TEACH AS TO FAHMIXG. 21 



ought either to cultivate or let alone ; scratching their surface mild- 

 ly to a depth of three or four inches ; sins against such an array of 

 light and knowledge that he is for less excusable than his ancestors 

 who did not pretend to plow at all, but stuck in a seed here and 

 there as they could easiest find a hole or make one, and trusted 

 to Providence to give them an undeserved return for their spirits 

 less and frivolous efforts. 



VI. The three main features of Agricultural advancement 

 among the Anglo-Saxon race now-a-days are: 1. DEEP PLOWING, 

 OR SUB-SOILING ; 2. DRAINING ; 3. IRRIGATION. I am quite aware 

 that Draining should take juwih-iHv in the order of time, yet I 

 believe, in point of fact, Deep Plowing has led to Draining, by 

 demonstrating its necessity, and not Draining to Deep Plowing. 

 \V ulViT immensely from drouth in this country. Probably 

 the aggregate annual loss from drouth alone throughout the Union 

 decidedly exceeds, taking one year with another, the entire cost 

 of our Federal (jovorninent. Yet we know that the roots of 

 most plants will descend to moisture, no matter how dry the sur- 

 face, if the earth beneath them is porous, mellow and inviting. 

 Hetuv wo reali/ethe immense importance of Deep Plowing ; and, 

 after doubling our teams and sinking our deepest plows to the 

 beam, we summon to our aid the Sub-Soil implement, and go 

 down a depth beyond that of anv single furrow. But we soon 

 find that the pulverization of the suit-soil, thus attained, has no 

 permanent effect ; that the water that leaches down to it settles 

 it into a compact, solid mass, which the roots cannot penetrate ; 

 and all our sub-soiling needs to be done over again. The remedy 

 that readily suggests itself is the freeing of the sub-soil from 

 water by drains sunk below it, say three to six rods apart, and 

 filled half way up with pebbles, with flat stones forming a sort 

 of culvert, or, still better, laid with draining-tile or hollow brick, 

 placed end to end, and forming a continuous channel from the 

 highest part of any slope or grade to t'he brook which drains it. 

 And now the sub-soil, supposing the drains well made and the 

 drainage-way sufficient, is readily freed from any water settling 

 into it, and long retains the porous and permeable character com- 

 municated to it by deep plowing. 



