WATER SUPPLY FOR CROPS. 17 



tend; on till but the lightest soils, excessive rainfall during 

 the growing season is nearly as ruinous as excessive drought. 

 I have found that I can make the dry seasons the most pro- 

 fitable and satisfactory. Droughts and floods of rain in our 

 climate are not confined to any particular season of the year, 

 although they are more injurious, and for that reason more 

 noticeable, in spring and summer than in the other seasons. 



The problem "which presents itself to us farmers is, 

 whether we can, in any practical way, regulate this supply 

 of water, so as to rid the land of the surplus in a wet time, 

 and to retain a part of it for use when needed, and so secure 

 a more constant supply. Nature does not distribute her 

 blessings to us gratuitously, but requires us constantly to 

 work and struggle to obtain them. She mixes the good and 

 bad seed together and requires man to select the best, from 

 the mass of bad. He must also select and prepare a suit- 

 able soil, and must till, feed and water it to obtain his 

 reward. If his soil has become exhausted of certain 

 elements of plant-food, he must procure those elements in 

 manures and apply them to the soil in the needed quantities. 

 The fact that vast quantities of potash exist in the mines of 

 Germany, nitrate of soda and guano in South America, or 

 phosphate of lime in the river beds of South Carolina, will 

 not make our crops grow, unless we obtain these distant 

 materials and apply them to our soil. So, too, the fact that 

 we have an abundant supply of rain during the year, does 

 not meet the needs of our crops, unless we secure to them 

 its benefits during the Avhole growing season. We must 

 water as well as feed our crops. 



But first, how can we dispose of the surplus water w^hen 

 there is too much? This may be done by drainage, and to 

 a certain degree by tillage. All soils which are so destitute 

 of natural drainage as to be too wet for cultivation early in 

 the spring, or during a rainy season, should have artificial 

 drainage. Where stones are plenty, they make excellent 

 drains, and if properly laid and kept covered, so as to keep 

 the surface water out, and the outlets are kept open, they will 

 last a long time. Where stones do not abound, tile is the 

 best material to use. 



On stony farms, where stone heaps and old w^alls are 



