WATER IN AGRICULTURE. 171 



caused thereby. The farmer should make it a 

 point to look carefully after his wells and springs, 

 and permit no possible source of contamination to 

 exist within a broad circle around the spot where 

 they are located. 



Water and sunlight are the great agencies upon 

 which the farmer depends for the success of his 

 crops. What a vast amount of anxiety and de- 

 spondency is caused by these agencies, and yet, 

 they are among the greatest blessings vouchsafed 

 to the race. The excessive heats of summer will 

 parch our fields, and wring out from every tree and 

 shrub the last drop of moisture ; and the persistent 

 penetrating rains will drown our cereals, and soak 

 our fields until they are saturated like a sponge. 

 We can do something to mitigate the evils of ex- 

 cessive heat or drought, but we can do much to 

 avert those caused by water. We can drain our 

 soil, and thus carry away in hidden channels the 

 excess of water which, if allowed to remain, would 

 chill or suffocate every root, fibre, and tendril upon 

 which plant life depends. 



It is hardly possible to dwell too earnestly upon a 

 subject of so much importance to farmers as under- 

 draining. In this country we are not sufficiently 

 awake to the great benefits which flow from it ; our 

 faith is not strong enough to lead to the adoption 

 of a system of land-drainage which would overcome 



