ted to be completed in ten days, and then I shall have
laid, of

Stone drains, including mains 702 rods
Tile drains (two inches, or larger) 1043 "
----
In all 1745 "

or, about five and one-half miles, laying dry, _satisfactorily_,
about thirty-five acres. The character and extent of the work will
better appear by reference to the plan of the farm which I send
with this for your inspection.

The earlier portion was fairly described by the Committee of the
Bangor Hort. Soc.--(See Report, for 1856, of the Maine Board of
Agriculture.) It was far too costly, as usual in works of a novel
character conducted without practical knowledge. No part of my
draining, even that of this season, has been done so cheaply as it
ought to be done in Maine, and will be done when tiles can be
bought at fair prices near at hand. I call your attention
particularly to this, because the magnitude of the cost, as I
represent it, ought not to be taken as a necessary average, or
standard outlay per acre, by any one contemplating similar
improvement, when almost any farmer can accomplish it equally well
at far less cost. My unnecessary expenditures will not have been in
vain, if they serve as a finger-post to point others in a
profitable way.

My land had upon its surface, and mingled in its super soil, a
large quantity of stones, various in size, from the huge boulders,
requiring several blasts of powder to reduce them to movable size,
to the rubble stones which were shoveled from the cart into the
drains. To make clean fields all these had to be removed, besides
the many "heaps" which had been accumulated by the industry of my
predecessors. A tile-drain needs no addition of stone above the
pipe; indeed, the stone may be a positive injury, as harboring
field vermin, or, if allowed to come within two feet of the
surface, as obstructing deep tillage, and favoring the access of
particles of soil upon or into the tile with the rapid access of
water which they promote. Carefully placed to the depth of six or
eight inches in a four-foot drain, quite small stones are, perhaps,
useful, and they certainly facilitate the drawing of water from the
surface. Such was, and still is, with ma