Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1859-09-16
FrOm Becehsr'. Fruits. Tls~sr-, and Farming.
Draining We; Lands

Draining Wet Lands
Before many year. there will bs thousand.
Of acrcs pierced with drains. But tho in.
daecments % Il which make il wise in Eng.
land and New England DO no, yet. general.
", exist in the West. The expense OF
draining one acre would buy two. Many
farmers have already more arabic land than
they can till TO Adanuec. Land redeem.
ei from slough would not ray for itself in
many years.
Bat although general introduction Of
draining would not be wise, there are many
cas- in which, 20 a limited extent, IL should
D prasiiced. Lands lying near to cite.
are sufficiently valuable, and the market Tor
farming products suro enough, TO justify
the rcclaimins OF wet pieces Of land. On
small farms Of forty and eighty acres, sur.
rounded by high.priced lands. not easily
procured Cor enlarsiug hl. farm II the own.
or should wish it, draining might be em-
ployed with advantage. \ man with a
ru,ag farm can afford expenses for high eul.
tivatiou which would brvak a ldrr, farmer.
some times large meadow or arabic heli
!, marrcd By a wet slash through the mid
die % %. a farmer would tot besrudsc the
labor Of draining ior the sake of having his
hyorite field without, blsmish. Some
times farms are in,ersccied by wet lands,
which make the passage from one part Of
the farm 10 another ditfcult AZ all times,
and almost impossible at some SEASONS of
the wear. Draining might be rcsor,ci 70 in
such case, no. 50 much for the sake Of the
land reclaimed. as for the convenience Of
the whole farm.
We know pieces Of wet, pcaty meadow
land lying close by the farmhouse, the on.
" draw back 70 the beauty Of the place. \
good farmer would wish to recover such
spot Tor the sane reason that he would pre-
Ter a handsome house 70 homely one-a
fne hor-e over a coarse looking animal
slightly fence. rather than clumsy one
There !. much strong land-but high, Aat,
and coli-which Is wet through all the
spring, resisting seed till long after other
portions Of the farm are AZ work. and which
would. but for thi. backwarlne,s. be rcs,r-
ded as the bee, land II without great eH.
pensc. such land could be cured. few farm.
err would mind the trouble or labor.
There are three kinds Of draining which
may be employed according to circuns;An.
ec.-'ub.oil.Plowins. iurrow-drainins and
ditch-draiuins When a soil i. undcrbound
bya compact. inperyious ,ai'oi, all the
raiu or melting snow is retained in the soil
until Il can ,IAa's and cvaporate. For the
.ub-lil act. ike awater-ush, door, the bot
tom Of tub. Sab.oil.plowins, by thorough
u working through this under erus;, gives
downward passage 10 the moisture, water
sink. a. it doe. in sandy loans. Nor will
such treatment Dc le,. useful to prevent the
injury Of sumner drought, Tor the depth Of
soil affords harbor Tor roots from whence
they can draw moisture when the t0p,sOh
is dry as ashes.
But there is a lini, Pui to this treatment
BY the amount Of clay contained in the sub
soil /, has been ezperimenially ascertain
81 in England, that when the soil contains
a. high as f1riy.thrse Ter cent. Of alainina
(elay) sub-o,l.plOwing Is useless, because
the clay soln ooa'esr.s and Is Is imperuous
a. ever Ia such eases, II the land has a
slight inclination in any direction, iurrow-
draining may. In some measure, relieve it
The grounl - marked out m lands as for
sowing grain and pl0wed with baek.furrows,
ihrowiug the earth toward the centre. The
rain and snow will run 10 either side, and
OF by the channels left between each strip.
This ,rcatmsni does no; relieve the land, TO
any great extent, Of water contained 10 il,
but acts a. preventive, by carrying OF the
rain and snow before they are absorbed.