Drainage.

When considering the subject of springs, allusion was made to the large proportion of the soil which during a part of the year is too wet for tillage, caused by the numerous springs issuing from the hill sides; and also oozing from swamps and marshes, affecting unfavorably a large area of the county.

There are no present means for determining the number of acres thus injured, but the extent is so great as seriously to call for remedy. Too moist for grain, these lands are devoted to grass, under a mistaken idea that a better profit is thus secured, or at least that no loss is incurred; if however the owners would examine the grass produced from wet fields, or the hay taken from their surface, they would find each of little value, compared with the nutritious grasses and hay taken from cultivated dry grounds; the grasses on wet fields being chiefly aquatic plants.

The waste lands and unproductive fields have attracted the notice of many farmers, and various attempts have been made to disperse or discharge stagnant or surplus water. In some cases trenches have been dug two or three feet deep into which slabs were laid on rough scantling; into others stones have been thrown to the depth of one foot; in either case they were then filled and left to perform the required duty. Such drains cannot do much service and in general are a waste of time and labor; those made with slabs decay in a few years, and those of loose stone soon fill with earth and become impervious.

Mr. Alpheus Morse has constructed a drain by placing stone firmly on each side of the trench upon which he placed a horizontal layer of flat stones or cap stones, thus leaving a passage for the water six inches square; above the cap stone he placed a quantity of cobble stones and then filled the trench with earth. The expence of this drain is estimated at fifty cents per rod. The recent introduction of machines for making drain tiles and drain pipes of various sizes will supercede these old systems, not from their greater

economy only, but likewise because of their more perfect and continued action in carrying off surplus moisture.*

It is estimated that drains may be constructed three feet deep and laid with the tiles made by Whartenby, of Waterloo, at a cost of about thirty-seven cents per rod. The extensive swamps and marshes of the county, need the aid of surveyors and competent engineers to produce efficient results. Public spirited individuals have pressed the importance of this subject; Colonel Miller has by his own exertions opened the Peterboro' swamp, deepening the bed of the Oneida creek, and cutting ditches four feet deep.

NOXIOUS WEEDS.-With the progress of cultivation and the introduction of the cereal grains and esculent vegetables, was introduced a class of vegetable exceedingly annoying to the husbandman, both from the obstinacy with which they retain their hold upon the soil, and the mischief done to his crops.

Many noxious weeds indigenous to the soil, and troublesome for a number of years after the lands were cleared, have gradually disappeared, and at this day are scarcely to be met with; among these are the fireweed, which springs up in abundance after the fires, by which the brush and rubbish was consumed, had passed over the surface. The down or plume attached to the seeds of this plant, was exceedingly annoying to the eyes of the men engaged in harvesting the grain among which it grew; and in thrashing, the fog of down raised by the flail was almost suffocating. This weed, however, soon disappeared, and strange intruders took its place.

At the head of noxious weeds now infesting our fields, stands Oxeye Daisy, or by some called the white daisy, the (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum) of the botanist. It, according to the best

* For an account of these machines, of the tiles and mode of using, see the State Society's Transactions for 1848, page 223.

accounts, appeared on certain farms in almost every neighborhood about the same time, not far from forty years since. In the eastern states it has been known for more than a century, and doubtless found its way west in seed grain or grass seed brought from that region. The plant is numerously supplied with seeds which are very tenacious of life. A single head of seed often produces as many as 150 or 200, and a root favorably situated may bear twenty-five perfect heads of seed, giving an aggregate of 3000 to 5000 seeds from a single grain. The numerous seeds produced soon scattered the pest over the entire county, and scarcely a meadow or pasture lot is now to be found not infested with this weed. Many prudent farmers on its first appearance made vigorous and protracted efforts to remove it from their fields by pulling up by the roots every plant as fast as it appeared; but the enemy was too numerous and insidious in his approach, to yield to this mode of warfare; all have now despaired of success in this way. How the plant is to be exterminated is yet a problem. Judging from the success met with in various experiments, the best hope appears to rest in a series of rotations of crops, in which hoed crops shall succeed the heavier growths of clover, by which the daisy is first smothered above ground, and then the roots destroyed by the thorough tillage of hoed crops. In this course, as few alternations of the fine grains should find a place as practicable. The object aimed at should be, first, to prevent the plant from going to seed; and second, to destroy the root in the soil. It will also be an advantage to stir the surface often, by which the seeds already in the soil are induced to germinate, and danger of a future growth removed. It is generally thought important to destroy the vitality of the seeds, thrown with chaff, &c., into the yard. This is best effected by fermenting the manure before it is applied to the land.

