238 UNDEKDRAINING AND DEEP TILLAGE. 



that not one in ten, if one in a hundred, of the farmers of Maine 

 ever saw one. But, in all soils retentive of water, under draining 

 should precede subsoilinsj;-, as, otherwise, the water soon settles 

 down the whole into as compact a mass as before, and the benefits 

 which might otherwise be derived from it are wholly lost. Thus 

 we see that on all such soils underdraining lies at the foundatio7i 

 ofy and consti'.utes the first step towards an improved husbandry. 



