PRACTICAL NOTES ON UNDERDRAINING. 585 
moisture being absorbed from the atmosphere rather than yielded up to the dry air, 
the temperature is maintained at a higher degree than it would be if the water-line 
were nearer the surface. With the foregoing remarks we may understand what kind 
of ground needs underdraining, as well as what kind will not be sufficiently benefited 
to justify the expense of underdraining. Some land is only wet a little in the early 
part of spring, or during very wet periods in summer. Of course such ground would 
be benefited by a thorough system of underdraining only in proportion as itis too 
wet. S&me ground may be so nearly “dry enough” that if would never pay to under- 
drain it, although underdrains would be of more or less advantage. The main, prac- 
tical consideration is, what land may be improved in fertility to such an extent, by a 
system of underdraining, as to warrant the expense of excavating and filling ditches 
with iles, stones, or wood. In most instances underdraining may be considered as a 
systenr of prolit or loss. Where land is very cheap, and the products of the farm are 
sold at prices which barely cancel the expense of production, it may pay to underdrain 
certain portions of the cultivable land, and it may not. Of course there would be 
many modifying circumstances to affect the profit arising from the increased amount 
of products and the expense of making the drains. In case a tiller of the soil could 
not inerease his crops in a few years in sufficient quantities to cancel the expense of 
making drains, if may be said that it would not pay to underdrain, although the pro- 
ductiveness of the ground might be somewhat improved by underdraining. On the 
contrary, where the price of land is high, and a ready market for farm producis is at 
hand, it will usually pay well to underdrain land that exhibits only slight signs ef ex- 
cessive moisture. 
-1. Grass land, whether meadow or pasture, where red clover is lifted out by the 
frosts of winter, can be greatly improved by underdraining. 
2. Any .kind of land, where the cultivated grasses, such as timothy, (Phleum pra- 
tense,) orchard grass, (Dactylis glomeraia,) or other upland grasses, do not grow luxuri- 
antly, and where tufts and scattering spears of wild grass are coming in and crowding 
out such plants as should occupy the entire ground, may be greatly improved by un- 
derdraining. ; 
3. .Juands with a heavy and retentive subsoil, whether the surface-soil be a light 
loam,'a mixed soil, in which black muck and leaf-mold constitute the predominating 
characteristics, or a light, clay loam, if the surface retains water in small ponds one or 
two days after a heavy fall of rain, should be underdrained. 
24.,Slopes of hills, where the subsoil is almost impervious to water, and where differ- 
ent ‘strata crop out, between which water works out and saturates the entire soil at 
certain seasons, may be greatly benefited by deep underdraining. 
5. Heavy, unctuous clay land, and any heavy ground which is to be appropriated to 
the cultivation of either spring or winter wheat, rye or barley, in case the surface is at 
all-disposed to heave out the young plants, should be well urderdrained by cutting 
ditches thirty to forty feet apart over the entire field. 
(6. Heavy land, or even light soils, where fruit trees are to be transplanted for 
orchards, if the water-line in the soil and subsoil is not at least three feet below the 
surface, should be improved by deep drains. é 
‘7.,All land about dwellings and ont-buildings of such a retentive character that 
water will stand in post-holes or in little excavations during the early portion of the 
growing season, as weil as late in the autumn, should be well underdrained. 
8, Land to be used as a flower or vegetable garden, where early produce is to be cul- 
tivated, should be well underdrained, as security against injury from protracted dry 
weather in summer, and the injurious influences of long and cold storms in the vernal 
months. -Plants started in the growing season should not be exposed to a serious set- 
back, arising from a long and cold storm, and a complete inundation of the mellow seed- 
bed. 4 The same is true of most kinds of flowers. It will take them a long time to recover 
from ‘the .detrimental effects arising from a cold storm of ten days’ duration, during 
which the roots have been standing in a soil saturated with “snow-cold” water. The 
water-line must be sunk at least thirty to forty inches below the surface. 
‘9. Deep :underdrains should be sunk by the sides of highways, where the rolling 
wheels of passing vehicles frequently make deep holes and ruts which retain water 
longer than one or two days. -Many a bad piece of highway may be made satisfacto- 
rily dry by simply sinking a deep underdrain on the upper side of the carriage track, 
to cut off all the surplus water that is constantly working down from the land above, 
and «which ,keeps ‘the bed of the road .wet during most of the days of spring and 
autumn. i 
310. Shallow valleys and river flats through which small streams of water often wind 
and double, like the Mississippi , River, rendering worthless a broad area of good land, 
should be improved by cutting a large ditch of sufficient capacity to carry any amount 
of water that will ever be likely to flow there. ’ 
;11. Morasses, frog-ponds, fever and ague holes, and all low, marshy ground near hu- 
man habitations should :be thoroughly .drained, and the land should be cultivated in 
‘some way or other, if nothing but grass be allowed to grow. *Such places are almost 