All agree that the only way to make any headway against this, as other noxious weeds, is to make the land rich, and bestow upon it thorough tillage. Thus the crop of grass or grain sown is enabled to overtop the weeds, and aid materially in destroying them. Thus far, the most that has been done to effect their eradication, is to check their growth and propagation, no one having yet suc

ceeded in perfectly destroying them. It is perhaps true that no certain way is known to effect their destruction; but a systematic and persevering effort is required, adapted to the nature of the soil, the variety of crop to be raised, and other modifying circumstan- Į ces. When growing, the juice contains a bitter ingredient, not palatable either to sheep, cattle, or horses, but when wilted and cured, the bitter taste disappears so much, that they are readily eaten by all kinds of cattle, horses, and sheep. This is also true of several varieties of weed:

The Canada Thistle next to the daisy is a pest and scourge to the farmer. It was found in the Indian clearings in the north part of the county when first settled by Europeans, and made its way pretty rapidly over the county as fast as the country was opened. The plume attached to the seed of this plant facilitates its transportation by winds to a great distance from the place of its growth and lodges the germ in every locality. Like other seeds it is also carried to remote regions by the current of brooks and rivers into which the seed may fall, by birds feeding upon the seeds, and cattle browsing the tops off. The roots of the thistle are exceedingly tenacious of life, running to a great depth, and when brought to the surface send forth one or more shoots at the joint. Although much more annoying when grown among grain than the daisy, they are less deprecated and feared by the farmer, for all concur in the opinion that the thistle may be exterminated if attention is given to the matter. Many indeed have nearly or quite rooted them out from their farms, while scarcely one feels sure that any thing has been accomplished against the daisy. Many by mowing alone have entirely destroyed them. To accomplish this, however, the soil must be rich so as to smother the growth of the thistle by the luxuriance of the grass or clover. Mr. James H. Dunbar, of East Hamilton, completely subdued the thistles upon a piece of land by first hoeing thoroughly, sowing barley, and seeding with clover. The clover was mowed early the next season and the sod turned over and sowed with buckwheat, and seeded again with clover, mowed once, turned over and hoed again, when all the thistles had disappeared. By this course of tillage and cropping the seed in

the soil was induced to germinate, and the young plant destroyed before the root had extended far. Canada thistles are without much difficulty destroyed and are gradually disappearing in all parts of the county.

The Butter Cup, or Yellow Daisy, (Ranunculus acrida,) is abundant in moist meadows and pastures, clothing the landscape in the season of their bloom with a mantle of golden hue. They are readily extirpated by thorough tillage, and making the surface dry and rich.

Mosses of several varieties, are among the most destructive nuisances to the pasture and meadow lands of the county; yet so unostentatious in their appearance that they have often ruined the growth of grass before the farmer is scarce aware of its existence. The appearance of these mosses is a sure indication of excess of moisture.

The Tory Weed, or Stick Tight, is a pest common to all parts of the county. It is easily removed from tilled lands and usually finds a safe retreat only in waste lands and uncultivated pastures. None but a most reckless farmer will suffer a weed so easily destroyed and yet so very ruinous to the value of wool, to grow for a single season upon his lands. It is like the mullen and common thistle, biennial, not maturing the first year; hence the opportunity to search ont and destroy it is given for two years. The awns or hooks attached to the shell of the seed attach it to the wool of sheep and bid defiance to all efforts for removing it from the part entangled; and wool thus set with burs is almost valueless.

A large number of other weeds injurious to vegetation are common to the county, all of which are easily removed by making the soil rich, and thoroughly tilling it, the only sure means of exterminating any noxious plant.