Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1870-08-25

lunches a few inches above the
soft, bare, encircling mud. The
bog ranged in depth from few
inches TO five or six feet, and was
composed of black, peaty, vegeta-
bic mold, diversified by occasional
streaks of clay or sand, all rest.
ing on substratum of hard, coarse
gravel, out of which two or three
springs dubbed up, in addition
to the half a dozen which poured
in from the east, and a tiny rivu-
let which Except in a very dry,
hot time) added the tribute of
three or iour more which sprung
from the base of d high shelf Of
the hill near the middle of what
is now my farm. Add to these
that the brook which brawled and
foamed down my hillside near
my south line as aforesaid, had
brought along an immensely of
pebbles and gravel of which it had
mainly formed my five acres of
dryer lowland, had thus built up
a pretty swale, whereon it had the
bad habit of filing up one chan
mel, and then cutting another,
more devious and eccentric, if pos
sible, than any of It's predecessors
and you have some idea OF the
obstacles encountered and re-
solved to overcome. One of my
first substantial improvements was
the cutting of a strait channel for
this current and, by walling it
with large stones compelling the
brook to respect necessary imita-
tions. 1t was not my fault that
some of those stones were set near.
ly upright, SO as to veneer the
brook rather than thoroughly con-
strain it; hence some of the stones
undermined by strong currents,
were pitched forward into the
brook by high Spring freshes, SO
as TO require resetting more care
fully. This was a mistake, but
not one of
My BlunderS.-These, the nat
ural result of inexperience and
haste, were very grave. Not on
ly had ] no real experience in
draining when began, but could
hire no foreman who knew much
more of it than l did. ought to
have begun by securing an ample
and sure fall where the water left
my land, and next cut down the
brooklet or open ditch into which
| intended to drain to the lowest
practicable point--so low, at least,
that no drain running into it
would be troubled with back wa
ter. Nothing can be more USE
less than a drain in which water
stagnates, choking it with mud.
Then l should have bought hun
dreds Of hemlock and other cheap
boards, split them to a width of
four or five inches, and having
opened the needed drains laid these
in the bottom and the tile there
upon, taking care to 6reak joint
by covering the meeting ends of
two boards with the middle of a
tile. Laying tile in the soft mud
of bog, with nothing beneath
to prevent their sinking, is simply
throwing away labor and money.
| cannot wonder that tile-drain-
ing seems to many a humbug
seeing that SO many tile are laid
so that they can never do any
good.
Having by successive purchase,
become owner of fully half of this
swamp, and by repeated plumbers
discovered that making stone
drains in a bog, while it is a cap
ital mode of getting rid of the
stone, is no way at all to make
drains, l closed my series of ex-
periments two years since by care
fully relaying any generally USE
less tile on good strips Of board,
sinking them just as deep as l
could persuade the water to run
off freely, and, instead of allowing
them to discharge into brooklet
or open ditch, connecting each
with a covered main of four to-
six.inch tile (; these mains dis
charging into the running brook
which drains all my farm and
three or four Of those above it just
where it runs swiftly off from my
land. If thaw or heavy rain
swells the brook las it sometimes
willy SO that it rises above my out
let aforesaid, the strong current
formed by the concentration of |
the clear contents of so many
drains will not allow the muddy
water of the brook to back into it
SO many as three feet at most
and any mud or sediment that
may be deposited there will be
swept out clean whenever the
brook shall have fallen to the