142 
DRAINING LAND, 
Each sheep was taken and put upon a bench or 
cbrm, so fixed as to save the drippings of liquor from 
ihe washing, and rubbed with a hand-swab, made of 
some kind of cloth, wet in the decoction, being care¬ 
ful to moisten every part of the neck and body of the 
sheep. This was done immediately after shearing. 
The lambs also underwent the same washing * but 
the liquor was made a little weaker for them. Very 
tew of the sheep appeared to be in the least degree 
sick from the operation. A few of the lambs were 
so for two or three hours. The washing ought to he 
done in the fore part of a warm day. The third day 
after washing, the sheep were salted with common 
salt, which was wet, and as much sulphur stirred in 
as would stick to the salt. This flock from this 
time began to gain, and the next season the fleeces 
from the same sheep were one-third heavier, and the 
lambs were healthy; and such seemed to be the bene¬ 
fit derived from the use of tobacco and sulphur, that 
it is not omitted being done to this time, every spring, 
only the decoction is made weaker. It keeps the 
ticks from sheep, and as yet we have not been trou¬ 
bled with any disease in the flock. P. VV. 
Plainfield , N. J. 
DRAINING LAND. 
I do not feel myself sufficiently qualified to give 
you any very elaborate treatise on this subject, nei¬ 
ther do I conceive it necessary, as I fear it would be 
far less acceptable to the large body of practical far¬ 
mers for whom I write, and whom I wish to benefit. 
But I propose simply to note a few facts, the result 
of my own observation and experience, on a subject 
which I conceive to be of vital importance to the far¬ 
mer’s interest. And as a very important branch of 
farming, one in which nearly all farmers are interest¬ 
ed, I wish to particularize, and draw attention to a 
fact of no little consequence, what I have always 
conceived, and what experience has proved to be bad 
economy in farming, viz., to suffer such vast quanti¬ 
ties of our lowlands to lie in their natural state with¬ 
out draining. Everybody knows that standing water 
is death to all useful vegetation in this climate ; this 
fact of itself I hold to be sufficient proof of its decid¬ 
ed utility. The draining of marshes and swamps, 
low meadow land and spongy soils, will tend much 
to ameliorate the climate of a country, and conse¬ 
quently render it more healthy; besides bringing into 
cultivation lands comparatively worthless, and ren¬ 
dering the influences of the atmosphere more favor¬ 
able. 
I shall not advise a trip to the everglades of Flori¬ 
da, or to the pestilential swamps of Western Africa, 
whose pestilential malaria sends forth the breath of 
death on every breeze that crosses its fatal bosom ; 
but I wish the farmer to stay at home, look around 
his own domicil, at his own meadow, and see if he 
has not hitherto neglected this important branch of 
farming; let him commence the work of reformation 
in earnest, and then go to his neighbor and say, “ go 
thou and do likewise.” To reap advantages from 
draining, like other branches of farming, it must be 
well done. Gut good, wide, deep ditches into the 
subsoil, if there is descent enough to carry all the 
water off, but by no means so deep that you form a 
tank to hold water. If your neighbor’s land is higher 
than yours, cut a deep ditch along the line fence, if 
practicable, and parallel with it, and thus arrest water 
that would otherwise flow on you, and irrigate land 
that would be better without it. Abandon the idea 
that by cutting so many ditches here and there, you 
are wasting just so much land, in taking up too much 
room with them; this impression is decidedly erro¬ 
neous. By drying the remainder you render it more 
light and porous, easier of cultivation, and conse¬ 
quently more productive. 
In the month of July last, I observed from my 
window two mowers cutting a small lot of coarse 
bog grass on land so wet that they could not keep dry 
feet. They complained of the crop as hardly worth 
the cutting, except perhaps for yard litter or very 
ordinary cow fodder. And well they may. Now 
these men are poor, and 1 know that this very hay 
helps to keep a horse through the winter, the most 
trying season in our climate for animals. And here 
1 wish my readers to observe is one specimen of the 
very “ bad economy of farming ” alluded to above. 
Farmers well know that healthy and sound horses 
are entirely out of the question when kept on such 
miserable food. But enough of this, the ribs of the 
poor beast will speak for it in the spring. 
Now I happen to know that this very identical 
spot of ground was thoroughly and effectually drain¬ 
ed a few years ago, a good deep ditch being cut en¬ 
tirely around it; and that season, and the one follow¬ 
ing, the most valuable crop of grass was taken from 
it 1 ever knew before or since. To effect this, the 
draining was of course done early in the season, 
and the surplus water from the early rains—which 
had formerly been allowed to stand in puddles here 
and there, and sink in the soil by degrees, thereby 
completely saturating it—was then carried off by 
good and efficient ditches. But you ask, “ Why has 
no good crop come from it since ?” I will tell you, 
the matter is easily solved. The draining w r as done, 
and I am satisfied, well done; but this is not always 
sufficient. If farmers would be permanently benefit¬ 
ed by draining land, they must keep the open ditches 
well cleared out, that the water may have a free pas¬ 
sage, not only to pass off, but pass off quickly; and 
after a ditch is well opened, a little labor every sea¬ 
son will suffice to keep it so. Now, in the above in¬ 
stance, the ditches were never opened but once, con¬ 
sequently they soon became filled up again ; and the 
trouble is, the owner would rather drain his glass of 
brandy than his meadow, which kind of draining he 
understands perfectly; but allow me to add, that kind 
of draining won’t answer for farmers, and if he had 
as effectually drained his meadow, a large increase of 
good hay would annually have been added to his 
store. Draining has done wonders for me, and f 
only wish the anti “ book-farmers ” and all doubting 
minds could visit my nursery, and see it, instead of 
hear tell of it. A few years ago I came into posses¬ 
sion of a few acres of ground which were consider¬ 
ed profitable for grazing only. It was a cold, neg¬ 
lected, stiff clay soil, with a retentive yellow clay 
subsoil, so wet that we often could not even p/owthe 
ground until after many of our neighbors had planted 
theirs. A very uninviting spot for a nursery, you 
will say. It really was, but it was the best we had. 
However, I had to make the best of it, and if every 
farmer would make the best of what he has, we 
should have far less complaining, less discontent, and 
less of the “western mania’' 
1 soon conceived the necessity of thorough and 
