Transcriber's Note:
A number of typographical errors have been corrected. They areshown in the text with mouse-hover popups.
THE
PRINCIPLES, PROCESSES, AND EFFECTS
OF
DRAINING LAND
WITH STONES, WOOD, PLOWS, AND OPEN DITCHES,
AND ESPECIALLY WITH TILES;
INCLUDING
TABLES OF RAIN-FALL,
EVAPORATION, FILTRATION, EXCAVATION, CAPACITY OF PIPES; COST AND NUMBERTO THE ACRE, OF TILES, &C., &C.,
AND MORE THAN 100 ILLUSTRATIONS.
BY
HENRY F. FRENCH.
"Read, not to contradict and to confute, nor to believe and takefor granted, but to weigh and consider."—Bacon.
"The first Farmer was the first man, and all nobility rests on thepossession and use of land."—Emerson.
NEW YORK:
C. M. SAXTON, BARKER & CO.,
AGRICULTURAL BOOK PUBLISHERS, No. 25 PARK ROW
1860.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859,
By HENRY F. FRENCH,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States in and for theSouthern District of New York.
to
The Honorable Simon Brown,
of Massachusetts,
A Lover of Agriculture, and a Progressive Farmer,
whose Words and Works are so well devoted to Improve the Condition
of Those who Cultivate the Earth,
this Book is Inscribed, as a Testimonial of Respect and Personal Esteem,
by his Friend and Brother,
The Author.
The Agriculture of America has seemed to me to demand some light uponthe subject of Drainage; some work, which, with an exposition of thevarious theories, should give the simplest details of the practice, ofdraining land. This treatise is an attempt to answer that demand, and togive to the farmers of our country, at the same time, enough ofscientific principles to satisfy intelligent inquiry, and plain and fulldirections for executing work in the field, according to the best knownrules. It has been my endeavor to show what lands in America requiredrainage, and how to drain them best, at least expense; to explain howthe theories and the practice of the Old World require modification forthe cheaper lands, the dearer labor, and the various climate of the New;and, finally, to suggest how, through improved implements and processes,the inventive genius of our country may make the brain assist andrelieve the labor of the hand.
With some hope that my humble labors, in a field so broad, may not haveentirely failed of their object, this work is offered to the attentionof American farmers.
H. F. F.
The Pines, Exeter, N. H., March, 1859.