112 YALE AGRICULTURAL LECTURES. 



manures, although obsolete for many years, is of late com 

 ing into vogue again ; and we certainly cannot work up our 

 heavy soils as we should, unless we draw oft" at the bottom the 

 excess water, which renders them sticky and tenacious. Evap 

 orating it at the top will certainly not avail, for from a wet 

 soil the more we have evaporated, the colder we get it, and 

 hence the less fertile ; for plants like warmth and plenty of air, 

 as well as moisture. The several advantages which follow 

 thorough drainage were severally adduced, and very clearly 

 and agreeably explained by the Judge, who has a pleasant con 

 versational way with him that interests one vastly. In Eng 

 land it has been found that draining makes twenty-five per 

 cent, difference in the amount of work which animals can per 

 form on a farm in a given time. That is to say, three horses 

 will do as much plowing on* a drained farm, as can four on one 

 undrained, for their strength is correspondingly less taxed. 



The lecture by Mr. JOSEPH HARRIS, of the Genessee Farmer, 

 was not only replete with practical hints for the cultivation of 

 the cereals, but contained, also, a full exposition of the chemi 

 cal laws to which the farmer must pay attention if he would 

 secure maximum crops. The original newspaper report of the 

 lecture was necessarily very meagre, and I substitute, in its 

 place, some extracts taken from the MS. itself, which has been 

 kindly placed at my disposal for this purpose by Professor 

 Porter. 



The great aim of the wheat-grower in nearly all sections is 

 to get wheat early. In western New York, if we could get 

 wheat into bloom ten days earlier, we could escape that ter 

 rible insect-pest, the midge. It is this insect, and not, as has 

 been often stated, the exhaustion of the soil of phosphates, that 

 has caused the deterioration of our wheat product. The injury 

 from rust, or mildew, another great drawback to profitable 

 wheat culture, would also be greatly mitigated by earlier 

 maturity. Now, there is no one thing that will do so much to 

 accomplish this as underdraining. Stagnant water is not only 



