and not a few on which the quantity of stone to be removed
suggests the propriety of making wide ditches, in which to hide them,
(using the ditches, incidentally, as drains). A hand-book of draining is
not needed by the owners of these farms; their operations are simple, and
they require no especial instruction for their performance. This work is
addressed especially to those who occupy lands of sufficient value, from
their proximity to market, to make it cheaper to cultivate well, than to
buy more land for the sake of getting a larger return from poor
cultivation. Wherever Indian corn is worth fifty cents a bushel, on the
farm, it will pay to thoroughly drain every acre of land which needs
draining. If, from want of capital, this cannot be done at once, it is
best to first drain a portion of the farm, doing the work thoroughly well,
and to apply the return from the improvement to its extension over other
portions afterward.

In pursuance of the foregoing declaration of principles, it is left to the
sagacity of the individual operator, to decide when the full effect
desired can be obtained, on particular lands, without applying the regular
system of depth and distance, which has been found sufficient for the
worst cases. The directions of this book will be confined to the treatment
of land which demands thorough work.

Such land is that which, at some time during the period of vegetation,
contains stagnant water, at least in its sub-soil, within the reach of the
roots of ordinary crops; in which there is not a free outlet _at the
bottom_ for all the water which it receives from the heavens, from
adjoining land, or from springs; and which is more or less in the
condition of standing in a great, water-tight box, with openings to let
water in, but with no means for its escape, except by evaporation at the
surface; or, having larger inlets than outlets, and being at times
"water-logged," at least in its lower parts. The subsoil, to a great
extent, consists of clay or other compact material, which is not
_impervious_, in the sense in which india-rubber is impervious, (else it
could not have become wet,) but which is sufficiently so to prevent the
free escape of water. The surface soil is of a lighter or more open
character, in consequence of the cultivation which it has received, or of
the decayed vegetable matter and the roots which it contains.

In such land the subsoil is wet,--almost constantly wet,--and the falling
ra