41 



permanent, especially if the sides are sloped, as they should be, at 

 an angle of about forty-five degrees. 



My stone and tile drains all Avork perfectly, and I have been 

 able to raise fair crops of peas, potatoes and carrots on land that 

 formerly produced but coarse grass and skunk-cabbage. I prefer 

 drains three feet deep and two rods apart, where 1 have a suffi- 

 cient fall to take ofi" the water, but on most of my land I have 

 been able to get but from fifteen to twenty inches depth, and have, 

 in consequence, placed the drains twenty-five feet apart. Twenty- 

 four rods of these drains have been placed along the lower side of 

 uplands, and from one to two rods from the meadow at its base, 

 and just above that point, so often seen in such lands, where the 

 water oozes for two or three months in spring. This strip of land, 

 being cold and springy, producing naturally alders and water- 

 bushes, is rendered as dry as that more elevated, and springs 

 which kept the meadow below wet, being cut oif and conducted in 

 another direction, leaves the meadow comparatively dry, — so much 

 so, that on a portion of it I have this year raised a better crop of 

 potatoes than on the upland adjoining. 



I have found no difficulty Avith any of these drains, or with 

 similar drains laid six years ago, except in two or three of the 

 latter, that, through inattention, I suffered to become obstructed 

 at the outlet. I prefer the tile drain to all others, and where I 

 have plenty of small stones at hand, I have used them to fill in 

 about the tile rather than to use them for a drain, as the extra 

 time it takes to lay a perfect stone drain will about pay for the 

 tiles, which can be laid quite rapidly. 



H. L. Stone. 



Grantvilkj Nov. 7, 1862. 



STATEMENT OF W. T. G. MORTON. 



Gentlemen, — The land I have been underdraining consists of 

 a strip of meadow and swail, and mostly level. The natural fall 

 was not sufficient to carry away the water quick enough. Per- 

 ceiving this at the time of purchasing the farm, nearly twenty 

 years ago, I bargained with the owner of the lands adjoining (who 

 happened to be the same party I bought of,) for right to lower 

 the brook to a depth that would drain these lands. As the ad- 

 joining farm through which I wished to lower the original stream 

 was on the opposite side of the town road, I also had to negotiate 

 with the town to take up the old bridge, and sink the bed of the 

 brook under the bridge on a level with the stream which it emptied 

 into it. The rest of the brook from there to the outlet Avas sunk 

 to correspond. This outlet empties into Charles River. A main 

 drain and sub-drain were then located, running through the loAvest 



