FARMERS' INSTITUTES. B35 



Hon. Wm. L. Webber gave the following address, on 



DRAINAGE. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen: — The subject of drainage is so extensive 

 that a full treatment of it would require volumes. It is not my purpose to 

 undertake to cover the ground; I shall be satisfied if I furnish :i text to be 

 amplified and illustrated by discussion. 



That a vegetable will not grow without water is a fact known u> ail; tliat 

 vegetables, such as farmers gi-ow for profit, will not grow in the water, is 

 eqiuiUy well known. 



By far the greater portion of the farming lands in the Saginaw valley have 

 a subsoil of heavy clay through wliich water will ]iot pass with facility. The 

 general surface is level, with fall enough, however, for drainage in proper 

 water ways, but before such water ways are constructed, the water that falls 

 upon the surface must evaporate. Suppose our average rain fall to be thirty- 

 five inches annually, about three feet deep of water falls each year on every 

 square foot of our territory. After land is cleared, even without drains, a 

 considerable portion of this will work off on the surface, but a large quantity 

 of it is left yet to be disposed of by evaporation. Now, how to preserve suffi- 

 cient of moisture in the soil for the use of vegetable growth, and yet not have 

 too much, is the problem we wish to solve by drainage. 



Suppose you make an under-drain three feet deep; if well laid and working 

 freely, water falling upon the surface, except in the severest storms, will find 

 its way through the sod to the drain almost as fast as it falls upon the surface. 

 This under-drain, being three feet deep, had already, before the storm came 

 on, exhausted the soil within its immediate vicinity of all surplus moisture, and 

 the under-drain is there continually for the purpose of relieving the soil of this 

 surplus moisture. As the water falls it finds its way into the under-drain as its 

 true and proper outlet to water courses, and leaves in the soil just so much water 

 as the soil has natural capacity to hold, and that is just what the vegetable wants 

 for its own use. It has been demonstrated that tlie roots of vegetables strike 

 deeper in a well drained soil than in one not drained. The rootlets of vegetables 

 will not go below the water line. Another fact in this connection, — the water 

 going from tlie surface to the drain below carries warmth with it and warms the 

 soil. It is sometimes regarded as surprising that under-drained soil should 

 stand drouth better than one not drained. The wonder ceases when you con- 

 sider the fact tliat the roots of the plants strike deeper and are constantly in 

 a moist soil, no matter how dry the surface may be. 



I have spoken of the water line in the soil. I will dwell a moment on that 

 point. Suppose you take a glass jar six inches deep and fill it with earth ; now 

 pour water upon that earth in the jar and the water will spread itself about 

 until you have filled it to saturation. Whatever the soil will not hold, will 

 will settle to the bottom. Continue to pour water in your jar until you have 

 left but two inches of the surface above the water line; you have then two 

 inches of earth filled with water to saturation, and what is below that line is 

 immersed in water. With our clay subsoils this is about the condition of veiy 

 many fields, — the upper six, eight, ten or twelve inches saturatetl after a 

 storm, and all below that immersed in water. To heat that water below so as 

 to cause it to evaporate is practically impossible; for however hot the rays of 

 the sun may be it is a well known fact that in philosophy that heat will not 

 strike downwards through water. The way evaporation is carried on, then, is 

 that the surface of the earth becoming warmed by the sun evaporation takes 



