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underdraining has paid me better than any other invest- 

 ment; failures occur everywhere, but they generally come 

 through carelessness or neglect. 



There is a large meadow in full view from the windows 

 where I write, which was forty years ago in the best state 

 of cultivation. Large crops of English grass, grain and 

 vegetables were every year grown upon it. It was 

 drained in the lowest place, through its entire length, by 

 a large deep ditch, perhaps five feet wide and four deep. 

 The land on either side of this large ditch, was ploughed 

 up into beds, with sufficient drains between them, to 

 take the surface water rapidly away. In process of time 

 the main ditch became clogged ; willow roots were allowed 

 to penetrate and interlace, till the ditch became entirely 

 filled, and is now grown up to hassocks and bushes, 

 Foi'ty acres of this once valuable land is now used for a 

 pasture, the lowest part cutting nothing but the poorest 

 quality of coarse grass. Is not this a sample of other 

 lands in this county, which were once reclaimed and pro. 

 ductive? There is within twenty rods of my own build- 

 ings, a rough piece of about five acres of pasture land, 

 which was valued a few years ago at '|'25 per acre. This 

 land has never been ploughed till the past season, but 

 has been allowed to grow up to bushes and wood. The 

 bulk of the land is a gentle slope to the west, and there is 

 a good fall to a meadow and brook. In the easterly corner 

 of the lot, there has always been a small pond, which was 

 seldom dry. This pond caused about an acre and a half 

 of the' best land to be too wet to cultivate, or even to 

 drive over during the early season. 



To drain this pond and wet corner, we had to cut a 

 very deep wide ditch, about fifteen rods long, through a 

 ridge of stiff clay, which prevented the water from pene- 

 trating through it. The land on either side of this ridge, 

 was very rough; full of large holes that made it almost 

 impossible to mow the bushes. We comnu'iiced about 



