REPOKTS FROM LOCAL SOCIETIES. 00 



warm the soil ; summer rains act differently, but still for our advantage. Then 

 the surface is hot, probably too hot for the crop, the water falls on it, takes up 

 its heat, cooling it, and carries the heat further down to the roots of the plants, 

 where it is needed to give them greater growth. Underdraining also enables us 

 to abolish open ditches, the most unsightly and untidy objects on a farm, a 

 great annoyance in cultivation, and a useless occupation of valuable land. 



To one not familiar with under-drained land, the most surprising effect is 

 produced in a drouth. His first thought is everything would dry up. But is 

 that the case? Let us see. There is at all times the same amount of water, 

 either on the ground or in the air as vapor. The soil being very porous, the 

 air at all times circulates freely through it. The drains help even in this cir- 

 culation. The air cools when in contact with the ground, and the vapor con- 

 denses, and is left in the soil. This action is continually taking place, so a 

 large amount of moisture is deposited. Good farmers know that stirring the 

 soil during a drouth helps a crop. It is simply because the soil is exposed to 

 the air and the vapor absorbed from it. Further, the soil is dry and warm for 

 a considerable depth. As a result, plants root much deeper to where it is at all 

 times moist and beyond the influence of dry weather. 



As a rule, all. land needs draining, about the only exception being a light 

 soil resting on gravel, and the latter coming to the surface considerably lower 

 than the general level of the land. Many think because land is rolling it does 

 not need draining. We have already shown how it may be benefited. Several 

 thought I was foolish to think of draining my land along the lake. It is dry 

 now, they said. I laid a main of nearly fifty rods, about four and one-half 

 feet in depth. I struck running water the whole length nearly a foot above, 

 and that with a fall of four feet for the fifty rods. The drain passed near a 

 low spot, only thirty inches above it, through which I put a lateral and found 

 water there, and it had been there all summer. It evidently needed draining 

 very much. 



In draining, a plan of the complete job should be made before the work is be- 

 gun. If the field is nearly level it can be easily laid out, but if rolling or 

 irregular, great care is necessary, and the plan more intricate. To know the 

 size of tile we must estimate the amount of water to be carried off, although 

 the error of using too small tile does not often occur, yet if too large is used 

 useless expense is incurred, and the value of the drain impaired. The plan 

 should aim to have the mains as short as possible, they being more expensive 

 than the laterals, and to a certain extent their value is lost by doubly drain- 

 ing the land. By mains, of course is meant those drains that collect the 

 water from the branches or laterals, and convey it to the outlet. The laterals 

 ought to be as near parallel as possible, and on hilly land should run direct 

 from top to bottom. They will then tap any water bearing strata that may 

 crop out on the slope. Should they be laid oblicpiely down they could draw only 

 from the upper side, so loosing a great part of their power. The character of 

 the soil has much to do with the distance apart which they should be laid, but 

 at a depth of three and a half to four feet, and they ought never to be less, four 

 rods is the outside limit. If the soil is heavier they must be nearer. 



D. M. Ferry, of Detroit, has a seed farm there of over three hundred acres 

 all drained, the laterals two rods apart. Originally it was a very stiff clay, but 

 this with good cultivation has changed it to the finest of garden mold. In all 

 ordinary draining two to three inch tile are large enough for laterals, and three 

 to five inch for mains, the latter sizes only when a large amount of water is to 



