UNDERDRAINING. 153 



would come in and tlie crop would be very small and of a very- 

 poor quality. 



The first ditch was cut three feet wide at the top, and two 

 feet wide at the bottom. It is two and one-half feet deep and 

 thirty rods long. In order to carry the water from this ditch, I 

 cut a drain forty-five rods long. This drain had to be cut through 

 a small elevation of land, and then came to the low land. The 

 drain continued through the low land to an outlet. The drains 

 are stoned, by placing stones on the sides of the ditch and then 

 covering them with as suitable stones as we could find from the 

 loads drawn there. On the covers we threw small stones, and 

 after having strewed meadow hay over these stones, to prevent 

 the dirt from going through the crevices, we threw in as much 

 of the original soil as we could. 



The next year another drain was cut, and stoned as above. 

 These ditches have taken the water from the land, so that I have 

 been able to cultivate the land to much better advantage than 

 before, and consequently have obtained large crops of hay of the 

 very best quality. 



I now come to land which for many years past has been so 

 covered with water as to render it almost impossible to cultivate 

 it. The crop consisted of wild grass and brakes, which of course 

 were of small value. 



Three years ago I ploughed the land in August, in a very dry 

 season, but the two following seasons it was not dry enough to 

 plant any kind of seed. Last year I commenced cutting ditches 

 through it, and fortunately there is fall enough to enable the 

 drains to carry off the water. These ditches are dug two and a 

 half feet deep, through the soil and subsoil, and about eight 

 inches into a hard pan or clayey substance, through which the 

 water could not penetrate, and consequently has stood upon the 

 surface of the ground, hitherto baffling all my attempts at 

 cultivation. 



Ditches one, two, three, and four, empty into the receiving 

 ditch which has an outlet at both ends. This year I have been 

 able to work it, and have laid it down to grass. The crop of bar- 

 ley which I cut from the land this season, was not large, as it was 

 sown late, but the clover and grass looked remarkably well. 

 The stones were all picked off, and the land rolled very smooth, 



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