Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1851-01-17
S3.62G 70

/ iOth NtRStdUIes VI All hlllus, s.OZJ -
5000 10
These are certainly large receipts to derive
| from the products OF tWenty-six acres OF land.
1t is true Mr.. Pierce has The advantage of a
ready market and good prices; but after ma
king every allowance that exists, or can be
| thought of, think we must all conclude that
high cultivation is the true system that
"'7is folly in the ertremc to till
Extensive ilelds, and till them i'll
For more one fertile acre yields
Than the huge breadth of barren fields"
next visited LEONARD STONE, Esq, at his
farm in Watertown. Mr.. Stones home farm
consists of | 5 acres of woodland and PASTURE
! % acres of reclaimed meadow, and so acres
devoted to fruit, market gardening, and rota.
ton of field crops. The largest portion of his
tillage land is stiff, moist loan, resting on
substratum OF clay; and although the surface
is quite rolling, it requires great deal Of
draining to fit the soil for profitable tage.-
| The balance of the tllage-land is a light, dry,
warm loam, with some very gravelly knolls,
and the whole rests upon open gravely
subsoil.
The owner has for several years bopn clear
ing his tlllago-ields Of stones. which were tor
merry so numerous as to be much in the vav
Of the plow. They have been sunk in the corr
s'tucion of drains and thus the surface Of
OF about every acre Of the stiff land mas been
relieved OF both stones and surplus MOISTURE
The bitches fer drains are dug about three
ieet deep, and Of convenient width to work in ;
in them, drains are first laid. six inchcs wide
and ten inches high, of small cobble stones,
and covered with larger size of the same the
bitches are then filled with small stones,
within foot of the surface of the ground
layer of shavirgs or tough sods is Il e1 put on,
and the work leveed mp with loose earth. The
drains thus constructed have stood from eight
to twelve years, and still work well.
There are two reclaimed swamps m this
farm, of about twelve acres each They are
underlaid at suitable distances with stone drains
wherever there is sufficient fall To the land to
produce good draught through them AMI
where the land is nearly level, open dchpS
are made. The open drains used frequently to
become imperative by the wa hing and cavinC
in Ct their banks-occasoned bv high heshe,4
in the spring. After varous experiments, the
following plan forther protection was aiop'ed
AS early IN the summer as the water had fallen
away so as To admit Of working. commence
ment was made at the lower end or outlets of
the ditch, by throwing a temporary dam across
it, a few RODS above or up the ditch the nor
ton thus freed of water was then clear, d out:
the sides were made of uniform and proper
sant; narrow trenches were dug, tnur inches
lover than the matt rI level OF the bottom Of tho
cNch; Sols were cut from the swamp, SIX IL
ches wide, eighteen inches long, and four in
ches thick; then, commencing in the narrow
trench, four inches lower than the bottom of
the ditch in order 10 prevent the undermining
OF the work, and following up the s'an,ed sides
with one course lhck of solS, and brea king
joints in the upward course The same as is done
IN laying BRICK, and laying the sodS grass side
down, the wall or soddlng was carried M rear-
y 10 the surface of the swamp; a sufficient
portion OF the sur'are was pared down 10
lovel with the wall so that 1t adm f sd
on top, aid grass side np, and level with tho
surrounding swami, and resting on tho sol
wall and on tn" natural or und the face Of
the banks was then trinmnI m 9th w IN
SPADE the temporary dam move further M
} the ditch, and so on, till the whole line was
completed. The grass Immediately sar'-
ed from the edges OF the sods and before win
ter, the who'e surface of the banks was well
covered with grass. These banks have stood
perfectly for nine years.
In draining the bog moadow. , ditch ha.
hecn dug three feet ieon and fonr feet wide
the whole length of the border he,wcon tho nm.
lands and the meadows. In this s,ono dr,i,
, was first made. thon,he ditch filed with stones
and stone wall built on ton for a fence. by
which three purposes have been acrnmnlished.
Il e stones form the Hp lands have found a res
ting place. out of the way Of the operations Of
, tillagc; the springs flowing into the swamns
p from the nplands have been cut Off. and the
g earth taken from the ditch is inst the thinr for
a covering for the meadows. W1cn the drain.
AGE is c mpletcd. those parrs Of the meadow
mat have dried Off enough to bear nm 4 team
b are plowcd and those that arc sill too we, and
r miry are turned over with b,r-hoo When
the surface of the meadow j, frozen cr,v Io,m
Z or gravel whichever is hsni.cst, is car Cd ON
,rJ s,rood ,,o o,,,I = Ll, ;L -,