Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1878-10-17
9arm anO honssboIo
Laying Cd, Drains.

Farmers of limited experience in drain
ing wet land, not unfrequently spend
an unnecessary amount OF labor and
money in digging bitches where they
are not needed. The injunction "be
sure you are right, then go ahead, was
never more applicable anywhere than
In the matter Of laying out drains.
Draining is one of the most costly, as
well as most useful operations of farm
improvement on those lands which
need il. and because the necessary cx-
pense required is SO great. it is OF the
utmost importance that no useless out
lay be incurred. Most farmers drain
too little. They dread to begin a job
which looks like a great undertaking,
but those who do begin without first
learning from books or otherwise what
others already know upon the subject.
often perform much labor and incur
considerable expense for tiles or dig
ging. which il entirely unnecessary.
Some kinds OF land eau only be drain
ed thoroughly by bitches dug at dis
tances of thirty or forty feet apart. Clay
ey lands. having but slight inclination
are of this class.
Land, to be well drained. must be SO
dilched that the surplus wafer will be
carried off in short time after a rsin-
fall Lands which are naturally loose
aud porous need fewer drains than
those which are composed chiefly OF
stiff clay, which holds the water like a
basis The lands which most need
draining in many parts of New Eng
land, are the narrow, crooked swales
which cross almost every farm in the
hlly districts. These swales are the
natural beds of small streams, perhaps
too small for any visible flow except IN
the Spring, but yet suficien. to keep
the soil too wet for cultivation, or foI
producing any but the poorer kind OF
grasses. a single spring, Welding no
more water than one would wish, If
laying an aqueduct to his buildings.
may, if the water is allowed to trickle
through the soil, keep an acre or more
of good land too wet tor the Plough OF
cultiyator.
Before deciding where TO dig drains
in a swale, one should first learn IRON
what direction the surplus water comes.
whether from springs at the sides and
along the whole length, or only from a
single source at the head of the stream.
Ii is not unusual TO find near the top OF
hills considerable tracts of level, swampy
land, the drainage from which. finding
its way down the sides, produce the
swaley land so common in all hilly dis
tricts. Now. if one of these swales is
made wet wholly By water running on
from above. it would be waste OF la
Dor and money TO cut it all up with
drains, for single ditch running from
The lower TO the upper portion. will as
effectually carry of the water, and leave
the land Oh either side in condition for
cultivation, as though system of her
ringboEe drainage had been laid out
and charged for by the most skillful
engineer in the land. Many people
seem TO look upon land drainage a.
something very difficult. when it is
really as simple as playing in the dir,
or padding in the water. Water runs
down hill If it runs on the top of our
fields. or if it spreads out and fills the
soil full Of water to the surface, ii is in
the way of cultivation. To remove il
We have only TO make a channel below
the surface and keep the water in il.
Water stands on the surface OF our fields
because the wafer is lighter than the
materials Of which the fields are COM
posed. Were it otherwise. we should
find the sand. loan. aud clay al the top
and the wafer Observation-Disclosures pas
ses down through our soils when the
materials are loose and porous, like
coarse sand, but remains on or in the
soil when supported by a layer OF earth,
90 fine and compact as TO prevent the
water from passing through. This is
the condition in which we find most of
the swamps and swsles; they are
underlaid by stratum of clay or hard
pan which holds the water as in a basin.
Sometimes this hard pan is near the
surface, as in most swaley soils. at 9th
err times we find it many feet below, as
in ponds and swampe.
To drain swamp Or pond it is onI,
necessary to break hole in the side OF
the basin. when the water will run oui.
To drain swale We must simply make
Q narrow channel for The water to how
through.
We have in mind one of these wet
swales. which has recently been drain
Cd 1t considerable expense. Drains
were dug in quite regular order. each