324 PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE. 



amount of water to carry off, they should be within 

 two or three rods of each other. 



428. There will be considerable expense attending 

 all this. But let it be remembered that five acres of 

 the best land are to be made out of what was before 

 an eye-sore. If this land can be made to produce 

 two tons of good hay to the acre, annually, without 

 much expense for manure, the owner can afford to 

 lay out something upon it. How shall the side -drains 

 be made ? Suppose them to be cut two feet wide at 

 the top, and the walls to slope inward, coming to- 

 gether at three feet in depth, in the form of the letter 

 y ; 1st. They may be filled with brush about two feet 

 from the bottom, the brush be covered with turf, bot- 

 tom upwards, and then the turf covered .deeply with 

 the mud thrown from the ditch ; or, 2nd. They may 

 be filled up about one foot with small pebbles, or bro- 

 ken stones, covered as before with turf inverted, and 

 filled to the surface with the mud thrown out ; or, 3rd. 

 Tiles may be used. 



429. Brush-drains have sometimes answered a good 

 purpose, and have lasted many years. The coldness 

 of the ground at such a depth prevents their decay. 

 I do not believe, however, that the brush-drain is to 

 be recommended. If the stone-drain is to be adopted, 

 the stones should be very small, not much larger than 

 hens' eggs, as otherwise the mice will work among 

 them and fill them up. The amount of stone required 

 for such a drain is large ; the labor of collecting them 

 is considerable ; and, unless it be regarded as import- 



