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tended in an almost straight line, but slightly to one side of 

 the centre of the piece, and continued into a swamp beyond. 

 When this prolongation of the ditch was originally dug, it un- 

 doubtedly did all the work of conveying the water away from 

 the land, and had the original shape and size of the ditch been 

 permanently pz-eserved, its usefulness would undoubtedly have 

 continued for many years, requiring only an occasional scrap- 

 ing out of its bottom ; but simply being an open ditch, running 

 through soft, deep, black mud, without either stone or wooden 

 sides, the inevitable result has been that the ditch is beginning 

 to fill up, and if not soon again entirely dug out the whole piece 

 of land that was entered with us this year and reclaimed by an 

 expenditure of much time and hard labor must by degrees, and 

 comparatively quickly, revert nearly to its original swampy con- 

 dition, and we noticed that a growth of poor grass had already 

 begun to show itself there. Any one who has a muck meadow, 

 from which he has dug mud for fertilizing purposes, knows 

 that, in a few years, those deep trenches become considerably 

 filled up by the subsoil of the adjacent land, and the conse- 

 quent settling of the neighboring surface. 



Had Mr. Horton put board or stone sides to his ditch when 

 he first dug it, (or better a line of good tile) his original work 

 would have all remained for many years to remind him of the 

 thoroughness of what he had done. 



Your committee would praise the attempt made by Mr. Hor- 

 ton to advance the condition and increase the productiveness 

 of his land, and have to thank him for polite attention to them 

 at the time of their visit, but, understanding that it is the in- 

 tention of the Society, in offering such premiums as we had 

 placed in our charge, to award them to competitors whose en- 

 tries are so complete that they can be held up as examples that 

 the society can recommend for others to copy and follow in de- 

 tail, they find that they are unable to recommend an award in 

 this case. It appears that Mr. Horton has received already in 

 1875, 1876 and 1877, first premiums each year for similar en- 

 tries and experiments, and your committee, after making their 



