UNDERDRAINING AND DEEP TILLAGE. 123 



•n-ould be benefited by the removal of the surplus water -which 

 the J contain. The fact is self-evident and we need not enter upon 

 any argument to prove it. There are undoubtedly large tracts of 

 land in our Stute which are exceedingly rich in vegetable matter 

 and cannot be developed without draining. But as these may, in 

 most cases, be effectually and cheaply drained by open ditches, it is 

 not proposed to dwell upon this part of the subject, but to pass to 

 another portion less understood by farmers generally. 



The writer is not of those who aver that drainage would benefit 

 all land which is capable of being plowed to advantage. When a 

 soil is underlaid by a porous subsoil, nature has already accom- 

 plished the work of draining better than it can be done by artificial 

 means. It is a waste of money to underdrain such land, just as it 

 would be to burn lamp oil to sec to plow by. But all lands of ordi- 

 nary fertility, naturally, which have a subsoil retentive of water, 

 will most certainly be benefitted by draining. The subsoil may be 

 clay, hard-pan or an}?thing else; it makes little difference what it 

 is, so long as it serves to keep the superfluous water from easily 

 passing off. The results of such obstruction are readily recognized. 

 The land becomes either boggy, permitting the growth of only such 

 plants as peat moss and the more succulent aquatics ; or it is ren- 

 dered wet and fit only for the sour and rough grasses (Carices) ; 

 or it causes an accumulation of water at a certain depth beneath the 

 surface, which is injurious to vegetation and fatal to profitable cul- 

 ture. The last effect is the most disastrous, for while the farmer 

 might never think of raising anything but a crop of cranberries 

 upon land so wet as to allow peat moss to grow, he often sees no 

 reason for not cultivating soil dry at the surface, but which conceals 

 a retentive subsoil and yields but a miserable return. Ilis failure 

 to raise fair crops upon such land having stagnant water below the 

 surface, he may often attribute to a lack of manure. But fertilizers 

 on such land are little better than thrown away. A very simple 

 test, and one easily applied, to decide whether lands need draining 

 or not, is one given in an article on this subject in the report of the 

 Secretary of the Board of Agriculture for 185G. Let a hole be 

 dug ill the soil to the depth of three feet ^ and if water remains 

 in it at any time for three days contimioiisly^ it needs draining. 

 Sloping grounds form no exception to this rule. Those which at 



