42 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



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follows it. But except immediately over a drain, I don't think 

 there is much ventilation of the soil from it. 



Mr. Buffinton. So far as my experience goes, over even a 

 stone drain, the soil is more mellow than where no drain has 

 been laid, and better crops are obtained. What is the cause ? 



Col. Waring. Perhaps it is more mellow merely because it 

 has been improved by digging. I suppose crops have grown 

 stronger there, and have sent their roots further each way, 

 being stronger ; then the decomposition of those roots makes 

 that land richer, and enables more roots to grow there ; and 

 finally that becomes the most mellow and the richest land in 

 the field, chiefly from the accumulation of organic matter from 

 the decay of roots. 



Mr. Buffinton. I have almost made up my mind, that if we 

 work the soil and make it light, as Mr. Johnson said, as we do 

 when we make an onion bed, it will be equal to draining it. 



Col. Waring. I have no doubt of that, unless the soil is too 

 wet to stay mellow. 



Mr. Buffinton. I have thought if we would work our soil 

 deep, and get it thoroughly mellow and light, perhaps there 

 would be no need of draining. 



Col. Waring. You cannot make an onion bed in wet land ; 

 in land that really needs draining. All the draining amounts 

 to, is getting the land ready for making an onion bed of it. 

 When that is done, I should not object to any amount of culti- 

 vation you choose to put upon it. We agree perfectly about 

 that. 



Mr. Johnson. I suppose that strong land that is under- 

 drained, will last in grass much longer than a field that is not 

 underdrained, with the same amount of manure. 



Col. Waring. Undoubtedly. I believe that a well-drained 

 soil, by suitable top-dressing, can be kept almost permanently 

 in good grass. I do not believe that you can keep the best 

 grasses many years in very wet land, no matter how much 

 manure you put on it. They will gradually give place to wild 

 grasses, that grow in the water. The meadows will grow up to 

 rushes. 



Secretary Flint. In cases where drains have been laid, is it 

 not almost a matter of necessity that the land should be sub- 

 soiled and cultivated very deep ? That is to say, would there 



