226 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



from the accumulation and deposit of sand in these 

 ditches, than from washing in them. They are very 

 valuahle in protecting galled land in the process of 

 being reclaimed, and in filling up gullies, if the 

 bottoms of the gullies are first covered with brush 

 or rubbish of some kind. 



Mr. William Old, of Powhatan, said that in ad- 

 vocating the system of hill-side ditching or furrow- 

 ing, he, like Mr. Harvie, could not be charged with 

 being influenced by any pride of consistency, inas- 

 much as he stood recorded in the Farmers' Regis- 

 ter, when edited by his friend, Mr. Edmund Ruffin, 

 as most decidedly opposed, and that, too, after 

 some limited experience.* But, notwithstanding 

 his strong objection to such ditches at the time al- 

 luded to, he continued to use a few of them in some 

 peculiarly exposed situations, until their practical 

 benefits so grew upon his confidence, that he now 

 uses them upon all the slopes of his farm where it 

 is practicable to obtain convenient outlets for them. 

 All persons cultivating the rolling lands above tide 

 water are aware that very great injury is done, es- 

 pecially to so much as is under cultivation of hoe- 

 crops, by every heavy fall of rain. Although all 

 are aware of the existence of this constantly re- 

 curring evil, it is probable that there are many who 

 have never considered its full extent. When tor- 

 rents descend, and carry off masses of soil, making 

 large gullies over a field, the injury is so obvious 

 that the least observant may properly estimate its 



* Mr. Old's first and unfavorable opinion of these guard- 

 ditches was reported, (from his verbal information to the 

 Editor,) in Vol. X. of Farmers' Register, 1842, in the fol- 

 lowing passage. Such entire change of opinion of a farmer 

 of so much practical knowledge and sound judgment, serves 

 to give increased value to his later corrected and present 

 views on this subject. E. R. 



"Mr. Old is altogether opposed to the practice of gra- 

 duated ditching on hill-sides, generally, through a farm, for 

 the purpose of preventing the washing of the land. He 

 uses some short ditches of this kind, on very favorable po- 

 sitions, and as merely a partial preventive. He has seen 

 land thus treated, which the ditches alone spoiled more 

 than all the washing could do in a century of other judi- 

 cious cultivation; and which was far more disfigured and 

 injured afterwards, by the water breaking over the banks, 

 as it certainly will do, with all the care that can be used. 

 Supposing even (what is far beyond the truth) that the best 

 arranged and constructed ditches, always kept in perfect 

 order, could effect their designed purpose, of carrying off 

 the redundant rain-water, it would be impossible, by any 

 farmer's care, to prevent accidental and unlooked-for stop- 

 pages, which would be first made known by turning out 

 the water of a ditch, cutting a gully, breaking by the accu- 

 mulated force across the next ditch and bank below, and 

 increasing its track of devastation thence to the bottom of 

 the descent. As an example of the insecurity of the sys- 

 tem, he referred to one of the graduated ditches, (such as 

 above mentioned,) through his corn-field, which being short, 

 and frequently under his eye, he had several times himself 

 examined throughout its whole length, and with a hoe re- 

 moved every commencing obstruction. This care was in 

 addition to all general superintendence and repairing. Late 

 in the year he found that the water had broken over, and 

 had begun to cut a gully. The cause w^s, that the fodder 

 not having been gathered on a part of the adjoining corn, 

 as it decayed on the stalks the small light bits had been 

 blown off by the wind, and some had fallen in the ditch. 

 The first rain floated this light stuff along the ditch, until a 

 straw or small root, or some such thing, caught and stopped 

 a few bits, which served to stop more ; and as the muddy 

 water settled and filled the crevices, finally made a dam 

 sufficient to throw out the water. Had this ditch been at 

 the top of the hill, and several other ditches below, this 

 slight cause would have broken every one, and with more 

 and more damage at every successive breach." 



importance. But, in his opinion, much injury a; . 

 waste of soil — indeed to a greater aggregate amount 

 in the course of the year — was done by washings 

 of a less striking character. There are many falls 

 of rain that pass generally and rapidly over the 

 surface, but not so concentrated or violent as to 

 tear up the foundation, or wash the land into gul- 

 lies, yet quite sufficient to carry off, by general 

 abrasion, much of the soil, or at least, matter, both 

 organic and inorganic, that constituted its principal 

 value. After every beating rain that falls, the sand 

 may be seen separated and deposited in every de- 

 pression of the surface, besides the large quantity 

 that is precipitated to the flats and streams below. 

 This is but the silex left, after washing away all 

 soluble matter and the more minutely divided and 

 lighter particles of the soil, of which these con- 

 stituted a part. This, so far, is a complete loss of 

 soil. He said that a great deal of this injury can- 

 not be prevented, but he thought that much of it 

 might be, and by the means now under considera- 

 tion. If you can lessen the volume of water that 

 passes over the surface, you will, to that extent, 

 lessen the injury done by it. Suppose, then, you 

 have a slope in one of your fields, 150 yards in 

 breadth, it is obvious, that when one of these de- 

 structive rains occurs, if the water that falls upon 

 the first or upper fifty yards (for example) be per- 

 mitted to descend and unite with that which falls 

 upon the next lower breadth of fifty yards, and these 

 two with that which falls upon the third or lowest 

 part, that three times as much water will be pass- 

 ing over the lower section as there was upon the 

 first, and that too with greatly augmented velocity. 

 If, then, by one of these furrows, the descending 

 water, at the end of the first fifty yards, was ar- 

 rested and conducted gently off to some place 

 where it may be discharged without injury — and 

 so, likewise, for the water of the next breadth, by 

 another* ditch, at the end of the second division, 

 then the whole fall of rain will have been disposed 

 of without any greater accumulation on any one 

 portion of the land, thus divided into sections, than 

 what falls upon that portion. These means would 

 obviously prevent much of the washing and injury 

 that would be produced without them. This seems 

 so clear that no argument can be necessary to prove 

 or enforce it. The question then is as to the prac- 

 ticability of constructing the ditches, so as to guard 

 against their breaking and discharging their pent- 

 up volumes of water over the lands below, so as to 

 do as much or more injury than would have been 

 done by the rain-floods, if no such attempt had 

 been made to divert them. This, he admitted, was 

 a danger entitled to serious consideration, and one 

 with which for years he had been so deeply im- 

 pressed as to deter him from adopting hill-side 

 ditches. He had witnessed upon several farms the 

 most destructive effects produced by them, where 

 they had been inaccurately laid off, carelessly con- 

 structed, and badly attended to. But he had now, 

 by many years experience, become perfectly satis- 

 fied of the practicability of using them, with care 

 and attention, so as to avoid any injury resulting 

 therefrom. But he Avas not now an advocate for * 

 the indiscriminate use of them, as practiced by 

 some of his acquaintances. Before adopting them 

 trpon any field, it is necessary to examine it care- 

 fully, and then to determine where the water con- 

 ducted by them is to be discharged, and whether 

 it can be so discharged without producing as much 

 injury as it would do if suffered to pursue its course 

 directly down the sloping surface without interrup- 



