TLOWISG WELL OF THE PEAK, DEBBTSHIBE. 



CHAPTER lY. 

 MECHANICAL PREPARATION OF SOILS. 



93. The great improver, not of soils only, but of the climate of whole 

 districts when brought iinder its influence, is drainage. Within the present 

 generation, localities, formerly known as raw, cold, swampy, and unproduc- 

 tive, with late harvests, if they could be said to deserve the name, have 

 become warm and dry, yielding highly-productive crops, naarly approxi- 

 mating, in time, to the most fonvard districts, under the effects of di'ainage. 

 Under its influence the moisture is made to percolate through the eai-th to its 

 lowest level, drawn from a gradually extending circle, until the surrounding 

 soil is freed from superfluous moisture, giving place to atmospheric air with 

 its fertilizing effects ; while the atmosphere on the surface, which was formerly 

 chilled by the effects of evaporation, is now rendered warm and genial ; for 

 water long retains its heat ; and wherever water can flow, atmospheric air can 

 follow. 



94. While the general effects of drainage are so useful, however, it is 

 difficult to give any specific directions on the subject. Every kind of soil 

 requires a different treatment, and some are capable of being seriously injured 

 by injudicious draining. There are few gardens in which it can be wholly 

 dispensed with ; as a general rule, however, a light loamy or sandy soil, 

 with a gravelly subsoil, and a natural slope to some outfall, requires no drainage 

 whatever ; on the contrary, an admixture of clay is necessary to render it 

 more retentive of moisture ; while a tenacious clay soil and subsoil require 

 thorough drainage to render them suitable for garden purposes. Before at- 

 tempting it, however, even on a small scale, some thought must be given to 



