76 A3IERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



ters not in the quantity of their production, whether he owns 

 and cultivates 100 acres of soil, one foot deep, or 200 acres 

 of soil, half a foot in depth. With the latter however, he 

 has to provide twice Ihe capital in the first purchase, is at 

 twice the cost in fencing, planting and tillage, and pays 

 twice the taxes. The underdrained and subsoiled fields have 

 the further advantage of security and steady development 

 in seasons of drought, as they derive their moisture from 

 greater depths which are frequently unaffected by the parch- 

 ing heat. This secures to them a large yield while all 

 around is parched and withered.* 



A more enlarged and general, or what may justly be 

 termed a philanthropic view of this system, will readily detect 

 considerations of great moment, in the general healthfulness 

 of climate which would result from the drainage of large 

 areas, which are now saturated, or in many instances covered 

 with stagnant waters, and which are suffered to pollute the 

 atmosphere by their pestilent exhalations. 



SPRING AND SWAMP DRAINING. 



Springs are sometimes discovered not by a free or open 

 discharge of their water, but in extensive plats of wet, boggy 

 lands, which are of no farther use than to mire the cattle and 

 bear a small quantity of inferior bog hay. These springs 

 should be sought at the highest point where the ground 

 appears moistened and led away to a ravine or rivulet, by a 

 drain sufficiently deep to prevent the escape of any of the 

 water into the adjacent soil ; unless as it sometimes happens, 

 the position and quality of water are suited to irrigation, 

 when it may be conducted over the field for that purpose. 



Swamps and Peat beds occur frequently in a hilly country. 

 These are low level, wet lands, whose constant saturation 

 with water prevents their cultivation with any useful plants. 

 The first object in effecting their improvement, is to find an 

 outlet for the escape of the water to a depth of '3 to 5 feet 

 below the surface, according to the area to be reclaimed ; 

 the greatest depth above specified being frequently necessary 

 to the effectual drainage at all times, of an extended surface. 

 If the water in the swamp has its origin in numerous springs 

 from the adjoining hills, a ditch should be dug around the 

 entire outer edge of it where it meets the ascending land. If 



*The experienced reader will sometimes notice the s;une ideas repeated under 

 different heads. He must bear in mind that this work is intended for learners ; 

 and that it is of more consequence thoroughly to impress their minds with impor- 

 tant principles, than to study brevity in communicating them. 



