ract
such traps and pitfalls of the great adversary.

A moment's thought will satisfy any farmer who has the means, that true
economy dictates a liberal expenditure of labor, at once, to obviate
these difficulties, rather than be subject for a lifetime to the
constant petty annoyances which have been named.

Open ditches, even when formed so skillfully that they may be
conveniently crossed, or water-furrows which remain where land is laid
into ridges by back-furrowing, as much of our flat land must be, if not
under-drained, are serious obstructions, at the best.

They render the soil unequal in depth, taking it from one point where it
is wanted, and heaping it upon another where it is not wanted, thus
giving the crops an uneven growth. They render the soil also unequal in
respect to moisture, because the back or top of the ridge must always be
drier than the furrow.

Thorough-drained land may be laid perfectly flat, giving us, thus, the
control of the whole field, to divide and cultivate according to
convenience, and making it of uniform texture and temperature.

Attempts have been made, to estimate the saving in the number of horses
and men by drainage, and it is thought to be a reasonable calculation to
fix it at one in four, or twenty-five per cent. It probably will strike
any farmer as a fair estimate, that, on land which needs drainage, it
will require four horses and four men to perform the same amount of
cultivation, that three men and three horses may perform on the same
land well drained.

_Drained land will not require re-planting._ There is hardly a farmer in
New England, who does not, each Spring, find himself compelled to
re-plant some portion of his crop. He is obliged to hurry his seed into
the ground, at the earliest day, because our season for planting is
short at the best. If, after this, a long cold storm comes, on wet land,
the seed rots in the ground, and he must plant again, often too late,
incurring thus the loss of the seed, the labor of twice doing the same
work, the interruption of his regular plan of business, and often the
partial failure of his crop.

Upon thorough-drained land, this cost and labor could rarely be
experienced, because nothing short of a small deluge could saturate well
drained land, so as to cause the seed to fail, if sowed or planted with
ordinary care and prudence, as to the season.

_Drained land is lighter to work._ It is often difficult to find a day
in the ye