No. 105.J 55 



crop of corn I found in Tioga county grew on reclaimed, low ground. 

 As there are millions of acres of cultivated land in this great State, 

 which ought to be drained, I have endeavored to show, in my public 

 addresses, why it is that standing water in contact with the roots of 

 all cultivated plants, must greatly injure, if not destroy them. It is 

 the motion of the atmosphere, the motion of rain water falling from 

 the heavens, and passing down through the soil about their roots, 

 and then rising up again through the soil by capillary attraction, 

 brought into play by the heat of a summer's sun, which bring all 

 their nourishment in contact with stationary plants. If the air and 

 water — the only moving matter around a plant — were dead, or mo- 

 tionless, how could this living being grow in the absence of all new 

 food, and buried in its own exuvial It is well to know that no 

 being, whether animal or vegetable, can long survive, and breathe 

 the same air, and drink the same water over and over again. The 

 Creator has imparted a degree of mobility to the atmosphere, and 

 made it subject to influences that secure a supply of fresh air almost 

 momentarily to all living things. The circulation of water on the 

 surface of the earth is more restricted. 



An impervious subsoil, a level plain, or a basin, may wholly or 

 partially impede the circulation of this important liquid, to the in- 

 calculable injury of the husbandman. It is not necessary for water 

 to pass quickly through the soil. On the contrary, a retentive soil 

 is alwajs more productive, in a long run, than a very open, porous 

 one. Both extremes, however, are alike to be avoided. 



The same reasons, slightly modified, that render standing water 

 so hurtful to cultivated plants, make irrigation with running water 

 extremely useful. But very few avail themselves of the constituents 

 of their crops, which running water always contains. In France, 

 and many other countries, canals have been dug, r.nd great expense 

 incurred to irrigate large tracts of cultivated land. On every portion 

 of dry land that bears vegetables, water that falls from the clouds, 

 which holds carbonic acid in solution, can not run far on the surface 

 of the ground, or into the soil and earth, without dissolving, and 

 taking with it all of the minerals that pass with water into the roots 

 and circulation of plants, to form their ashes or earthy matter. Hence 

 spring, brook and river water are never quite free of earthy sub- 

 stances, held in solution. The judicious application of running 

 water is one of the cheapest means of enriching land. It should be 



