730 



FARMERS' REGISTER— RETAINING RAIN WATER, &c. 



presentment was however qimslicd from error in 

 wording it. His grandson, the present owner, de- 

 termined to make a spirited effort to succeed hy 

 improving tlie ditches, and erecting a splash wiieel. 

 The attempt to present was reiterated, hut failed, hy 

 nearly an unanimous vote of the grand jury. An 

 injunction was tiien obtained of the judge, to stay all 

 the proprietor's proceedings; and thus it remains. 

 The plea of its opponents, is, that the malaria 

 thence arising, causes unhealthiness to the neigh- 

 bors. The cutting down of forests, and reclaiming 

 of sunken land, I have been taught to believe, 

 would ab.vays make a country more healthy ; and 

 Sir John Sinclair, I am pleased to see, is.ai) able 

 advocate of this doctrine. The question at issue, 

 is, can a farmer drain swamps, or reclaim marshes 

 by dikes.'' And I deem it worthy of the attention 

 of our legislature. The enclosing system, even 

 clover raising, or any other improvement, causing 

 an increased growth of vegetal de matter, may 

 hereafter meet with similar opposition. Few of 

 our farmers will attempt to reclaim marshes, if 

 liable to presentments, or injunctions, more espe- 

 cially as ! am told, injunctions may be perpetuated. 

 Has a judge the right thus to interpose in the 

 management of j)rivate properly.? If he has, the 

 value of the tide water lands in Virginia, will cer- 

 tainly be mucli impaired, and it is time to have a 

 fixed rule, in lieu of the opinion of a judge or jury, 

 both of whom may change their opinions at will. 



VIATOR. 



3Iarch 1st, 1834. 



ON RETAINING RAIN WATER ON HILL SIDES, 

 AND PREVENTING ITS ACCUMULATION, AND 

 WASHING THE LAND. 



To the Editor of the Faniici-s' Register. 



Not long since, while reading an account of the 

 life and labors of a pious minister of the gospel, 

 whose lot was cast among a people, who })rocured 

 a precarious subsistence, at the expense of severe 

 exertion, and who had been driven by persecution, 

 to an almost inaccessible location, near tiie summit 

 of, perhaps, the Alps or Pyrenees, 1 was forcibly 

 impressed with a sentinient advanced by the ex- 

 cellent pastor, to induce his flock to exert their 

 energy and enterprize, in order to obtain a better 

 provision, and thereby enable (hem to devote more 

 time to their spiritual welfiire. They were ex- 

 tremely poor, sometimes suffering for the necessa- 

 ries of life. I3ut notwithstanding their extreme 

 poverty, resembling the more enlightened, hut 

 less pious professors of the present day, they were 

 exceedingly fearful of, and averse to a change or 

 innovation, either in their spiritual or temporal 

 concerns — and they ignorantly opposed the plans 

 of their benevolent pastor for fheir welfare. He, 

 however, finally dissipated their prejudices, an(l 

 improved their condition by his jjersevering endea- 

 vors. The sentiment which operated on the moun- 

 taineers, and which attracted my attention in sub- 

 stance, was this — that it was a sinful v.aste of the 

 gifts of a bountiful Creator, to suffer the streams 

 and rivulets to pass away into the sea, and by our 

 negligence or want of energy, to lose the benefits 

 which might be derived trom tlrem by irrigation. 

 Favorable circumstances caused the remark to be 

 profitable to me. Excited l)y it, and an account 

 of the impro^ cment caused by a laborious scheme 

 of irrigation carried into effect; by the advice and 



assistance of the pastor, I irrigated a small mea- 

 dow of about five acres, from which 1 secured by 

 estimation, from twelve to fifieen tons of hay. In 

 the piosccution of the watering scheme tor the 

 present crop, it occurred to me, that it was possible 

 in some measure to obtain tiie advantages of irri- 

 gation on our ujdands — particularly to the corn 

 crop, which needs it most. On consideration, I 

 arrived at the following conclusion; that although 

 we cannot justify the expensive operation of con- 

 ducting our streams, even wlien practicable, on our 

 uplands, we yet may obtain some of the benefits of 

 irrigation, coud)ined with other advantages, by the 

 following expedient. In the last working, on the 

 bedding plan, dams should be made across the 

 water furrow, at the distance often or fifteen yards, 

 in order to retain the water and prevent its accu- 

 mulation to a single point, which is the cause of its 

 l)reaking over the beds, and washing the land. 

 For illustration, say the corn row, or bed, is one 

 hundred yards long. If, from bad levelling, there 

 is ten inches fidl, (and there is commonly more,) 

 the dams at ten yards, will reduce the fall to one 

 mch,and the water will be equally dislril.uied the 

 whole length of the row ; and consequently, it will 

 take ten times tlio quantity of water to breakover, 

 with, as it would without the dams. I am fully 

 convinced that the retention of the water, on al- 

 most all ui)land, will doubly rei»ay for the labor 

 of making the dams, besides effectually preventing 

 all v.ashing. In this prescription, the remedy is 

 applied to the cause of the disease, or rather as a 

 preventive medicine — to prevent accumulation, 

 whicli is the cause of washing — and retain and dis- 

 tribute the rain water, for the nourishment of the 

 crop. I have extended the operation to my oat 

 crop. The work appears well. The labor is 

 trifling. We performed (he work on all the land 

 subject to wash, with one-fourth of the field hands 

 in one day. The ingenuity of our fiirmers and 

 planters has been exercised, and various plans sug- 

 gested, to carry off the water. Hill side conductors, 

 beds, and various other plans are used to prevent 

 washing. I would ask, why conduct tlie water off at 

 all.? why not retain it all in the lieds; for the dou- 

 ble purpose of preventing washing, and answering 

 in some measure the pui'pose of irrigation.' I 

 liave cultivated corn on the bedding plan, for fifteen 

 years, and have never seen it suffer from too much 

 water, after the last working. But on the contrary, 

 (he crop has always been curtailed, and sometimes 

 almost destroyed, by the want of it. Then surely, 

 the great object should be to retain, and not carry 

 off the water. If the plan succeeds, it must prove 

 a great improver, as the dams in the oat-land will 

 remain to benefit the succeeding clover, or other 

 grass crop. I only ask a trial before condenmation : 

 and if this should (ail, perhaps it may be the means 

 of eliciting something good, from some more suc- 

 cessful and scientific fiirmer than myself 



AGRICOLA. 



LIME WATER FOR DESTROYING W^ORMS. 



Frnm the Scotsman. 



The use of lime water for destroying worms 

 was lately discovered, in a garden near Edinburgh, 

 by the overflowing of a brook strongly impregna- 

 ted with alkali fiom the refuse lime of the gas- 

 works. WMierever the soil of the garden was 

 reached by this water, it threw up myriads of 

 worms, which never returned again to their lioles. 



