me
is augmented in a still greater ratio. It is quite doubtful whether
England could at this time sustain her increased population, if it were
not for her system of thorough-drainage. In my own practice, the result
has been such as to convince me of its advantages, and I should be
unwilling to enter into any new cultivation without thorough drainage."

B. P. Johnson, Secretary of the New York Board of Agriculture, in answer
to some inquiries upon the subject of drainage with tiles, writes us,
under date of December, 1858, as follows:

"I have given much time and attention to the subject of drainage, having
deemed it all-important to the improvement of the farms of our State. I
am well satisfied, from a careful examination in England, as well as
from my observation in this country, that tiles are far preferable to
any other material that I know of for drains, and this is the opinion of
all those who have engaged extensively in the work in this State, so far
as I have information. It is gratifying to be assured, that during the
year past, there has been probably more land-draining than during any
previous year, showing the deep interest which is taken in this
all-important work, so indispensable to the success of the farmer."

It is ascertained, by inquiry at the Land Office, that more than
52,000,000 acres of swamp and overflowed lands have been selected under
the Acts of March 2d, 1849, and September 28th, 1850, from the dates of
those grants to September, 1856; and it is estimated that, when the
grants shall have been entirely adjusted, they will amount to 60,000,000
acres.

Grants of these lands have been made by Congress, from the public
domain, gratuitously, to the States in which they lie, upon the idea
that they were not only worthless to the Government, but dangerous to
the health of the neighboring inhabitants, with the hope that the State
governments might take measures to reclaim them for cultivation, or, at
least, render them harmless, by the removal of their surplus water.

Governor Wright, of Indiana, in a public address, estimated the marshy
lands of that State at 3,000,000 acres. "These lands," he says, "were
generally avoided by early settlers, as being comparatively worthless;
but, when drained, they become eminently fertile." He further says: "I
know a farm of 160 acres, which was sold five years ago for $500, that
by an expenditure of less than $200, in draining and ditching, has been
so improved