143 
REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF SOUTH CAROLINA, ETC. 
complete draining this wet field, and accordingly 
employed two hands and one head, which were those 
of my own, and set to work, cutting good wide 
ditches all around and through it, and set it to 
« c bleeding at every poremaking “ blind ditches ” 
of those that run across the lot, that I might plow 
over them. The result is, that I have now healthy 
and thrifty fruit trees growing on land that was much 
of it wet bog-holes, and we are enabled to cultivate 
it in good season, weeks earlier than ever before. A 
single fact will show the importance of draining such 
land. One ditch runs directly through a low marshy 
bog-hole (that was), cut deep into the subsoil, the 
pores of which were filled with water, and the 
deeper I went the more the water would ooze out. 
This very spot is now quite dry and mellow, beauti¬ 
ful to work in, and is the richest spot of ground on 
the whole nursery. My neighbor’s land, which 
foins me, is higher than mine, and sloping towards it, 
consequently all the surface water is washed from 
his upon mine. This communication I cut off by 
making a ditch near and parallel with the line fence; 
this answers the desired purpose, and is a benefit to 
both of us. His land is so peculiarly situated that 
he can drain to little purpose, unless he turns his 
drains into mine, which have a free outlet. This I 
cheerfully allow him to do, and he is now draining 
to some extent, and intends to do much more. I do 
not conceive it necessary to lay down any very defi¬ 
nite rules on paper for draining land; as, for instance, 
the length, breadth, or depth of a ditch ; the direction 
in which it should run, &c., &c. Every farm is dif¬ 
ferently situated. One is high ground, perhaps, best 
suited for blind drains; another is low ground, and 
suited for open ditches. A certain course pursued on 
one farm will not answer for another. Every farmer 
in this, as well as everything else, should exercise 
his own judgment, and adapt his efforts to circum¬ 
stances, then may success and prosperity attend him. 
W. D. 
Morristown, Morris Co., N. J., March 14, 1845. 
Report of the Agricultural Survey of South 
Carolina. —We have received a letter from Edmund 
Ruffin, Esq., of Virginia, stating that we were mis¬ 
taken in part of our remarks, in noticing his Report, 
page 285, Vol. 3. He says, “ the obvious infer¬ 
ences from these remarks are, that the close of my 
services was compelled by the repeal of the law 
authorizing their being employed; and that other¬ 
wise I would have continued to serve longer, as dur¬ 
ing the previous year. The reverse was true in both 
respects. When, without my solicitation or know¬ 
ledge, I was offered the appointment of Agricultural 
and Geological Surveyor of the State, and before 
accepting the honorable charge, I distinctly stated in 
my answer to the Governor, that my time could not 
be so given longer than for one year. Accordingly, 
at the end of that year, I resigned the situation. Still 
t-he legal term of my service, as expressed in my 
commission, had been for two years, and the appro¬ 
priation had been made at first for the full time. And 
neither was the law repealed, nor the appropriation 
withdrawn. My friend, M. Tuomey, Esq., was ap¬ 
pointed to fill the vacated office, and he completed the 
unexpired year of my appointed term, devoting him¬ 
self to th* geological department of the survey, for 
which he is eminently fitted, as exclusively as I had 
done to the agricultural department. Further, when 
the full term of two years had been completed, and 
botli the office and the appropriation had ceased, by 
their first enacted limitation, both were continued bj 
new legislation ; and the survey is still in progress 
and, as before, in the most worthy charge of Mr 
Tuomey.” 
We were led into the mistake above alluded to by 
Mr. Ruffin, by a paragraph in a South Carolina ex¬ 
change paper, which we well recollect spoke very 
bitterly in its remarks on the- niggardliness of the 
Legislature in providing funds for a continuation of 
the survey, and that Mr. Ruffin’s services must con¬ 
sequently cease. We trust, therefore, we shall be 
pardoned the error we have unconsciously committed; 
we supposed the South Carolina paper good author¬ 
ity, and this is the first contradiction of it we have 
seen. Of course we publish it at once with great 
pleasure, for we own we were not only mortified, 
but very much surprised when we read the paragraph 
stating that the survey must cease. We always en¬ 
tertained a high opinion of the intelligence of the 
people of South Carolina, and more especially of its 
eminent citizens then holding offices ; and it was this 
which caused the greater astonishment on our part at 
the supposed action of the Legislature. 
BERMUDA AND COCOA GRASS AND SHEEP 
IN MISSISSIPPI. 
Bermuda Grass .—The cultivation of this grass in 
the State of Mississippi, I look upon as one of the 
most important things that can be brought to the no¬ 
tice of the citizens of this State, and probably to most 
others of the Southern States, where the long con¬ 
tinuation of a hot burning sun so completely dries up 
all other kinds of cultivated grasses, that at that sea¬ 
son when grass for pasture or hay is most needed, 
they will be found more fit to burn than to afford 
green food; while with the Bermuda, the hotter the 
sun the more luxuriant the growth; affording not 
only the finest kind of summer pasture, but yielding 
an almost inconceivable quantity of excellent hay 1 
am aware that to many of your readers my remarks 
upon this subject are entirely uninteresting; but I beg 
of them to consider that there are thousands of others 
who never'saw a spear of this grass growing, and 
know nothing of its value. Mr. Affleck, of Wash¬ 
ington, Miss , who is as well informed upon the sub¬ 
ject perhaps as any other person, believes this to be 
identical with that which forms the beautiful green 
grassy banks of the river Ganges; and although here 
only known as Bermuda, that it originally came from 
the East instead of the West Indies. But be this as 
it may, it is to the South what Kentucky blue grass 
is to that State; yet, notwithstanding its vast im¬ 
portance, I have travelled over several counties in 
Mississippi where it was as completely unknown as if 
it had never left its original place upon the banks of 
the “ holy river.” 
One reason why Bermuda grass spreads so slowly 
is, that it does not bear seed in this country, and con¬ 
sequently is propagated only by the roots and stalks, 
every joint of which, however, will send up a shoot, 
and as it grows extends itself w*th astonishing rapidi¬ 
ty both above and below the s^rfa^e. If set out 
