Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1860-11-01
Green nlt. farmer.
Draining and Stump Extracting,

Occupying q central position IN my IarW
lands, was forbidding swamp, of about ff-
teen acres as can be found in New England,
with bushes and punches of naples growing
as thick as they could stand, perched on
stumps of former growth, around which
water stood most of the year. When the
water overaowed this, it found its way across
a twenty-five acre lot, through an open ditch
1000 feet in length, and emptied upon the
surface of large clear swamp.
A few years ago, desire to sublue the
swamp above mentioned began to come into
action. First, l wanted the geography Of
the bottom to get at that, | took light
iron rod, twelve feet long, and creeping in
among the thicket, thrust it down where
there was an opportunity. In these explo-
ratons found depression of the bottom,
Of about two acres, in which my rod would
sink its length in the middle. Here was a
grand deposit Of peat, the muck in the rest
Of the swamp being thin, generally. 10 OBJ
tain some Of this peat deposit, continued
the ditch in the valley, through the bushes,
tUU Ieet, WulCu lOOh vi IuC EulldGG WdtCl )
then, by clearing away the bushes and Sumps
and making a plank road to the shore, [
managed to get out 1900 households, by dig
,ging as in clay holes, leaving dam Of I'M
disturbed peat between the cuts
In the meantime, Twas reading the Far
mer, and there saw letters and lamentations,
to see so many places more than useless, that
could be made into the most valuable land
'by the use of tile drains. BY those read
ings, my mind was opened to see things in a
more intelligent light. then conceived the
plan, bylayiuga drain, of getting clear by
one operation Of the ugly swamp, getting at
the great deposit of peat, which [ found was
Of excellent quality, and making grand
reservoir for sudden floods, and filling the
nuisance af.2. ditch that kept the valley be-
low so cold afM wet that no useful thing
could grow,t besides being in the way of all
farm operations. A suftey was taken, and
it was found that the swamp TO be drained
was six feet above the cedar swamp and by
digging five feet on an average, one fourth
of mile, through a concrete of iron, clay
and gravel, almost as hard as stone, | should
gat four feet of peat clear of water 1t was
a formidable looking job, especially as we
J : "a 10 excavate under a railroad, beneath
:. - srt, and get almost every inch Of earth
..;.s.ssd blows of we'll sharpened picks,
N { ordered 400 pieces Of FIVE inch tile Of
Nfessrs Shedd & Edison, Of Boston. In the
summer Of 1858, / put down 1000 feet, and
this last season, put in the remaining 400
4eet, to thereservoir from which the peat had
been taken, and which was full of water,
holding about 10000 cubic feet Having
taken proper precaution to protect the pipe
from being filled, the last barrier was cut
away at five o'clock in the evening, and as
tie stagnant waters suddenly sprang for the
open pipe, flung my hat into the air, and
the.half dozen spectators gave three cheers,
sympathizing with me, knowing what obsta.
cles | had surmounted in the attainment of
so desirable an end The next morning, I
visited the place, to see how much the water
had lowered, and to my surprise, it had all
gone, and everything appeared as though it
had been ST. for hall the night! That is TO-
600 feet of water had gone one-fourth of a
mile, in a few hours through five inch tile,
with descent of two inches to 100 feet.
r. Next cut an open ditch through the
swamp above the reservoir, to let out all the
surface water, and waited to see the result
when the next food came, 1t came in Sep
TENDER, and it was food the surface of
the earth being dry; the water rushed in
from the surrounding hills, and filed the res
ervoir and bitches, bank full. The rain ceased
on Sunday afternoon. The next Wednesday
morning, all was dry as before, We have
had quito body Of Snow 60 off this Janua-
ny, but it made but little gain in the reser-
voir so it sums up thus the drain is a per-
feet success. The whole cost was about
5000.
Now I have the foundation laid for i'm
proving the swamp aud upland simultaneous.
ly, by carting out the peat to the sandy lands
and making them fertile. Then by having
all the small drains converge to where the
peat is dug out, can get thorough drain
aga in any direction in the swamp.
While going on with the work of draining,
[ have also cleared the bushes from few
acres. The bushes are cut at the most con-
yenient season. August is the time to burn.
If the bushes are cut in winter, which is the
best time, all things considered, We pass over
the fallen bush in August with u scythe, and
-
few days they become good kindlings to make
the fire run. When it has been dry weather
about two weeks, | set fire at one o'clock at
that hour in clear day fire will run brisk
ly, and make sure death to most Of the
bushes.
While approaching the point at which
arrived last fall, | had my eyes open to find
in the papers, patent office reports, agricuI-
tural fairs, warehouses, and other places,