ful execution of a plan of
drainage on land so level as this, that careful measurements be
made on the ground with an engineer's level, and such a
representation of its surface projected as will show to the eye at
a glance what all the natural inclinations are. The work can then
be laid out with ease in the best position, and executed in a
systematic manner. The time and labor which is devoted to such an
examination of the ground is well spent, and, with the knowledge
gained by it, the work can be carried on with such economy as to
save the original cost of the examination many times over.

Very truly, yours,
SHEDD & EDSON
Hon. H. F. FRENCH, Exeter, N. H.

STATEMENT OF HENRY F. FRENCH, OF EXETER, N. H.

The drained field represented in the plan (Fig. 102), contains
about eight acres. I purchased it in 1846. The upper part of it is
sand, with underlying clay at depths of from four to ten feet. The
field slopes towards the river, and, on the slope, the clay strata
coming out to the surface, naturally bring out the water, so that
the side hill was so wet as to produce cranberries--quite too wet
for any hoed crop. At the foot of the hill the soil is a stiff
clay, with veins of sand and gravel. Through the centre was a wet
ravine, which served as a natural outlet for the springs, and which
was so full of black alders as to make an excellent cover for
woodcock. Until the land was drained, this ravine was impassable in
the hay season even, except by a bridge which I built across it.
Now it may be crossed at any season and at any point.

I first attempted to drain the wettest parts with brush drains,
running them into the wet places merely, and succeeded in drying
the land sufficiently to afford good crops of hay. I laid one
brush-drain across the brow of the hill, five feet deep, hoping to
cut off all the water, which I supposed ran along upon the surface
of the clay. This dried the land for a few rods, but the water
still ruined the lower parts of the field, and the drain produced
very little effect upon the land above it. In 1856, finding my
brush drains quite insufficient, I thorough-drained the side-hill
on the lower part of the plan at the reader's left hand, at fifty
feet distances,