ditches--and they should be covered so deeply that a plow,
although sunk to the beam, can pass over them. Tiles or the top of
a stone drain should be at least two feet below the surface. If
the ground of the acre is underlaid with a porous subsoil, there
is usually an adequate natural drainage.

Making haste slowly is often the quickest way to desired results.
It is the usual method to erect the dwelling first, and afterward
to subdue and enrich the ground gradually. This in many instances
may prove the best course; but when it is practicable, I should
advise that building be deferred until the land (with the
exception of the spaces to be occupied with the house and barn)
can be covered with a heavy dressing of barnyard manure, and that
this be plowed under in the autumn. Such general enriching of the
soil may seem a waste in view of the carriage-drive and walks yet
to be laid out; but this will not prove true. It should be
remembered that while certain parts of the place are to be kept
bare of surface-vegetation, they nevertheless will form a portion
of the root-pasturage of the shade and fruit trees. The land,
also, can be more evenly and deeply plowed before obstructions are
placed upon it, and roots, pestiferous weeds, and stones removed
with greatest economy. Moreover, the good initial enriching is
capital, hoarded in the soil, to start with. On many new places I
have seen trees and plants beginning a feeble and uncertain life,
barely existing rather than growing, because their roots found the
soil like a table with dishes but without food. If the fertilizer
is plowed under in the autumn, again mixed with the soil by a
second plowing in the spring, it will be decomposed and ready for
immediate use by every rootlet in contact with it. Now, as farmers
say, the "land is in good heart," and it will cheer its owner's