SECRETARY'S REPORT, 97 



We attain other results ; one of wliicii is a gain of three or 

 four weeks in the length of our season for working the land ; 

 Leing enabled to plough, and do it well, two or three weeks 

 earlier than we can touch similar land not drained; and of 

 course, to get our crops in better season ; and we can plough 

 in the fall, at any time when the weather is fit for man and 

 beast to be in the field, up to the time when the ground freezes 

 — an operation often interfered with, by too much water, until 

 we had drained. 



The soil is always in better condition for working: rain dis- 

 appears into the soil as it falls ; so that when the storm is o^-er, 

 hoeing or other work may go on without ' waiting for the land 

 to dry? 



The ground does not freeze so soon nor so deeply ; and the 

 frost is out earlier in the spring, leaving the ground dry enough 

 for immediate work, instead of lying in soak for weeks ; pul- 

 verizing instead of clodding, when turned up by the plough. 



"Water passes from undrained soils mainly by evaporation — 

 a refrigerative process, as any one knows who holds a wet 

 hand up to the passing breeze. The term ' cold,' applied to 

 our wet lands, is a reality. The heat of the sun's rays is used 

 up in the conversion of water into vapor, and the earth cannot 

 get warm. Draw off the water, and the heat penetrates tho 

 earth, seeds sprout, and plants grow. 'Our crops can be planted 

 earlier, they will«start quicker and more surely, and come forward 

 faster, and be more fully developed and more perfectly matured — 

 all other things being equal. Roots cun strike deeper without 

 rotting in stagnant water, or being poisoned by certain chemi- 

 cals that stagnant water has a way of preserving there, and 

 which draining takes away; and being deeper, could better 

 withstand injury by drought. But here, we get another protec- 

 tion from drought. CapUlanj attraction is most powerful in 

 the smallest spaces — that is, among the most minute particles 

 lying close together. Draining, with proper tillage, tends to 

 such fineness of the soil, and thus our drained soils hold water, 

 and as it evaporates at the surface, get a fresh supply below, 

 enough to sustain the crops unhurt through a long drought. 

 The undrained clay lands near by dry and crack, and their crops 

 wither, while yet on the drained land thewaa-t -of moisture is 



4ttot seen. 



7 



