584 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
land. A light tax was levied annually to keep the ditches in repair. There was, and 
still is, a ditch commissioner to keep the ditches in order, and see that every man gets 
his water at the allotted time, to prevent filching, &c. Fines are imposed for breaches 
of the rules. The time for irrigation is once in ten days, and the hours are fixed. 
Every man has his dam and gate, and when his hour arrives (the man above haying 
finished irrigating and raised his gate) he lowers his gate, and at once the water over- 
flows his land. A busy time follows. The water may seem very perverse in seeking 
its level, but hoe in hand, he trenches here ard dams there, until! all the ground is wef. 
The land should be well prepared beforehand, and the rows, beds, &c., be constructed 
with reference to the ditch. Some skill is necessary to do this work properly, but it is 
soon acquired. ‘There is no great mystery about it, and with a little experience and 
reflection all difficulty disappears. Ordinarily it requires about a third more labor to 
caltivate by irrigation than without it. 
In old Spanish times five or six thousand acres were irrigated, but hardly half that 
number is now under irrigation. Three ditches taken out below the city are not now 
used, but they will soon be repaired and even new ditches made, and more land will 
be cultivated than ever before. 
Trrigable land everywhere in the valley is worth $100 to $200 per acre, while adjoin- 
ing land of the same soil, but not irrigable, is not worth $5 per acre. Sixty to seventy 
years ago wheat grown and ground here was packed on mules to supply the United 
States military posts in Western Louisiana. 
Thesystem of embankments, canals, &c., adopted by the Spaniards for irrigation, seems 
almost perfect, but their cultivation of the soil was rude. In one respect, particularly, 
it was very bad. They were always taking from, and never adding to, the soil. The 
idea of manuring never entered their heads. In the spring they raked up and burned ~ 
everything above ground. Hven now we cultivate badly, but a spirit of reform and 
progress is being awakened. 
Much of our land has been improved by manuring. Three hundred to four hundred 
bushels of sweet potatoes per acre are not an extraordinary crop. Of sorghum sown 
broadcast for fodder I have known twelve tons grown on an acre, three cuttings a year. 
The ribbon cane grows to great perfection. Corn and cotton do well. Irrigation is of 
great value to orchards, shrubbery, ornamental trees, &c. For gardening it is of in- 
estimable value. We have the greatest abundance and variety of vegetables almost 
the year round. All kinds of melons, cabbages, turnips, tomatoes, beans, peas, &c., 
are raised in great profusion. I know of no cheaper vegetable market in the United 
States. Beantiful streams of pure, clear water run through every part of our city, and 
seem to reach every man’s door. They are the glory of San Antonio. 
PRACTICAL NOTES ON UNDERDRAINING. 
. 
The following communication, from Mr. 8. E. Todd, of New York City, 
embodies the results of his experience and observation in underdrain- 
ing: 
There are vast tracts of land which are cultivated every year, besides certain por- 
tions of cultivable land, which are not considered wet at any season of the year, thé 
produectiveness of which might be greatly increased by a system of thorough under- 
draining. Of course there are large areas which never did and never will re- 
quire underdraining, as nature has made ample provision, in the character of the sub- 
stratum, for the effectual removal of all the water that will not be retained by absorp- 
tion. Whether the ground be underdrained or not, the surface scil and substratum 
will retain all the water that may fall on the surface, or that percolates through the 
strata from springs, until the greater capacity of the soil to absorb moisture has been 
reached. If good tile drains be constructed every ten feet distant, when the pores of 
the soil are filled, the surplus water will flow into the drains. There need be no fear 
that underdraining will render land too dry. The soil will hold all the moisture 
that vegetation requires. Many of our best farmers affirm that draining dry soils tends 
to promote desirable dampness during periods of dry weather. 
During a discussion of the subject of thorough underdraining, at a legislative agri- 
cultural meeting at Albany, New York, one of the best farmers of the Empire State, 
who has had extensive experience in underdraining wet and comparatively dry till- 
able ground, stated that “an underdrained soil will be found damper in dry weather 
than if it had not been underdrained, and the thermometer will show a higher tempera- 
ture in cold weather and cooler in hot weather, where the subsoil has been under- 
drained, than if no underdrains had been made.” «These facts are accounted for on the 
principle alluded to under another head, that, eyaporation being a cooling process, and 
s 
