although evidently more durable in structure, yet objectionable because it makes a drain with a flat bottom of five inches in width.

"Each plow was furnished with one hundred feet of two-inch cable, and each drained or ditched at about the depth of three feet, or forty inches. The length of drain which each is capable of making per day is about the same. The character of the land on which the trial was made, may be said to consist of a stiff clay subsoil, and a rather stiff loamy clay soil. With a good team, any one of these plows can ditch from seventy-five to a hundred rods per day, in the kind of soil in which the trial was made.

"The committee desire it to be distinctly understood that they do not consider these mole plows to be of any considerable utility in any other than level, or very slightly undulating clay lands. For sandy loams, or gravelly soils, or very undulating lands, they can not commend them. In such lands, the only method of securing the advantages of underdraining, is to employ drain pipe tiles.

"The mole plow is useful, inasmuch as it helps to demonstrate the benefits of thorough draining more promptly than it could otherwise be done, although this has never been found the best method of making drains. The fact that work done in this manner is never permanent, and that mole plows are adapted to use on a part only of the lands needing drainage, has always prevented their coming into general use, while tile draining has the advantage of being suited to lands of every character, whatever the nature of the soil or surface, and the further advantage of being permanent, and in most cases actually cheaper than any other method."

We will conclude this notice of the mole plows with the following communication to the Ohio Farmer, from the pen of James M. Trimble, of Hillsboro, Highland county, Ohio. Mr. Trimble is engaged in farming on an extensive scale, and is well and favorably known to the Ohio agricultural community :

"Spending some six or eight days on my farm in Fayette, while looking over the farm accounts, I was reminded of my promise made, to give you the result of our ditching and underdraining operations for the year 1860. I have with some care taken from the diary of the farm the ditching and underdraining account. The present account includes the work of 1858 and 1859, which I gave you last year. The creek runs north and southerly across the farm; the work has been confined to the prairie land west of the creek. The open ditches contain in all 2,041 rods, varying from 3 to 6 feet in depth, and cut at a cost of $910. The land next to, and adjoining the creeks, for some 30 to 50 rods, is from two to five feet higher than it is from 100 to 200 rods west, which required the outlets or open ditches to be some three to five feet deeper across this elevation than those are from 100 to 200 rods west of the creek.

"The drains were put in at from three feet to three feet six inches deep, which received the working of the mole at a sufficient depth in the clay subsoil to make the drains more permanent and lasting. The total amount of underdrains put in is 4,560 rods, at a cost of $190, making the entire cost of open and underdrains $1,100, from which, deducting $536, expended in 1858 and 1859, leaves $564, expended in 1860. Most of the open ditches cut during the last year, were made with the plow and scraper. They are not only a cheaper but a better ditch than those cut with a spade, the dirt being removed so far from the bank as to prevent its washing or falling into the ditch. The fall in the drains and open ditches is barely sufficient to carry off the water. In time of high water, the creek leaches up some of the open ditches a distance of 200 rods. The underdrains were laid so as to receive a regular fall of about one inch to 500 feet, which I think a decided advantage in mole drains, as it secures them permanently from any current or wash, in throwing off the surplus water.

"The land, with the exception of an occasional grove of timber, was broken up, planted, and well cultivated in corn this year, with the exception of 60 acres of prairie sod, broken late; it was planted with corn with Barnhill's drill, thinned out, but not cultivated.

Although not accurately measured with compass and chain, yet we have so far measured the ground as to satisfy us, that, excluding groves, we had 400 acres in corn, 200 acress of which have been cut up and put in shock. Of that left standing, we have husked and fed at the rate of 100 bushels per day, for the last sixty days, and have husked out a number of fallen shocks of that shocked up. From the amount husked out, we have no doubt that the entire crop of 400 acres will average over 66 bushels per acre. My son and Mr. Jere Shelton, who have charge of the work and farming the land, concur in the opinion that fifteen bushels of corn per acre is but a fair estimate for the excess in yield, on account of underdrains. I would put it at twenty; but taking their estimate, the account will stand thus Farm Dr. to open and underdrains, $1,100; Cr. by extra yield of crop, 15 bushels per acre on 400 acres, which is 6,000 bushels of corn, at 25 cents per bushel, makes $1,500, from which deduct $564, cost of open and underdrains for 1860, and you have $936 as the profit for 1860.

"Now this looks like extravagant work on paper, and the question might be asked if 11 rods of underdrains, and some two rods of open ditch per acre (about one half of the open ditch, extending over 900 acres of land), at a cost of $2 per acre, or less, will give these results, what will thorough drainage do? To this I would reply, judging from the corn, directly over and within six to eight feet of the underdrains, and comparing it with that beyond the influence of the drains, I would put the crop at 100 bushels in lieu of 66 bushels.

"As to the question of durability of mole drains (a very important item in their economy), I can only say, from present indications, my better impression is, that they may last ten or more years, and that they will last five years, I have no doubt.

"The fall rains have started the most of my underdraining; they are throwing off small streams of water, as freely as they did last spring; if there is a single defective drain on the farm, I am not aware of it. Last spring, in constructing new drains, it became necessary to connect with those made a year previous. In digging down to, and boxing up these connections, we found the original drain sound and perfect in every instance. I have no fears of my drains crumbling in, caving in, or filling up, at least for many years to come. Most of the defective mole drains that I have seen or heard of, cave in from top of the ground to the bottom of the drain, or they fill up. This is owing to two causes: First, too much fall has been given to the drain, and the seam or aperture made by the cutter bar is not permanently closed at the top of the drain, either of which is fatal to a mole drain. Second, the grade of the drain should be regular, and not run so as to make a syphon; lead pipes or tile may answer in such drains; without either the one or the other, the drains will fill up. A mole drain, with a regular, gradual fall of one inch to 1,000 feet, is abundantly better than one with irregular falls and rises, as the inequalities of the ground happen to be, with a fall of three feet in 1,000.

