Arkansas true Democrat., 1859-12-28
Swamp Land Levees and Ditches.

4A peICl, Ihc CdIl joaquin lIe- publican, has an article on the subject of the swamp lands, in that State. That DOT tlon of the article which we copy below, it seems to us, must interest those concerned in building levees. Millions ofdollars have been spent in this State, in the endeavorto reclaim swamp lands, and the work has All been done by hand. It appears that pro- per machinery can be used, by which the expense will be greatly reduced. A con- tract was made last week by the State en- gineer, with parties in the Batesvil}e dis trict, for levee, the estimated cost of which Is forty thousand dollars There is. or will be at the close of the present year, thirty or forty thousand dollars in the treasury, subject to pay for levee work in the Clarks- vile district. Besides this, some counties in this State are paying levee tax, as high as sixty thousand dollars It is evident that, by the use of machinery, such as de- scribed below, the work could be done at a much less cost. The San Joaquin Re- publican says:
 ''The principal objection to attempting the work of draining has been the heavy expense attending 1t. Two dollars per rod for ditching and leveeing a moderate sized pasture, amounts to quite large sum, and 1t has been a great desideratum to reduce this expense. Some have succeeded by careful management in so doing, but still the very lowest sum for which the labor has been procured to be done has been SO high as to prevent reclamation beings car rled on to any great extent.
 We are glad to see that at last machine " has been introduced to accomplish what could not be done to advantage by hand la- Dor. Some days since we witnessed, in company with gentleman who had accom- panied us from Stockton for that purpose, the performance of blow used for the pur- pose to which we have referred. We had previously heard much of this wonderful machine, but our ideas of its operation were extremely limited and vague
 After travelling about mile upon the bank of slough, in a decidedly uncomfor- table depth of water, we came suddenly upon a windlass with yoke of oxen travel ing around 1t. To this windlass was at- tached stout cable, and the other end of tine cable was firmly fastened to the ditch ing blow. This is a very strongly con- structed machine, and operates with great | precision. As the cable is wound about | the windlass by the OK power, the blow l cuts into the earth to the depth of twenty eight inches and to the width of two feet. | and is drawn towards the windlcss, throw ing up q turrow of the entire size thus cut out. This is landed by the mould board perfectly smooth, in reversed position, about two feet from the ditch, in similar manner with which common sod blow turns up and lays over furrow in tough | sward. This instrument works with much greater nicity, however, as 1t is provided with knives st each side and at the bottom We carefully examined this immense sized furrow, which was thus ingeniously and | quickly made into a levee, and found it un- broken for half mile. In fact, it was so firmly bound together by thousands of in- terlacing roots, that it was impossible to separate 1t except by cutting. We are as- sured by good authority that the levees thus made are perfectly water tight after being allowed to settle few days. The blow is capable on land of even surface, by the use of two windlasses and two yoke of cat tie, of making at least half a mile of ditch and levee per day, and the owner of the machine will contract to execute such work at fifty cents per rod.
 It IS proper to state that there is also a machine which is used to be drawn over uneven ground, to prepare it for the recep ton of the ditch blow. This is in the shape of harrow, and is provided with the neces- sary cutting apparatus, the machine being constructed to throw the dirt and other ob- structlons cut off, to sufficient distance each side to prevent interference with the subsequent cutting operation.
 We have ourselves formed so high m opinion of the machinery which we have at tempted to describe, that we have thought It we'll to make an extended notice of if = Should It be as successful as we hone wealth almost uncounted will be added fl the resources of the State. and thousands . families will be provided with homes ,vb, might otherwise be prevented from form;ne portion of our population and adding {, our prosperity"
 R-<<1~-.z
 :. ES- The proprietors of the Now Orlean Crescent, in July, 1857, refused to pav tax of Sio on property inve,t,d in the; newspaper establishment, on the groun, that It was exempt from taxation under ., tlcle lO6 of the State Constitution. the fir. clause of which reads "the Press shall free" In lower Court, the ground take oy the proprietors of the Crescent was su, tanned. but on the appeal, the Suprem Court reversed this ruling, and decreed tb,
 the defendants should pay one per cent
 month interest as damages to the agrrieve ety. from the time of the refusal to pay u X tax. f9 = D Hsg. IHha Cha rlnn4e,, c