116 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



are now returning to our first love. Men of all pursuits and 

 professions seldom find a resting-place, mentally or physically, 

 till they own more or less of terra fir ma ; and we envy not 

 the person who does not enjoy improving and embellishing it. 



Trench Spading. — The cultivator who makes no other extra, 

 and, to him, useless outlay, will find his reward with many gar- 

 den crops in what may be called double or trench spading. 

 We do it thus: Spade a cut in the usual way; then step into 

 the excavation at one end and work backwards, spading of 

 course at the bottom of the first cut, throwing the earth on 

 top of that first turned up, or leaving it in the trench. "We 

 prefer the former ; for, as the reader is already aware, we like 

 some poor soil at the surface. The next regular cut will then 

 fall at the bottom of this spaded trench. Twice the time is 

 required to spade in this manner, but double the crop will fol- 

 low in a dry season. Corn planted the past year on land so 

 prepared, and previously well manured, showed no signs of the 

 excessive drought, while our neighbor's crop was almost worth- 

 less. We might add, however, that this same land was subsoil 

 ploughed two years before. 



Draining. — For wet, clayey, and extensive fields, intended 

 for grass or annual crops, under-ground draining and one 

 thorough subsoil ploughing will be found the proper treat- 

 ment, and somewhat less expensive than trenching. We have 

 had experience in less than two acres, drained witli brush 

 from the orchard and stones accumulated in trenching, and are 

 getting quite in love with the operation. We have five acres 

 of clayey land not yielding a ton of hay to the acre, but are 

 bound to have at least treble the quantity. There are two 

 ways for the farmer to calculate expense — that of doing, and 

 the virtual loss by not doing. A few years' profits would have 

 paid for draining this whole field; but want of time and tiles 

 have delayed it. 



Drain tiles cannot, at present, be procured nearer than Al- 

 bany, but will soon be manufactured in this State, when we 

 trust our New England agriculturists will use them extensively. 

 There is ample evidence of their utility in England and in New 

 York. We dig the drains three and a half feet deep and 

 twenty-five feet apart. Owing to the dry season the clay bot- 



