Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1859-01-21
Undsrdrsinins-Does It Psyr

Ny answer is, sometimes Il does;
sometimes il does not. i figure out
my reasons thus: Take an average
specimen of hard pan landi or that
which is cold aad wet, with an aver
age location, and where average
prices prevail; read an essay on ditch
ing, work yourself up to fever heat,
summon your cash, drive bitches
through your whole farm two RODS
apart, three feet deeP-if more than
TWO rods apart some Of your land
won't be drained, and probably not
even at that distance-this will give
eighty rods of ditch to the acre, which
will cest, generally, over fifty cents to
the rod. whether you use tile or stone
don't indulge in any UNPLEASANT
conjecturss az the possible failure of
the bitches in time to come--and the
account will stand: In37s 51C-
Cost of land cleared and improv.
ed. per acrej ""'a $45
Cost of draining, per acre. As
Cost Of draining farm, per acre, $50
lst; 1t will now, Anno Domini,
1859, do to underdrain the lands
contiguous to our large towns aud
best markets.
Cd. 1t will do to underdraiK any
where on the face Of the earth all
gardens and fruit orchards on wet
or heavy soils. The expense of
drainage is a small item compared
with the continued expense Of their
cultivation and compared with Abe
value OF their products under good
management. sa ,s.,.u
3D.. Ii will do to drain some Of our
best grain soils-tolerably well To-
Gated troubled with excess sf water.
Good, well-managed grain farms oc-
casionally yield crops worth fifty,
sixty and even eighty dollars ths
acre-they are entitled to a few tile
if they want them. sa,4t
1t will do to run occasional drains,
which, by cutting off surface water,
will dry muck land at little expense.
5th. Ii will do to use any time and
and means that can be spared 10
drain few acres, more or less, near
the barn where the manure is to be
applied to the growth Of corns pOta-
toes, &c. luiIG1Fs
Let it be remarked, however, that
il will never do 10 incur the expense
Of ditching unless the subsequent til
lage is 10 be g0od-as bad tlllage,
even on drained land, will not pay
for the expense incurred. H'
There is one thing that the ultra
adsocates Of ditchiAg should bear in
mind. We have a large portion Of
sprouty. hard-pan land, which, when
thoroughly drained, al the expense
of fifty dollars an acre, will then be
second, third fourth and fifthrrate
land. and will not bring the cost of
drainage, though exposed for sale in
every market in Christendoml ] an
not willing that the owners shsuld be
decoyed oy the eloquence Of our mo-
dera lecturers and essayists into the
expense of draining it. l have obssrv-
ed that whenever the editors OF the
Tribune, Country Gentleman. Rural.
Boston Cultfvator, &C., make speech
es or write articles, and have Nothing
to say. they at once hinge upon ditch
ing, and each time they run The
thing further into the ground. While
admit that some lands win yield
more and better grass after being
ditched, hold that at present II is not
profitable TO drain our grass lands. as
a general rule-properiy stockSd s@d
managed they will supply Oas @ncss-
sites and the necessities OF the caon-
try without. .g.-s,
Finally, concede thai in tho in
defiaite future it will happen that all
tenacious soils will be profilably
underdrained.--Csr. Rural New Yor-
ker. r,tt
THE VAINEsr FowL.-The general