250 ON THE DRAINING OF PLANTATIONS, 



XXVI. — On the Draining of Plantations, by Open or Covered 

 Drains. By Lewis Bayne, Forester, Kinmel Park, 

 Abergele. 



The influence of the drainage of land on the growth of crops of 

 all kinds must he apparent to every one engaged in agricultural 

 pursuits. Its introduction is one of the greatest improvements in 

 farming, and also in modern forestry ; for the preparation of the 

 ground hy thorough and judicious draining is essential to the proper 

 formation of plantations, and to the renovation of ill-thriving ones, 

 as there is small chance of success where trees are planted in wet 

 und rained soil. 



To draw away from the ground a commodity, which in dry 

 seasons is so useful, and the want of which causes many young trees 

 to die, seems strange. But it will be found that, by judicious 

 draining, the necessary supply of moisture is not taken from the soil, 

 but only the excess, and that the soil will retain a supply of moisture ; 

 while neither extremely dry nor very wet seasons will so injuriously 

 affect the plants as on undrained land. But drainage produces bene- 

 ficial effects besides removing superfluous water from the ground. 

 When land of a clay or tenacious nature is filled with stagnant 

 water, all atmospheric influences are curtailed, and the plants are 

 not only deprived of their proper nourishment from the soil itself, 

 but the presence of noxious substances in their vicinity injures their 

 health and cheques their growth. Ground in such a condition is 

 naturally in a very cold state ; and as the water can only, to a certain 

 extent, be got rid of by the process of evaporation, the heat of the 

 sun's rays, instead of warming the soil, is taken up with this opera- 

 tion. But while the ground is relieved of the water by this process, 

 its poisonous ingredients remain in the soil, and the greater coldness 

 of the atmosphere and of the ground, along with the excess of 

 moisture, in time rots the roots of trees, and renders them more 

 liable to be blown down by wind. 



Having noticed the bad effects of an excess of moisture on the 

 soil and its crops, we come to the benefits arising from thorough 

 and proper drainage. By removing superfluous water from the soil, 

 a way is made for the air to aid in decomposing the organic sub- 

 stances, which become the food of the plants, and ingredients which 

 are hurtful to plant growth, and which cannot otherwise be removed, 

 are carried off by rain. Not oidy does the removal of extra moisture 



