No. 8. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



115 



piieoof giouaU. The ilrnwing the dirt on after pla- 

 cing the stoiios, is 60 quick douc, that it need not cn- 

 tii into the pxpencc. 



Tiic liitcli should not be filled nearer than within 

 pi\ in'jlios oi" the surlare. Sods or straw thonid lie 

 li;i I on ihc Btones previous 10 replacing ihu di:t. The 

 i]it,iiuity o{' wilier to be d tx-lmrgctl, and the stones up- 

 uii ilic land, will influence as to width and depth of 

 tlif ditch. 



i Imve made my article longer than I had intended 

 when I began to write, tarn not ambitious to niuUe 

 a display oi'my fanning, b.it to elicit attention to, and 

 promote agricultural interests. R. 11. 



Vanbunj, Mai/3, ISil. 



From t/ie London Mark Lane Express. 

 On MnUiiis Pouds. 



Sm — Observing one of your correspondents to be 

 making an inquiiy as to a method of making ponds, 

 I take the liberty iif sending you, for his inlormatton, 

 tile method practised some time ago by Mr. Ribert 

 Gardiner, of Kilhani, in lue East Riding of York- 

 Bbire. 



Let a circle be marked on the ground sixty feet 

 in diameter — m«re or less ns the person chootes, or 

 ihe size of the pasture may require a supply of water — 

 and if of that diameter, let It be !iollo.\td out into the 

 shape of a ba-in, or b.iwl, to the depth of seven feet in 

 the centre ; when the surface of this hollow has been 

 raked smooth, let it be well beaten over, so as to re- 

 duce it into as even, uniform and tirm a surface, as 

 the nature of the ground will admit of ; on this, will 

 slacked and screened lime must be uniformly spread 

 with a riddle, to the thickness of two or three inches; 

 the more porous or open the ground, the greater will 

 be the quantity of lime required : this lime then must be 

 slightly watered, to make it adhere firmly to the 

 place, and great care mu^t be taken to spread it equal- 

 ly, so that no place may remain uncovered— as on 

 the lime depends, more than any thing else, the suc- 

 cess of the work. On this lime must be laid a bed of 

 clay, to about the thickness of six inches, which being 

 moistened sufficiently to render it ductile, is to be 

 beaten with niellets or beetles, into o compact solid 

 body, capable of being trodden upon without impres- 

 flion or injury. Great care is to be taken in laying 

 on this mass of clay uniformly, and beating it into a 

 comp.iet body ; for this purpose no more must be 

 nprcad at a time upon the lime than can undergo the 

 beating", while it retains a proper temper or consist- 

 euce for the purpose ; after the whole is thus finished, 

 it is gone over several times with the beaters, snd 

 epriukled each time with water, and care is taken to 

 prevent any cracks being formed, which might entire- 

 ly destroy the power of retention. 



Fure brick clay is not required in particular, but 

 nny tenacious earth; that by beating will become a so- 

 lid compact body, wiil answer the purpose. As soon 

 as this operation has been duly performed, the whole 

 surface of the clay is covered, to about the thickness 

 of a foot, with brikcn chalk, fine gravel, or the chip- 

 pings of mouldering stone, or limestone to prevent 

 any injury being dune by the treading of eattle. — 

 It is necessary to obacrve, that coarse stnies ought 

 not to bo made use of, as they are liable to be dis- 

 placed by the treading of cattle. They are also 

 liable to be pressed into or through the, clay, or 

 to be rolled down to the bottom of the pond ; un- 

 der all which circumstances, the beds of lime and 

 clay are liable to be broken, and the water conse- 

 quently let out of the pond. S imotimes the clay h 

 covered with sods, the grass side being laid down- 

 ward as a support to the gravel, by which some sav- 

 ing of the covering maybe made; or a coviTing of 

 earth may bo u^ed, where gravel and such like are 

 scarce. After the clay has been well beaten, s mic 

 workmen water t!ie sarl-tce of it; and fold s-h"cp or 

 pigs for a considerable time upon it — the treading of 

 which is found to bo serviceable in rendering it more 

 compact. 



The best season .'or making these pond=, is thought 

 to be in aHtumn,-as they are then likely to be tilled the 

 Boonesl, and the least liable to crack bef re they arc 

 lilled. Should the weather prove dry at the time 

 they are finished, it is well to cover the surface wiih 

 straw, or litter, to hinder them from cracking. 



These ponds are usually made at the foot of some 

 declivity where, after heavy rains, water may run into 

 them from the loaJ, but many are placed without any 

 Buch asaislance, it being found 



about £15, and will contain above 700 hogsheads of 

 water. One of forty-five feel in diameter, by five in 

 dejiln in the cenlrc, will conioin about 11)0 lloy^llcadfl, 

 and may be executed for about il\2. This is a vast 

 supply at asniailexpence. The water thus preserved 

 isofan excellent quality, when not injured by the 

 cattle. 



