^68 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Now to substantiate my theory that mixed husbandry is the most profitable, 

 I will ask you to look around among the best farmers, those that have been 

 the most successful, the farms that are under the best state of cultivation, and 

 I think you will find them owned and managed almost invariably by farmers 

 that are engaged in mixed husbandry. In addition to growing grain and stock, 

 every farmer should raise fruit, and that too should be diversified. He will, 

 of course have a good apple orchard, and peaches, and pears, and in addition 

 should have plenty of small fruit, not only for convenience and profit, but 

 they are a great luxury, all that is needed to have them is a little time and 

 oare. I have only outlined the principles of mixed husbandry, it only remains 

 for us, the tillers of the soil, to prosecute it intelligently and reap its rewards. 



CONSTRUCTION OF DRAINS— GENERAL EFFECTS. 



BY PROF. R. C. CARPENTER. 



While it is unquestionably true that drains greatly benefit flat, heavy land, 

 or laud that is continually wet, it is not so generally admitted that they are 

 also of great benefit on lands wet only occasionally, and having a surface 

 somewhat or considerably rolling. It is a fact, however, that heavy clay lands 

 are greatly benefitted by drainage, even if naturally dry and having a rolling 

 surface. In the first place, drained lands are much warmer than wet lands, 

 for this reason : The evaporation in the drying up of water requires heat, and 

 the total amount of heat required is the same whether the evaporation be 

 ■done in one day or in several weeks. Some portion of this heat is likely to be 

 -drawn from the earth, leaving it colder than before the water was dried off or 

 evaporated ; on the other hand, when under-drains are used, the water passing 

 from the surface downward through the soil, if warmer than the soil, gives up 

 some of its heat, and the land is much the gainer. Thus drainage gives us, 

 to a certain extent, control over the climate. Under-drains are of much ben- 

 efit in aerating the soil, and rendering it more porous. During dry weather 

 the underdrains serve as channels for the air to pour into and through the soil, 

 and serve in this way to drain into the soil the moisture contained in the 

 atmosphere. All know that during dry seasons the positions of the under- 

 drains are clearly marked by the greater growth and freshness of the vegeta- 

 tion immediately over them. Thus they serve to lessen the evil effects of exces- 

 sive wet as well as of parching drought. 



The benefits of drainage in giving us better health and longer lives is well 

 attested by actual observation. The water that will be carried off by drainage 

 is only that which is in excess of the needs of plant life, and is that which is 

 so potent in breeding malarial diseases, and bringing death and the blackest 

 of all sorrow to many happy homes. The victims of undrained areas either 

 lie beneath the earth, or drag half dead bodies for years over it. 



Under-drains are also of benefit in increasing the action of the fertilizers. 

 Surface drainage is always detrimental in this respect, as the fertilizers are 

 carried by the wash into ditches and water-courses, where they cannot possibly 

 ■do any good. On the other hand, with a good system of under-drains, the 

 water, instead of running over the soil, runs through it, leaving therein a 



