296 THE COMPLETE FARMER 



a night or two in the dew, after it is cut, and the beards will 

 come oft^the more easily. 



DRAINS used in farming are of two kinds, open and 

 covered. Drains should be of a size and depth proportioned 

 to the extent of the swamp and the probable quantity of 

 water for which they are designed to be channels. They 

 should generally be carried through the lowest and wettest 

 part of the soil, although it should be necessary, iii order to 

 effect that purpose, to deviate from straight lines. Open 

 drains sometimes answer the double purpose of conveying off 

 superfluous water and of inclosing fields ; but they make a 

 hazardous and inconvenient fence without the addition of a 

 bank, hedge, or railing. The Farmer's Assistant says, 

 * When a ditch is made for a fence, it ought to be four feet 

 wide at the top, one or less at the bottom, and about two 

 and a half deep ; with the earth all thrown out on one side, 

 and banked up as high as possible.' Sir John Sinclair states, 

 that ' it is a general rule regarding open drains, with a view 

 of giving sufficient slope and stability to their sides, that the 

 width at top should be three times as much as that which is 

 necessary at the bottom, and in the case of peat-mosses or 

 soft soils, it should be such as to allow the water to run off 

 without stagnation, but not with so rapid a motion as to 

 injure the bottom.' 



But before you attempt to drain a piece of land, it will be 

 well not only to calculate the cost, but to ascertain the nature 

 of the soil which it is proposed to render fit for cultivation. 

 If the subsoil or under layer be clay, the swamp may be 

 worth draining, though there should be no more than six 

 inches of black soil or mud over it, for the clay and the mud 

 mixed will make a fertile soil. But if the subsoil or under 

 stratum be gravel or white sand, it will not, in common cases, 

 be best to undertake draining, unless the depth of black mud 

 be as much as from fifteen or eighteen inches deep ; for the 

 soil will settle after draining, and be less deep than it was 

 before. But the situation of the land to be drained may 

 authorize some variation from these general rules. 



The manner of draining a swamp is as follows : Beginning 

 at the outlet, pass a large ditch through it, so as mostly to 

 cut the lowest parts. Then make another ditch quite round 

 it, near to the border, to cut ofT the springs which come from 