Much might be said upon the exeellenro of this 

 plan, but 1 will refrain from ireapaesiiig upon your 

 valuable columns, by giving any obseivations of my 

 own, thinking they may be uncalled for. 

 1 am, Sir, your obedient servant, 



YEO.MAN OF KENT. 



Keep your Iiaiid Dry. 



The importance of draining is not duly appreciated, 

 nor its practice well understood, among us. Although 

 water is indispensable to vegetation, too much of it 

 is as hurtful as too little. It is necessary to the germ- 

 ination of the seed, to the decomposition of the veget- 

 able matter in the soil, to the transmission of the 

 food from the soil to the plant, to its circulation there, 

 and to the maturity ol the product. All these useful 

 purposes are defeated, where water remains in the 

 soil to excess — the seed rots, the vegetable matter 

 which should servo as the food of the crop, remains 

 unsoluble, in consequence of the absence of heat and 

 air, which the water excludes ; or, if the seed grows, 

 the plant is sickly, for want id' its inoper food, and 

 there is consequently a virtual failure in the harvest. — 

 It is not from the surface only we are to determine 

 whether land is sufliciently dry to Eustain a healthy, 

 vegetation ; but we are to examine the surface strat- 

 um, into which the roots of the plants penetrate, and 

 from which they draw their food. If this is habitual 

 ly wet — if it grows marshy plants — if water will col- 

 lect in a hole sunk fifteen inches below the surface — 

 the land is too wet for cullivatcd crops, and means 

 should be adopted to render it more dry. From my 

 partial ccquuintnncc with this country, [ feel asturod 

 that much of your best land is rendered unfit for till- 

 age, or the growth of the finer grasses, by reason of 

 the excess of water, which passes or reposes upon the 

 subsoil unnoticed by the cultivator. These lands are 

 denominated cold and sour, and they truly are so. — 

 Cold sour lands are invariably wet lauds below, if not 

 upon the .'.urface. But if the superfluous water 

 were judiciously conducted off by clUcicnt undcr- 

 draine, (for the construction of which, feu posSEs; 

 the best materials in iibundancc,) these lands would 

 be rendered warm and sweet, and highly productive, 

 and the outlay would be repaid by the increased value 

 of two or three of the firs; crops. Wet lands are gen 

 erally rich lands, abounding in vegetable matters, 

 which water has preserved from decomposition, but 

 which readily become the food of plants, when the 

 water is drawn off. Let me imagine a ease, which 1 

 am sure will be found 1 1 exist in many pans of your 

 country. There is a sKipe.of a little hill, half a mile 

 in extent, terminating in a flat tiirty rods wide, through 

 which a brook niea:iders. The soil on this slope, and 

 in this fiat is of a light porous quality, six to twelve 

 inches deep, reposing on a subsoil inqicrvioua to wa- 

 ter, as ciny, rock or hardpan. By s;iil, 1 mean the 

 upper slrntum, in which vegetable matters a"'e blended 

 with earthly materials, and wdiich eonatitutc the true 

 pasture of |ilants. Near the top of this elope, all alonj 

 on a horizmial level, oi perhaps lower down, spouts 

 or springs hurst through the subsoil, a thing vejy 

 common in hilly districis, the waters from which 

 finilmg an ea.=y passage Ihiough the hiose soil, sprecd 

 and run down the slope, and tipan tin; suhsoil and 

 through the Hat, till they find their level in the brook. 

 .\ thermometer plunged down to the subsoil, will in- 

 dicate, at midsummer, a temperature probably not 

 gica'er than GO^ whereas to grow and iiu;ture mnnyo! 

 our lest farm crops, we require a beat in the soil of 70° 

 or 8i)". How shall we remedy this evil, and render 

 this l:ind profitab'o to the occupant 1 Simply by mak- 

 ing an undcrdrain or drains, in a gently inclining di- 

 rection ; a little below these Bpotiis or springs, and. 

 ifprnetieable, somewhat into the suhsoil. Thtse will 

 catch and conduct oM" the spouting waters, and by 

 laying the lower plane dry and permeable to heat 

 air, develope all its natural powers of fertility. 



