worst; 

 as soon, therefore, as it reaches the foot of the de- 

 clivity, it should be collected in drains and carried 

 oft'. Artificial dams may be constructed, when it 

 is necessary to raise a head of water sufficiently 



high to draw it off upon the adjacent grounds or 



a wind power may be used to pump water into re- 

 servoirs. 



While Mr Werden has given us a good practi- 

 cal lesson upon irrigation, Mr Richardson has giv. 

 on one equally valuable upon reclaiming swamps 

 and low grounds. His plan is one which is most 

 generally approved. In the first place, he drains 

 perfectly, and then with the bog-hoe thoroughly k 

 eradicates all the coarse herbage and wild grosses. [ 

 We highly approve his plan of mixing a small ij 

 quantity of loam with the top soil of his meadows i 

 before laying to grass. In all peaty soils there is 

 a deficiency of silicious and mineral matters. The 

 silicates contained in those substances are dissolv 

 ed and taken up by the roots of the grass, and 

 give strength, firmness and nutrition to the grow, 

 ing crop. Hence the necessity of applying a 

 small portion of loam or subsoil, not for the pur- 

 pose of burying the meadow, but to give strength 

 to the plants. These are best applied, we think 

 by mixing them with the compost that is used fo 

 a top-dressing at the time of sowing grain or graai 

 seed. 



That both of these gentlemen have some do 

 fects in their system of managing their farms, the 

 will no doubt readily admit. They are both with 

 out cellars under their barns, to receive the ma 

 nure from the stables. This is a great oversigh' 

 No farmer should be without this useful and eco 

 nomical appendage to good husbandry. StabI 

 manure must be subject to great loss by exposur 

 to the winds, frosts and rains of winter. 



There is, however, a good degree of skill an>fii 

 great industry and economy, evinced by both t 

 these claimants, and your committee take pleasurljm, 

 in recommending that to each of them be awardc 

 the sum of ,f 12.5 — being together the amount 

 the second and third premiums. 



Mr Abbot, of Westford, is entitled to much prais « 

 for his enterprise and energetic labors in subduinS: 

 and renovating his rough grounds, as well as i» 

 draining and reclaiming his peat meadows — llioug- 

 we cannot entirely approve his plan of covering hf- .. 

 meadows, nor of the material used for the purpofff'ir, s, 

 We never can be made to believe in the expedielP-i;. 

 cy of covering the best soil with the poorest, wWttiJn 

 a view of increasing its fertility. Mr Abbot hB'tfij, 

 however, given a very useful example in the i\ 



iJcj 



portant science of draining. He has began a gi 



work. His labor and expenditure in making t 'i' fore 



rough places smooth, have been, we have no doiil Held 



judiciously bestowed, and will in due time yM HitjU 



