AND WHERE TO FIND ONE. 151 



been doubled. Indeed, some authorities have held, 

 that but for the increased supply of food thus pro 

 duced in England, as the result of a vast system of 

 underdraining, the people of that country would be 

 almost as helplessly dependent on other nations for 

 food, as their manufacturing industry has been de 

 pendent upon us for cotton. 



Thus, if underdraining has been recognized in 

 England as a subject deserving of national encour 

 agement, the fact is a significant endorsement of the 

 prominent position which it has been made to oc 

 cupy in this volume. But though no similar aid 

 has been given to American farmers, yet there are 

 thousands of them who, aware of its importance, 

 have made drainage a fundamental element of their 

 whole system of farming. From among these a 

 single instance may be cited, as showing not only 

 how thoroughly the art has been transplanted to 

 this country, but how fully its results here corrob 

 orate those which havB been realized by English 

 farmers. The facts are taken from the Xew York 

 Tribune, for October 29, 1859 : 



&quot; Mr. John Johnston, near Geneva, N. Y., at one time 

 esteemed a fanatic by his neighbors, has come, of late 

 years, to be generally known as * the father of tile-drainage 

 in America, After thirty years of precept, and twenty-two 

 of example, he has the satisfaction of seeing his favorite 

 theojy fully accepted, and to some extent practically ap 

 plied throughout the country. Not without labor, however, 

 nor without much skepticism, ridicule, and controversy, has 

 this end been attained ; and if, now that his head is 

 whitened, and his course all but run, he finds himself re- 



