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drainage ; and now having brought myself and you to this historical re¬ 
cognition of the value of draining, I shall say, with as much concise¬ 
ness as I am able, what I have to say of drainage. 
It will not, I hope, be necessary for me to prove the injury done to agri¬ 
culture by stagnant water, from whatever source the moisture arises, whe¬ 
ther from surface water or from springs beneath the surface, the necessity 
still exists for its removal. I will take it for granted that all argument 
on this head is useless, and that all admit the value of dry land and the 
worthlessness of wet. No grass or grain ever grew upon a lake, sub¬ 
merged land will produce nothing ; marshes grow grass in spite of the 
water dwelling upon them, by reason of their low level, and by the 
accumulation of animal, vegetable and mineral matter, of which they 
became the natural deposits. The most of the higher lands, the moulder¬ 
ing of stones, the debris of the hills, all find in these level plains a safe 
deposit—the very elements of fruition are forced into the marshes, and 
according to their low and level situations they are richer in all that is 
necessary to sustain the growth of plants than any other land. The water 
which also makes them an abiding place, is the only drawback; if these 
marshes were drained, if the water ran off them, instead of staying upon 
them, there would be no bounds to their luxuriance. A crop of marsh 
hay is poor amends for what might be produced; watery aquatic plants, 
which have no feeding quality, are stuffed into the stomachs of the horse 
and neat cattle, without accomplishing any of the purposes for which 
food is destined, beyond saving from starvation, Well, then, to cast this 
water off these rich plains and valleys is the object of draining, and if 
this can be effected, then will the desert blossom as the rose. 
To change a marsh from its foetid, cold, and vaporous atmosphere, 
into a fruitful and smiling plain ; to render a bog or swamp, where no 
sure footing can be found, into solid and substantial earth ; to make 
aquatic plants give place to rich and feeding herbs ; to render agreeable 
food to the animal instead of coarse wiry unpleasant grass, is the object 
of draining land—to do which, each agriculturist so purposed must make 
not only a survey of his own but of adjacent lands. Purposing, as I pre¬ 
sume he will, to drain his whole farm, he will make such an observation 
or view as will enable him to determine where to commence his work, 
he will open up a ground trench drain leading through his land, and he 
