Cultivation of Clay Lands. 
take the job, generally carry to the field a 
small iron drift, with which they break or 
remove any stone that may interrupt the 
spade; if a large one they dig it out, filling 
the space with clay out of which the drain is 
formed for the turf. A little boy or girl, 
from six to eight years old, commonly at¬ 
tends each drainer, with a tin mug, often an 
old powder tin, attached by a bit of string to 
the end of a stick, and filled frequently with 
water out of a pail, with which the child fol¬ 
lows the spade, and by pouring it out when 
necessary, loosens any stiff piece of clay or 
earth; when not wanted, the boy shovels out 
the moulds, previous to the operation of the 
spade, or collects the stones cast out, for 
which he is paid per load. The price of 
draining, varies from 3«. 6d. to 55. per score 
rod, including boy’s wages ; a good hand will 
execute 14 rods, some more in the day. Some¬ 
times 2, or even 3, spades’ depth is taken out 
to get a proper level, or to penetrate the clay, 
when the price of course rises in proportion. 
If the shoulders of the drain give way in a 
gravelly or galty place, bushes or stubble are 
placed under the turf, which is doubled to fill 
a larger aperture.” 
According to the above plan, having the 
drains within one rod of each other, there 
will be required 160 rods of ditch or drain on 
an acre, and this at the above highest esti¬ 
mate, costs 5s. for every 20 rods, or 405. per 
acre, or a little exceeding $9. If we double 
this amount, to cover the extra price of labor 
in this country, for the cost of this species of 
draining, we have less than $20, as the ex¬ 
pense of putting an impracticable, clay soil, 
in a condition of yielding for 20 years, or 
more, the greatest quantity of produce, with 
much less preparation than is now required. 
This surely is a system that will justify 
adopting, wherever lands are so valuable as 
to render a moderate augmentation of their 
products an object. We are not advised of 
the increased value of thorough drained clay 
lands in this country ; but though our hotter 
summers and drier atmosphere would proba¬ 
bly render the difference effected by draining 
much less here than in,England, yet there is 
no doubt, that the increase in crops and saving 
in labor, must be very great. Till we have 
details of the effect of such draining in this 
country, it would be presumptuous to state, 
at what price per acre this improvement 
would be justified. The value of an 18 years’ 
lease of land, before draining, was estimated 
by Mr. Smith at less than 6/., while the same 
lease, after thorough draining, is estimated 
by him to be worth more than 64/. $ or over 
ten to one in favor of the land which had 
been drained. Such results, which have 
been experienced in Great Britain, will war¬ 
rant ample trials among the intelligent agri¬ 
culturists of America. We shall be most 
happy to receive, and give publicity to any 
well conducted, and accurately noted ex¬ 
periments made in this country, if any such 
exist. 
We are. confident that the inventive genius 
of our countrymen could easily devise some 
practical application of steam power, to 
ditching extensive, level lands, while the 
surface is firm and compact, during dry 
weather, so as to reduce the expense per¬ 
haps below the cost in Europe ; and when 
this is accomplished, the principal obstacle 
to introducing this greatest agricultural im¬ 
provement of modern times, will be removed. 
This system is, beyond all doubt, the only 
one approximating perfection in the tillage of 
heavy clay land. 
A plan for under-draining, has been, to 
some extent, adopted in England, which is 
done entirely by horse or ox power, by at¬ 
taching a pointed iron spindle of about 3| 
inches diameter at the largest end, to a sharp 
coulter, which reaches to the required depth 
below the surface, say 20 to 30 inches. This 
requires a very strong team of 6 or 8 power¬ 
ful horses, when the work is done with great 
facility, by simply carrying the spindle 
through the subsoil in a horizontal direction, 
attached to the lower end of the coulter. 
The adhesiveness of the clay effectually 
closing over the drain made by the spindle, 
is said to leave a permanent passage for the 
water for years ; but as this system has not 
been extensively adopted in England, we 
may conclude it will hardly justify a trial 
here. 
Our principal object at the present mo¬ 
ment, is to give some general directions for 
cultivation of clay lands, as they are usually 
found in this country, which are the results 
of long continued, skilful practice, of the 
best farmers. The most desirable improve¬ 
ment would be, to alter the texture of this 
description of land, by the addition of a quan¬ 
tity of sand and gravel so as to modify the te¬ 
nacious character of the clay. This plan, how¬ 
ever, like that of under-draining, is too ex¬ 
pensive for this country, except in the neigh¬ 
borhood of cities, where land is sufficiently 
valuable to justify the cost; and improve¬ 
ment in this way, must be confined to such 
lands, or small patches elsewhere, where 
sand is convenient for the purpose. 
Another mode of improvement, which to 
