i!) 





Agriculture is the most Healthy and Honorable, as it is the most Natural and Useful pursuit of Man. 



VOL. XIT. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y. — JUNE, 1851. 



NO. 6. 



UNDBE-DHAINAG^E AND LIMSINS. 



"UNDER-DRAmAGE," says Mr. PusEY, " has been used 

 in England since liie great rebellion, as Lord Bkay- 

 BROOKE has shown, and it received a new impetus from 

 the late Mr. Smith, who coupled it with subsoil 

 plowing." By private enterprise, about 600,000 acres 

 in the great Level ot the Fens have been draine^l, 

 although below high-water mark. The water is 

 wholly pumped out by steam power and windmills. 

 To avoid this expense and obtain a natural fall of 

 1 1 feet in 30 miles, the Fen men have just paid £1 50,-- 

 000 (!$750,000) and "have agreed to contribute £60,- 

 000 more towards new works in the Wash," merely 

 for the benefit which will arise to their drainage. 



Fortunately there is much less occasion to drain 

 land in this country than in England, but even here, 

 the necessity really exists in millions of acres. Tiles 

 which formerly cost 90s. yer 1000 feet, ?. e. 60,«. for 

 tile and 30s. for soles, can now be wholly dispensed 

 with, and pipe of 1^ inch aperture substituted, which 

 costs but one-sixth of the money, or I5.<r. per 1000 

 feet. A kiln for burning tile or pipe, on the cheapest 

 plan, costs but £5, or $25. It has been tried by Mr. 

 Hodges, the inventor, six years, and answer* every 

 purpose. ]n estimating the expense of draining, Mr. 

 Parkbs remarks : " The fact is that we have been 

 too systematic in draining, especially when the work 

 is begun upon a grand scale. The source of econo- 

 my now must be in the maxim, that one drain ivell 

 laid to suit the circumstances, icill often save a dozen 

 by I'ule." There is great force in the above obser- 

 vation, for many fields require but one, two, or three 

 well-laid drains in the proper places, instead of cov- 

 ering the whole area with one in 25 or 30 feet. Ex- 

 perience has taught this important lesson in Englan 1, 

 that a soil may be over-drained. It is about equally 

 injurious to crops to have too little or too much wa- 

 ter in the earth where they grow. A good practical 

 farmer is seldom at a loss to decide whether any pan 

 of arable meadow or pasture land is too wet for the 

 production of wheat and clover. If the ground is too 

 moist for these erops to do well, timothy and most 

 other English grasses will not yield sweet and nutri- 

 tious food. 



Much has been written on the subject' of the 

 depth of drains ; some contend that four feet is shal- 

 low enough under any circumstances, while others 

 are content with drains only 30 or 36 inches below 

 the surface. Few farmers have gone below three 

 feet in making drains in the United States, and this 



depth seems to answer every useful purpose. Horse 

 power is often applied to the excavation of ditches 

 preparatory to putting down either tile or pipe. The 

 latter is so much cheaper, and withal less liable to 

 get stopped up, that pipes, and collars at the joints, 

 are taking the preference and seem likely to drive 

 horseshoe tile out of use. The collars are intended 

 simply to protect the joints of the clay pipe, and are 

 somewhat larger than the pipe which they surround, 

 so that water can run in freely at each joint to fill 

 the conduit. Before the earth is thrown in upon 

 either pipe or tile, straw, or inverted turf, is spread 

 over it to keep the soil from settling compactly around 

 the apertures into the pipe or tile. Some use horse- 

 shoe tile without a sole or bed-piece, but the pressure 

 ot the earth t>om the superincumbent weight is apt 

 to force up the clay into the concave tile, and com- 

 pletely stop the drain. The deeper the drain, the 

 greater is the danger of this result. 



John Delafielo, Esq., 'he distinguished Presi- 

 dent of the N. Y. State Society, has the honor of be- 

 ing the first to import a Tile-Making Machine into 

 this country, which, we are happy to say, has an- 

 swered every expectation and served as a model for 

 the manufacture of many others, with such improve- 

 ments as American skill has been able to suggest. 



In regard to the cost per rod of making a ditch, 

 buying and putting down either tile or pipe, in the 

 best manner, we are not sufficiently informed to ex- 

 press our opinion. Some gentleman in Seneca, Cay- 

 uga, or any other count}', who has had experience in 

 the operations named, will oblige us by communica- 

 ting the results of the same for the Farmer. 



LiMEiNG, as well as draining, has been more prac- 

 ticed in England and Scotland than in any other 

 country. Without some lime in a soil, no crop can 

 grow ; and there are, comparatively speaking, but 

 few districts in the United States where there is as 

 much calcareous matter in the earth as is desirable. 

 There is, however, an essential difference in the ac- 

 tion of fine limestone naturally in the soil, and caustic, 

 recently burnt lime applied by the hand of man. The 

 latter acts powerfully on all organized substances 

 and organic acids, and thereby sweetens sour soils. 

 It also more readily decomposes salts of iroii, alumina, 

 and other minerals, and forms bone earth, or phos- 

 phate of lime, gypsum, or sulphate of lime, the chlo- 

 ride of lime, and other valuable fertilizers. We were 

 on the beautiful farm of Mr. Patterson, near Balti- 

 more, not long since, which has been dressed with 

 lime at an expense of some $40,000. Mr, P. inform- 





