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lands of the class under consideration vary with every locality, no specific directions for the treatment of individ ual cases can be given within the limits of this chapter; but the problem will rarely be a difficult one.

The removal of the rain-fall and water of filtration is the next point to be considered.

So far as the drainage of the land, in detail, is concerned, it is only necessary to say that it may be accomplished, as in the case of any other level land which, from the slight fall that can be allowed the drains, requires close attention and great care in the adjustment of the grades.

The main difficulty is in providing an outlet for the drains. This can only be done by artificial means, as the water must be removed from a level lower than high-water mark, sometimes lower than low water.

If it is only required that the outlet be at a point somewhat above the level of ordinary low-water, it will be sufficient to provide a sufficient reservoir, (usually a large open ditch,) to contain the drainage water that is discharged while the tide stands above the floor of the outlet sluice-way, and to provide for its outflow while the level of the tide water is below the point of discharge. This is done by means of sluices having self-acting valves, (or tide-gates,) opening outward, which will be closed by the weight of the water when the tide rises against them, being opened again by the pressure of the water from within, as soon the tide falls below the level of the water inside of the bank.

The gates and sluices may be of wood or iron,-square or round. The best would be galvanized iron pipes and valves; but a square wooden trunk, closed with a heavy oak gate that fits closely against its outer end, and moves freely on its hinges, will answer capitally well, if carefully and strongly made. If the gate is of wood, it will be well to have it lie in a slightly slanting position, so that its own weight will tend to keep it closed when the tide first

commences to rise above the floor, and might trickle in, before it had acquired sufficient head to press the gate against the end of the trunk.

As this outlet has to remove, in a short time, all of the water that is delivered by the drains and ditches during several hours, it should, of course, be considerably larger than would be required for a constantly flowing drain from the same area; but the immense gates,-large enough for a canal lock, which are sometimes used for the drainage of a few acres of marsh, are absurd. Not only are they useless, they are really objectionable, inasmuch as the greater extent of their joints increases the risk of leakage at the time of high water.

The channel for the outflow of the water may sometimes, with advantage, be open to the top of the dyke or dam,—a canal instead of a trunk; but this is rarely the better plan, and is only admissible where the discharge is into a river or small bay, too small for the formation of high waves, as these would be best received on the face of a well sodded, sloping bank.

The height, above absolute low water, at which the outlet should be placed, will depend on the depth of the outlet of the land drain, and the depth of storage room required to receive the drainage water during the higher stages of the tide. Of course, it must not be higher than the floor of the land drain outlet, and, except for the purpose of affording storage room, it need not be lower, although all the drainage will discharge, not only while the tide water is below the bottom of the gate, but as long as it remains ower than the level of the water inside. It is well to place the mouth of the trunk nearly as low as ordinary low-water mark. This will frequently render it necessary to carry a covered drain, of wood or brick, through the mud, out as far as the tide usually recedes,-connected with the valve gate at the outlet of the trunk, by a covered box

which will keep rubbish from obstructing it, or interfering with its action.

When the outlet of the land-drains is below low-water mark, it is of course necessary to pump out the drainage water. This is done by steam or by wind, the latter being ecor.omical only for small tracts which will not bear the cost of a steam pump. Formerly, this work was done entirely by windmills, but these afford only an uncertain power, and often cause the entire loss of crops which are ready for the harvest, by obstinately refusing to work for days after a heavy rain has deluged the land. In grass land they are tolerably reliable, and on small tracts in cultivation, it is easy, by having a good proportion of open ditches, to afford storage room sufficient for general security; but in the reclaiming of large areas, (and it is with these that the work is most economical,) the steam pump may be regarded as indispensable. It is fast superseding the windmills which, a few years ago, were the sole dependence in Holland and on the English Fens. The magnitude of the pumping machinery on which the agriculture of a large part of Holland depends, is astonishing. There are such immense areas of salt marsh in the United States which may be tolerably drained by the use of simple valve gates, discharging above low-water mark, that it is not very important to consider the question of pumping, except in cases where owners of small tracts, from which a sufficient tidal outlet could not be secured, (without the concurrence of adjoining proprietors who might refuse to unite in making the improvement,) may find it advisable to erect small pumps for their own use. In such cases, it would generally be most economical to use wind-power, especially if an accessory steam pump be provided for occasional use, in emergency. Certainly, the tidal drainage should first be resorted to, for when the land has once been brought into cultivation, the propriety of introducing steam pumps will become more apparent,

and the outlay will be made with more confidence of profitable return, and, in all cases, the tidal outlet should be depended on for the outflow of all water above its level. It would be folly to raise water by expensive means, which can be removed, even periodically, by natural drainage.

When pumps are used, their discharge pipes should pass through the embankment, and deliver the water at lowwater mark, so that the engine may have to operate only against the actual height of the tide water. If it delivered above high-water mark, it would work, even at low tide, against a constant head, equal to that of the highest tides.

CHAPTER X.

MALARIAL DISEASES.

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So far as remote agricultural districts are concerned, it is not probable that the mere question of health would induce the undertaking of costly drainage operations, although this consideration may operate, in connection with the need for an improved condition of soil, as a strong argument in its favor. As a rule, "the chills are accepted by farmers, especially at the West, as one of the slight inconveniences attending their residence on rich lands; and it is not proposed, in this work, to urge the evils of this terrible disease, and of "sun pain," or "day neuralgia," as a reason for draining the immense prairies over which they prevail. The diseases exist,-to the incalculable detriment of the people, and thorough draining would remove them, and would doubtless bring a large average return on the investment; but the question is, after all, one of capital; and the cost of such draining as would remove fever-and-ague from the bottom lands and prairies of the West, and from the infected agricultural districts at the East, would be more than the agricultural capital of those districts could spare for the purpose.

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