Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-07-11
Farm and Household.


This is what we saw yesterday piece of
land belonging to a neighbor, which was
cleared more than seventy five years ago,
which has always been wet, water standing
on il in spots all the summer through. This
would bear scarcely anything few brakes
and fine frogs hair, as it is most happily
called. Two years ago the said neighbor
concluded he would take away some Of the
water and noticing spring at the upper part
of the field thought he would make begin
ming by leading that away first, and dug
drain twenty-five rods long and one lateral
five long, and laid i'll stone drain from
stones on the field, which were handy and
which he wished to get of out of sight. He
could not tell just what this drain of thirty
rods cost, expecting it would be only begin
ning-a main for a series of laterals which he
expected to be obliged TO put in. But TO his
surprise and great satisfaction that one drain
did the whole business and that one spring
had for seventy-fve years and more kept
nearly barren about two acres of most excel
lent land which last year gave a frst-rate
crop of oats, and the day we saw it, the goth,
the herds grass was standing clean and hand
some, knee high, and will give over two tons
per acre of as good quality of hay as was ever
put under shingles.
Joining these two acres were about two
acres more, in like condition, only worse. He
lOlu us ludI Ill uhNluR lllnt ne uhu 10 10 over
it, because it looked so to leave it uncut, but
that he never got enough to pay for cutting
Half load of poor stuff good for little else
than bedding, some of it carried out of places
SO wet and miry that the cattle could not be
driven there, was all there was to pay for the
labor of getting it, the use of the land taxes
etc. These four acres are situated at the foot
of hill, and so lying that by system of
laterals the last described two acres could be
readily drained into the stone drain already
laid.
If man dips into draining at ALL he is
sure of taking the draining fever, which will
be as sure of run" as the measles in FAM
lily of ten children. So he, having fixed two
acres, must needs tackle the rest With
eight days work. forty rods of tile were laid
which cost at the railroad station nine dollars,
making the entire cost of draining the last
two acres about twenty dollars. That work
was done last fall, and now the plat is plant
ed with corn and potatoes and he estimates
that the increase in yield this year will pay
all he has spent in money and labor on the
entire lot, while the improvement will be
permanent, and four acres of the best land
on his farm will be brought into profitable
cultivation, which might under some circum-
stances, change the balance from losing to
profitable farming. Nor is this a single case
This morning neighbor came to see about
some repairs for his moving machine. '"The
grass on the swamp lot is lodging now, and
Monday must cut it if it's good weather"
Ever since we can remember that swamp
was of little value except to gather cowslips,
and was made dreaded spot by poison
ivy. Forty rods of drain have converted it
into the best piece on the farm, which will
yield more grass or grain with less manure
than any other piece he has.
On our own farm an alder swamp, by q sys-
TEN of drains-some costly, from the loca-
tion-have given equally good results, and
whore we used to get the cart mired in hay
ing time, and work aud worry because we
felt all the time that we were at work on a
losing job now corn, grass and SNch thistles
where there was never a one before, are grow
ing luxuriantly where they can be harvested
and carted away with no extra trouble or
worry.
You that have such fields as these were,
just try and calculate the loss sustained in
loss of crops, and labor expended which did
not pay, and figure up whether draining pays
--Montpeler Fireman.