22 WHAT THE SISTER ARTS 



Of course, this does not exhaust the good effects of Draining. 

 The sub-soil, thus loosened and freed from excessive moisture, 

 becomes a source of food as well as drink to the plants growing 

 above it ; for that it is capable 01 feeding plants, no one, who has 

 observed the rank vegetation growing out of the earth thrown up 

 by draining or digging, can doubt. Instead of being like a slough 

 in wet weather and like a brick in dry, the sub-soil retains suffi- 

 cient moisture to cheer the plants, but too little to indurate itself. 

 And the mean temperature of the soil, hitherto lowered by the 

 constant evaporation of the water contained in the sub-soil, is 

 raised several degrees by the sun's rays, no longer counteracted by 

 the evaporating process at least, not to any such extent as be- 

 fore so that the plants grow more luxuriantly, mature more 

 rapidly, and so are earlier out of danger from frost. And beside 

 this, the constant passage of currents of air through that portion 

 of the drain not occupied by water and each drain should have 

 an opening at its head as well as at its mouth is an additional 

 source of fertility through the chemical combinations it insures. 

 It would be difficult to overstate the value, the importance, the 

 profit of Draining. 



Many are accustomed to say, " This land needs no draining ;" 

 meaning that it is not habitually too wet. But draining proves 

 as useful, if it is not as imperatively necessary, on dry soil as on 

 wet. On dry lands it is required that the sub-soil, once broken 

 up and pulverized, shall not, by the settling of moisture therein 

 during the wet season, be hardened and rendered impervious 

 again ; these lands need to be rendered porous and penetrable by 

 roots to a greater depth because of their dryness ; they need to be 

 shielded from the pernicious effects of constant evaporation in 

 cooling the soil, and thus retarding the growth of its plants. 

 There is very much land not worth tilling ; but there is none that 

 will justify tillage which would not reward Draining. 



Of Irrigation, we in this country know very little by experi- 

 ence ; but we are destined soon to know more, and to be profited 

 by our knowledge. True, there are lands that ma^ be readily 

 drained and sub-soiled that cannot so readily be irrigated, owing 



