Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 May 1859 — UNDERDRAINING. [ARTICLE]

UNDERDRAINING.

Mr. Editor: I see in your paper some articles on matters of agriculture, a»d feeling much interested in every branch of that business, permit me to offer a few remarks on underdrawing of lands. It is a given up point that the draining of land in must places in this section of country, is strictly a pre-requisit to raising remunerative crops; and as to the best a* d must efficient way to acco - plish this object, F will probably differ from the mass of your readers, in what I shall offer, but I shall give my experience and then let them judge. The most of our prairie soil is underlaid with a stifl'clay sub'-soil, and when this is ; the case no fears need be entertained as to the result ot drains constructed on the plan tha’ I shall recommend. To accomplish effectually the draining of the soil, in the manner that will result to the least inconvenience to the nlow-tnan, ought to be u matter duly considered in laying out our plans. Now, as to my opinion, I hold and recommend that underdrains will more effectually dry the land, and in no case be the least inconvenient to the plow-man; but bis team will pass over the train without notic'ng any difference in their travel, and lie cun expect as good, if not better, crops frorn the land occupied by the drain, as any other part of j his field. To make underdrains in the most desirable way, I have no doubt, is to use tile to lay in the bottorfi of the ditch,for the waterto pass under; but in this country they cannot be had at living rates, consequently we must resort to something else as a substitute. I ' take timber. In the first place, I cut iny ditch two feet wide and two feet deep,(deeper would only he better.) in the bottom of this 1 cut u trench, about eight inches wide and ten inches deep, I then saw my timber (bur oak) about twenty inches long, and split out puncheons one and a hall inches thick, and lay these puncheons crossways of the ditch, over the trench, leaving a nice tinderpassage lur the water. On top of the titnb r I throw a little straw or buy to prevent the dirt from lulling into, the trench, then I fill up the ditch and the work is done. Those that would rather discredit the

I utility of this mode of draining, might eay that so much labor, with such material, would not pay. It would be likely to fill up, &c. I only promised you my e' peiience, and that is, I have been making such ditches for tfi« last seven years, with every desired result. Some of the first I made, I put in hickory j timber, by way of experiment, to test its durability in that situation, and to-day it ansyvers as good a purpose as when first put in. I will just add, that at tlie mouth of these ditches, I have running stock water, except in an extremely dry time. Yours, truly, J. B. A Miraculous Deliverance.— At the ; burning of the Black River woolen-mills, in Watertown, New York, on Friday last, as one of the weavers was about escaping from ; the room in which he worked, he heard tiis ! little daughter,of sevenyeurs,call,“Pal pn!” He turned seized tier by the arm, and sprang I to the window just as t ie floor gave way beneath his feet, and placing the little girl be- ; tween his legs, lie thus went down the under side of the ladder hand over hand. His , left arm was burnt, buGnot very severely, i and his hair and whiskers scorched close to his head and face. The little girl was uninjured, save a slight burn on one of her le-is. Truly a miraculous deliverance. —Boston Post. R. Atcliinson, ttie ex-border ruffian Senator from Mi ssouri, still enjoys tlie sweets of private iUe on his plantation l in Clinton county Mo. During a recent revival ol religion in that section he seriously inclined: and some of has relatives, j who are zealous and consistent Methodist, , really had hopes of his conversion. But just then some friend sent him a barrel of his favorite old rye whisky (like Mr. Buchanan,, he drinks nothing but old rye,) and he returned to his old idol, and from that dav he has been the same old “Dave” Atcliinson as iof yore. Ghost in Galena, lll.—There is a married man in Galena who insists that every night, about ten o'clock, a. ghost in a woj man's garb appears in his chamber, looks Bt him with a stare that appals him, till he iturns in terror to his wife, who it seems, 1 cannot see tiie '.pparition. He has a load, d j rifle at his bedside and a bowie-knife under : his pillow, but, ns yet, he has not been able jto use either, lit hoi's his doors and fastens his win ows, but all is of no use. At the stated time the visitor appears in the i room, petrifies him with terror, and retires.

Schuyler Coffiiv, came here last Saturday and spent tiie Sabbath, leaving outlie Monday morning train for Indianapolis • He looks better than we ever r,aw h,in before, and if he continues to increase in iiis present proportions he will soon pass for an alderman. He is soon to commence speaking with Frank Biiir in 'he Minnesota canvass, which will Hveur off some of his extra Washington fiet>b.— Valparaiso Repaid ban of \ lust l CCck. , ff!?'The Richmond Palladium -says that a. onod deal of excitement has been created in [“Milton mi that count , by reported attacks l of mad dogs on h 'ga, (jogs and Cattle. One j of the children of Mr. Miiispaugh was bitten, ; and a very general infection of she horrible poison is feared among the brute part of t j village. The trustees have authorized tr,~ 1 indiscriminate killing of Jogs wherever thv«r : tin y be found. ff!/~ l’iie Bedford Independent says that Enoch Morgan, one of the “ Regulators’' v\ l»> , whipped Edward Bingham to death two or i three years ago. in Monroe county, was rej e.ently sentenced to t-e JVnileni tary for j niuet, e» years. The jury was -out several j days, one of the jurors itwisting that the j punishment should be imprisonment for liic. O^7“A man named Phillips, charged with murdering his wife at Cairo , and a man named Hanna, who recently escaped from j jail at. Thebes, were arrested at Vienna,a few days ago, endevpri-ng to make their way to Palestine; and a man was arrested in this j city, accused of horse stealing at Carthagef and was sent back by the way of HWmic. All this occurred in Illinois.— Chicago paper. A Female Sickles. A N ishville paper relates the story of a wife, who, on returning home from shopping, discovered her husband on a sofa with a handsome servant girl, and forthwith cowhided both of them. After the flagellation, the servant was discharged, and the husband forgiven, upon a promise to s'n no more. OCT’The man up in Delphi,(N. ¥.,) thirty - ! eight years old, who boasts that he never took a newspaper, says saat Santa Anna, if he pers'sts in his struggle- with Russia., will be sure«to lose all the territory of the Bosphorus and be excluded from- she r/avigation of the Amazon Sea. ff!?”The Logan sport, End',, Journal savs that gold has been found among quartz, at Tippecanoe river, two miles from VVinneI mac, which lias been tested, and proved to ! be of a pure quality, rating as high as twenty carats, or only lour carats from perfect purity. ff5“A writer ir the New York Examiner states that the A meric? n and Foreign Bible Society last year incurred an expense of sixteen thousand dollars in collecting and ap propri ting eighteen thousand dollars for the benevolent work of the organization. Of!?”The N'*w Orleans Delta, which aided in electing Mr. Buchanan, now proposes that he shall resign the Presidency, and that the party shall make up a pony-purse for iiitn equal to his salary for the remainder of his terns.' OCylt is said that Koss .th baa passed through Paris, on his road, it is supposed, to Hungary, to use the present opportunity tq excite a new revolution, and secure the freedom of Ins country. John J. Crittenden and lady were in Vinceim-s on Friday, Mr. C. bad not visiteu the “Old Post” before, since 1812, when lie was there lor several weeks on the j sick fist as a soldier, R. J. Dawson, of Fort \Vayne, Indiana, the Democratic candidate tor Cop. gress from lus district, at the last election, ; died on the 16th inst, (g5~An infant was born in Baltimore, on i Wednesday, huvipg at its birth a full aet of 1 teeth.