FARMERS' REGISTER— ATMOSPHERIC INFLUENCE, &c. 



835 



todescribe particularly, whatevery one is acquaint- 

 ed Avilh. Different persons use different levels, 

 though this I think the most convenient. To be 

 certain that your level is correct, take a plank and 

 adjust it so, that the plumb line falls in the centre: 

 if on reversing the level, or turning it, it still fails 

 on the centre, your level is true and may be depend- 

 ed on. I will here state that your trenches should 

 have a fall of about f inch in 12 feet, or the span 

 of the level. Some persons prefer more fall, in 

 order to prevent the trenches from filling up; but 

 it is a great mistake, as ceteris paribus, the more 

 fall, the more apt they are to fill up. Where there 

 is much fall, the dirt is carried away, and where it 

 comes to a place where there is less, it will of 

 course be deposited and fill up the trench. It is 

 then the accuracy of levelling, and not the quanti- 

 ty of fall, which prevents the filling up. To prove 

 this, a spade ditch, running down a steep hill, where 

 there are inequalities of descent, will fill up. Three 

 fourths of an inch may, therefore, be considered a 

 very ample fall in 12 feet. Having made your 

 rafter level, and adjusted in your mind the neces- 

 sary fall you should have, you are ready to pro- 

 ceed to lay off your trenches. 



Your hill side for instance, is somewhat steep, 

 and measures 100 yards from the top to the bottom, 

 with a valley running up on each side. About 30 

 yards from the top, equidistant from the drains on 

 each side, you take a station — commencing there 

 with the level, you lay off a trench (with the ne- 

 cessary fall) to the drain on the right, making 

 marks with the foot, or in some other way, as you 

 go along. You then return to the jjoint from which 

 you started, and proceed to the drain on the left. 

 The water is then let off in different directions — thus 

 avoiding the great accumulation of water v/hich 

 would take place in one long trench. You then 

 pass down the hill 30 yards farther, and lay off 

 another trench in the same manner — and so on for 

 the third. Where you have to go a long distance 

 to get a bottom to empty the water, it might be in 

 some instances adviseable to make a straight spade 

 ditch 3 feet by 2, right down the hill to receive the 

 water of all the trenches making into it. You 

 need not be afraid of a gully. Gullies are formed 

 by the pouring in of water down the sides ; and the 

 trenches avoid this. The natural tendency to fill 

 up, will pretty nearly counteract the effect of 

 aiarasion at bottom. 



Having laid off the trenches, the next step is to 

 make them, and which is done in the following 

 simple manner. The leveller having previously 

 marked the line of the trench, walks upon it, with 

 an accurate ploughman with his plough following 

 him, making a furrow where the trench is to run. 

 Three furrows should then he run below, with a 

 large dagon plough, the mould board on the upper 

 side, and 4 above, with the mould board on the 

 lower side — they should then be opened with hoes, 

 drawing the dirt of the 4 furrows on the three be- 

 low, which makes a good solid embankment, with 

 a trench about 3 feet wide at bottom. This work is 

 done with great ease and despatch — one hand being- 

 able to accomplish in a day 200 yards. It may be 

 as well, however, to observe here, that some very 

 judicious men, (among the rest, Mr. Skipwitli,) 

 are in the habit of making their trenches with the 

 spade 3 fieet broad and 2 deep. This, however, in- 

 creases the labor four-fold, and is, I think, of no 

 real advantage. The difficulty of passing them 



with wagons and carts, is a serious evil. You have 

 bridges to build, in order to cart your corn and small 

 grain over them, which would require a quantity 

 of labor, that few farmers could afford to bestow. 

 I must repeat to you, that every thing depends on 

 correct levelling. 



This system of correct trenching, will be of in- 

 calculable value to those who cultivate broken 

 lands, and this class must embrace a large portion 

 of the farmers of V^irginia. Three years ago, there 

 were scarcely as many persons who practised the 

 system in this county. All the prejudices against 

 innovation were excited against it. It was affirm- 

 ed by some, that it wasted too much land : but 

 what is the loss of 1 or 2 corn rows on a hill 

 side, compared with the total waste of soil, which 

 is caused by a few years of cultivation. Others 

 object, that it makes gullies. This is the effect of 

 bad levelling — but I can affirm, that most of the 

 trenches I have ever seen or made, were better 

 than none ; if one gully was produced, a dozen were 

 stopped. These prejudices have now pretty well 

 subsided — and our best cultivators, satisfied of the 

 great benefits of trenching, have very generally 

 adopted the system. 



JAMES C. BRUCE. 



Halifax, Sept. 20th, 1833. 



We believe that the foregoing letter will not re- 

 quire any editorial recommendation or comment, 

 to command the attention which- the subject so 

 well deserves. But as the practice described by 

 Mr. Bruce, has scarcely been heard of on the 

 broken lands of the tidewater district, where it 

 may be so beneficially introduced, we will venture 

 to offer our opinion in favor of horizontal ditching, 

 though it will be useless, if not obtrusive, to all 

 who have more experience on this subject. 



Proceeding upon very imperfect verbal infor- 

 mation (then recently obtained) as to the manner 

 and the benefits of this operation, we tried a ditch 

 of some 500 yards in length, on a slope cultivated 

 this year in corn, which had been very much wash- 

 ed and gullied by heavy rains under former tillage. 

 The repeated heavy rains during the summer, tried 

 well, and established satisfactorily the efficacy of 

 the plan. The labor of making the ditch with the 

 plough was inconsiderable — it caused but little in- 

 convenience in the subsequent tillage — and the 

 plan effected all the benefit which has been pro- 

 mised, but not obtained, from the difficult and in- 

 convenient horizontal ploughing for corn, in beds 

 and water furrows. 



The damage caused to all our broken lands by 

 the washing away of the soil by rains, has been 

 much greater than all the exhaustion by the 

 growth of crops : and to arrest this agent of de- 

 struction, even at this late period, will be of incal- 

 culable benefit to our country. 