I will suppose another case — that of a flat surface, 

 underlaid by an impervious subsoil. This is render- 

 ed unproductive, or difiicult to manage, by stngnanl 

 waters. Tire rain and enow waters, penetrating the 

 soil, are arrested in their downward passage, by the 



the (leld with a good underdroin and to construct a 

 tullicient open drain from the outloy to carry ofl' the 

 waters. Then with the plough, throw the land into 

 ridges of twenty to thirty feet in breadth, according to 

 the tenacity of the soil, in the direction of the slope, 

 and sink an underdrnin in each of the furrows be- 

 tween the ridges, terminating them in the lower 

 cross drain. The materials of the under-drains, whicU 

 are generally stones, should be laid so low as to admit 

 of the free passage of the plough over them, 'i'h* 

 supirduous water, by the lows of gravitation, si ttia 

 into these drains, and pass ofl' and the soil becomca 

 dry, manageable and productive. An acquaintauc« 

 called upon a Scotch farmer whose farm had been un- 

 derdrained in this way, and being informed that 

 the improvoiricnt cost sixteen dollars an acre, tils 

 having been used, remarked that it was a costly 

 improvement. " Yes," was the farmer's reply, 

 "but it cost a deal niair not to ilu it," which he illu's- 

 traled by pointing to an adjoining farm, like situated, 

 which had not been drained, and was overgrown with 

 rushes and with sedge grass, and then to his own 

 fields teeming with luxuriance and rich in the indica- 

 tions of an abundant harvest. 



I have dwelt upon the subject of draining with mora 

 detail, because I have personally realized its benefits, 

 and am sure it may lie extensively gone into with 

 certain prospect of reward. — Judge Bud. 



hat the rain which 

 falls upon their surface is iir general sufflcient for a subsoil, which not having slope to pass theirt ofi, th 

 supply, after they have been once filled ; for this pur- here remain and stagnate, and putrify, alike prejud 



pose snow is sometimes collected and heaped upon cial to vegetable and animal health. The mode of , „„j „„,;,.o :, ;„ vmir nnner 

 1 1^ r I .. .ii.-.ri--i , ,/- ,- 1 lect ana notice It in your pupci. 



thsm the first winter after they are finished. One ol I droining such grounds, and ot rendering inem pio- J -»,^- .j Min COMMUNICATOR 



«be arize airave *ivpn, he says, may be execnted for ' dniJt'ive and of easy reanrrgemenf, ia first fci rorrownd [ Qkio, Jiily, le4i. \..\jm 



For the New Gtneiet Farmer. 

 Scraps of Iiiiforniat:ou. 



livi;k complaibt. 

 Mitssns. Editors — Barley is an old medicine for 

 the cure of liver complaints. In the countries west of 

 the AUegdny mountains, animals are particularly sub- 

 ject to such complaints, especially hogs. Repeated 

 experiments have shown, that if they ore fed with a 

 proportion of barley while fattening — say one-third or 

 one- half liarley — their livers, when they are killed, 

 will be found free of any defect or nnsoundnees: 

 Whereas, if they are fattened upon corn or other arti- 

 cles, such as ore generally used, a sound liver can rare- 

 ly be found. In order to produce ihii eflicct, it is best 

 to feed tbo barley without cooking it ; — boiling it will 

 lessen its medicinal properties. 



DEAD ^HEEP. 



If the wool of dead sheep ia not wanted for atock- 

 ings, it should be sheared on*from them instead of be- 

 ing picked off. Ifsheared off, it can be sorted by th* 

 m.anufccturers, and will be purchased by them at il4 

 fair value. It is also a great saving of labor. 



STEF.TCIIES, OR COSTIVKNISS OF SHEEP. 



Tuie complaint frequently arises from dry hay be- 

 coming consolidated in their etomachs. 



Cuke. — To half a pint of yeast add half a pint of 

 ■ lukewarm water, and, from a bottle, turn it down the 

 sheep's throat. Dose it in this manner once in two or 

 three hours, until relieved. 



This medicine operates by dissolving the contents 

 of the bowels by fermentation, and will generally ope- 

 rate when all other medicines fail — is a cooling and 

 safe remedy. Doses of two or three quarts should bo 

 Sjiven to oxen and cows afHicted with dry murrain, 

 which is similar to the complaint among sheep. 



Polidocs. — Sheep are not fond of Potato tops, ea- 

 pecielly when they are full grown, or getting old — 

 therefore, if your potatoe patch becomes too grassy or 

 wetdy, either before or after hoeing, turn in you, 

 sheep, and they will shortly cut down the grass and 

 weeds— only be careful to turn them out as soon as 

 they hive fi lished the grass and weeds. 



UOGS IN PASTURES. 



1 have conversed with many farmers upon the sub- 

 ject of letting hogs in upon pasture ground, and I find 

 upon inquiry that a majority are in favor of letting 

 old hoge in upon pasture ground, and think that they 

 add to the quantity of pasturage without injuring the 

 quality. My own impression is the reverse of this — 

 but I find BO many large farmers against me that I 

 should be pleased if you would inquire into this eub- 