"In the construction of mole drains, my experience has taught me that the great trouble and danger is in the top, the arch and roof of the drain, and not in the bottom, as some suppose. The last ditcher (Emmerson's patent), the mole has been improved-as I think, very much improved in form and shape. The bottom is hollowed out more; the sides are rounded from the bottom to the apex of the cone of the mole, so as to throw the pressure equal from the side and bottom of the drain to the cone or arch, and the nub on the end of the mole, back of the cutter, is elevated some three inches above the level of the mole, which effectually closes the aperture made by the cutter, making it as solid and permanent as any other portion of the drain. My examinations in digging down to, and cutting away the arch, or the roof of the drain, has satisfied me that nine-tenths of all the water going into the drains, enters at the bottom of the drain, and not through the roof and sides; they are more impervious to water than tile. From the best information I can get, there are at this time not less than 200 miles of mole drain in Fayette and Clinton counties, put in within the past two years, and at an average cost not to exceed five cents per rod (when the owners of the land put it in); in some cases, by contract, ten and fifteen cents per rod was charged. The drains, so far as I can learn, have very generally given satisfaction.

"I may have been tedious in this statement, if so, my apology is in the importance of the subject of underdraining our lands, and the economy in the use of the mole plow in preference to tile or stone."

Mr. J. C. Miller, of Union county, Ohio, is the inventor of a traction engine, propelled or operated by horse-power, to which is attached a mole plow, that opens the channel and cements it as it progresses, by letting down a cement ready made of water lime through a flat tube in the rear of the cutter or colter, directly upon the rear of the mole, and which is pressed into shape by a wooden mole trowel following.

For ourself we have no confidence in this matter of cement, for the reason that none of the arches break down from above, but where the arches do fall in, the sides and bottom wash so as to let down the top, and the same causes operating will cause the cemented arch to fall. In making the drain with the mole plow, the top and portions of the sides become very hardly packed; in fact, so much so as almost to exclude water, and the coat of cement will give it no additional support. A sufficient amount of cement we do not think could be introduced to make a substantial arch for a loamy soil.

In addition to the kinds already described, there are yet, aside from pipe tile and stone drains, those described in British works under the head of Bog drains and Sheep drains. Having never witnessed any of these kinds of drains, and being doubtful whether any exist in the United States, we copy the following description and figures from Morton's Cyclopaedia of Agriculture:

SHEEP DRAINS.

"In forming sheep drains, the main drains should be first opened in the most suitable places, and the minor drains then led into them. In peaty or boggy places, the workman first proceeds to mark out, on both sides of the drain, with a strong and heavy edging-tool. This tool should be edged with steel, and have a cross handle, which the workman can seize with both hands. This is the tool we have found all workmen to prefer; for by simply raising it a foot or so above the surface, and causing it to descend with sudden force, it cuts through the tough, wiry stems of heath, or other obstacles, and at once makes a cut of considerable depth into the sod also. When a line of drain is thus marked out, the workman proceeds to divide the sod which he has separated, into convenient lengths, by transverse cuts with the same tool; and these he drags out and depos its on the lower side of the line of drains, by means of a light drag, placing the grassy side undermost. The drain is afterward deepened, and finished off with a common spade; the soil or peat dug out is placed upon and behind the sods already removed, after which, a blow or two from the spade gives a finish to the

bank and completes the operation, giving the trench and bank the form represented in the following cut. In places where the surface is not of a boggy nature, the common spade must take the place of the edging-tool and drag.

"Bog Draining.-In draining deep bogs, the removal of water causes a great alteration in the hight of the surface of the bog, which rapidly sinks as the drying process goes on. This constant alteration of the level, and the soft nature of bogs, render the use of heavy materials, for forming drains in them, improper. Where the bog does not exceed six or eight feet in depth, the best plan is to cut quite through it, to the bed of solid material on which it rests, and then to form drains of some of the more permanent materials; but when the bog is so deep as to render this plan impracticable, the proper course to pursue is to divide it into brakes, by means of large, open ditches, into which the subsidiary drains are made to empty. The subsidiary drains may be formed somewhat in the manner of the shoulder drain. They must be made at least eighteen inches wide, and the turf first taken out is to be laid on one side, to be used for forming the roof of the drains. The trench should not be taken out the full depth of the drain at once, but should be left unfinished for a few months, in order that the bog may subside. Before the autumnal rains commence, the drains should be finished, by paring down their sides in a perpendicular direction, to within a foot of the depth they are intended to be made. The bottom spit is then taken out, precisely as in the case of the shoulder drain in grass lands, except that it must be wider, to allow for the sides coming somewhat together, owing to the soft nature of the bog. When the trench is neatly and properly finished, the turf first removed is to be returned into the drain, which it should just fit. The surface portion should be placed undermost, resting upon the shoulders; the rest of the trench should then be filled up with the remainder of the peat which had been removed. If proper care is exercised in cutting the drain, the pieces may be made to fit neatly into the trench again, forming a very complete and efficient drain.

"In bog draining, a conduit has been employed, formed of peat, somewhat in