126 TALKS ABOUT THE SOIL. 



the soil on each side for many feet. A drain made 

 of stones, or porous earthenware pipes called tiles, 

 may be made under the soil ; and through this drain 

 the water will run away as fast as it falls. Whether it 

 is best to drain any particular soil, how it is best to do 

 it, are questions that would require a long time to 

 answer. First, decide whether your land needs drain- 

 ing. Next, see if better land, that does not need 

 draining, cannot be bought for less money than the 

 cost of draining. If you decide it is best to drain, 

 do it well and thoroughly ; for it is a permanent in- 

 vestment that will last long years after your children 

 have ceased to cultivate the land, or have sold it for 

 house-lots. In any case it will always be a benefit, as 

 it makes the soil dryer, and consequently warmer and 

 lighter and more easily worked, and makes the neigh- 

 borhood more healthful. Great sums of money have 

 been spent in this and other countries, in drainage- 

 works ; and there can be no doubt such works have 

 added millions of dollars to the value of farm-lands, 

 and driven away malaria and kindred diseases, greatly 

 to the benefit of the people who so wisely improved 

 the soil given to them by the Creator. 



We have now finished our studies of this singular 

 and beautiful carpet that covers the rocky skeleton 

 of our earth. We have seen much that is curious and 

 interesting, and have gone just far enough to see how 

 much there is yet beyond equally curious and inter- 

 esting, had we time to study it. We have been look- 



