468 Transactions ot the American Institute. 



true way is to ascertain the source of the water, Bj learning, before 

 tlie drains are cnt, where tlie water comes from, linndreds of dollai'S 

 may be saved by forming drains where tlie water veins will be cut 

 off, before the water is allowed to spread over the surface of the land. 

 If, for example, the water comes from springs, let the drains be cut 

 in the dry ground above the place M'here the wet gi'ound appears. 

 Bv this means all the water will be received into an under-drain 

 which can be made at any season of the year. A large drain, only, 

 through the middle of a swamp, when the water comes from springs, 

 will subserve no satisfactory purpose toward rendering the swamp 

 Bufiiciently dry to plow. 



Swampy ground, where muck may be ten feet deep, may be culti- 

 vated as soon as the surface is dry enough to be plowed. The most 

 satisfactory way to manage such a piece of gi'ound,. after it has been 

 rendered dry, is to plow it deep, and plant Indian corn for one or 

 two seasons, or more, until tiie crude soil has been civilized and 

 thoroughly subdued. 



Eastern Tennessee. 



Mr. TVillis McClellan, Sulphur Springs, Tenn., writes in reply to a 

 communication recently read before the Farmers' Club, upon the advan- 

 tages, or rather disadvantages, of eastern Tennessee as a place of 

 residence. He says that there are plenty of chances to gain a com- 

 petence in that region, open to men who are willing to woi'k for it. 

 He, himself, has purchased and paid for a farm in a few years' time, 

 and stocked it well besides. He says that the climate is healthful, 

 and that the inhabitants are ready to welcome northern families who 

 come to settle among them, and he regrets that carpet baggers, like 

 the former correspondent, should spread false reports concerning a 

 region offering. so many real inducements to the immigrant. 



Mr. R. G. Pardee. — During tlie past summer I traveled in the 

 Sweetwater Yalley, some seventy or eighty miles east of jSTashville. 

 Here the whole district had been swept by the war, and the ftirins 

 were without fences ; but better land I never saw in my life. I 

 remember one farm, in particular, as having been sold for cash at 

 sheriffs sale for eighty dollars an acre, and I was told that the same 

 farm was worth in reality $150 an acre for agricultural purposes 

 alone. 



Nebraska. 



Mr. Morris Benjamin, Boston. — " I would like to ask you through 

 the medium of your club to give us some informatioii about the State 



