174 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



slat up or down. After this is done, mark on 

 the level the exact point at which the vacuum 

 stands — then elevate one end of the frame one, 

 two, three and four inches, and mark upon the 

 level each time as at first. Now get at least 

 one hundred small canes or sticks about eigh- 

 teen inches long. You will have some one (a 

 small boy will do) to carry the sticks. He 

 should walk on the opposite side of the frame 

 and place one in the ground a few inches back 

 of the foot of the frame, upon the same side 

 that he is on, so that in moving the frame for 

 another stride, you can place the back end or 

 foot exactly where the front one stood. 



The fall or grade to be given to the ditch 

 depends upon the length — whether it is straight 

 or crooked — the quality of the soil, and to 

 some extent the grade of the hill. I will give, 

 for instance, the grade to be used upon gray 

 land, having a light sandy or gravelly clay 

 foundation, as it is much the most difficult. If 

 the ditch is to be two or three hundred yards 

 long, nearly straight, with only long and gentle 

 curves, the first stride of fifteen feet, at the 

 upper end, should have four inches fall — the 

 next three — and then the first hundred yards 

 should have two and a half inches fall' to every 

 fifteen feet. The second two, and the third 

 hundred yards should have only one and a half 

 inches fall to the fifteen feet. The velocity 

 gained by water in running any distance makes 

 it necessary that the grade or fall should be 

 diminished about this proportion to the length 

 of the ditch. If, however, the ditch should be 

 very crooked, add a half inch, and in extreme 

 cases even more than that to the rate of fall. 

 At very short crooks for the first stride below, 

 add as much as a half an inch, for the purpose 

 of carrying off the sand that would otherwise 

 accumulate at such places. If the ditch should 

 be perfectly or nearly straight as much as one 

 hundred yards, the fall might be the same as 

 the rate given above for straight ditches. Up- 

 on steep hill-sides the ditches require more fall 

 than where they are only moderate. This is 

 necessary to prevent them from filling up, on 

 account of the force with which the water and 

 sand come into them ; for let your ditches be 

 ever so close together, in very hard rains there 

 will be some sand washed in from above. I 

 have some short ditches on very steep hill-sides 

 as much as from three to five inches. 



These grades, or this work, to the inexperi- 

 enced, may appear complicated, but not so 

 with the experienced. It takes but little prac- 

 tice, accompanied with good judgment, for any 

 one, by looking at the land, to.tell whether the 

 ditch will be straight or crooked, long or short; 

 and if he should sometimes be mistaken, it is 



better to run it off again than suffer it to re- 

 main wrong — for to make the fall greater or 

 less is a very easy matter when your level is 

 marked as before directed. 



The only difference between the grading or 

 fall, given the ditch in red stiff land, or where 

 there is a good clay foundation, and the above, 

 is that the fall may be made greater, for the 

 reason it is less liable to wash. 



In commencing to ditch you will first take a 

 general view of the land. Perhaps from some 

 local cause there is some particular place 

 where a ditch should be — or some starting 

 point (either above or below) where, above all 

 others, there should be a ditch. (I neglected 

 to say before, you can go up hill in running 

 your ditch^ as well as down, by simply revers- 

 ing the ends of your frame.) If you can get 

 an outlet by running your ditches with a branch 

 or bottom, it is preferable, as the best land will 

 thereby be saved. But if this cannot be done, 

 as very frequently happens, you will have to 

 use the branch or bottom for an outlet. There 

 must always be a ditch near the top of the hill. 

 If this cannot be done in any other way, the 

 grade must be changed or reversed so as to 

 make the ditches enter into each other until a 

 suitable outlet is secured. In this case, there 

 must be a log eight or ten feet long placed up- 

 on the lower side of the ditch you run into, at 

 the point of junction, to prevent the water from 

 breaking over. The ditch should also be wider 

 from that point down. 



When you have an outlet in opposite direc- 

 tions for a ditch that is as much as two hun- 

 dred yards long, you should reverse the grade 

 about midway, so that the water will run in 

 different directions. 



It is best to have no ditch exceeding three 

 hundred yards long, running in the same direc- 

 tion. You can almost always divide the ditch 

 between two outlets where, the distance is so 

 great as that. * 



The distance the ditches should be apart is 

 owing altogether to the land — its quality and 

 the grade of the hill. I have some of my 

 ditches as close as thirty feet to each other. 

 The usual distance is about twenty to forty 

 yards on hilly land — red stiff land will bear 

 even more than that. The only general rule 

 that can be laid down on this point, however, 

 is, he sure to have them close enough together 

 to prevent washing. When you have finished 

 staking off a ditch with the small sticks, as 

 above directed, you should then go back and 

 alter them where the crook is too abrupt, and 

 then remedy it by cutting the ditch deeper or 

 more shallow at that point. You will find 

 many places can be done in this manner on 



