70 WHAT I KNOW OF FARMING. 



obvious, stands by no means alone. 1. Underdrained 

 land may be plowed and sowed considerably earlier 

 in Spring than undrained soil of like quality. 2. 

 Drained fields lose far less than others of their 

 fertility by washing. 3. They are not so liable to be 

 gullied by sudden thaws or flooding rains. 4. Where 

 a field has been deeply subsoiled, I am confident that 

 it Will remain mellow and permeable by roots longer 

 than if undrained. 5. Less water being evaporated 

 from drained than from undrained land, the soil will 

 be warmer throughout the growing season ; hence, 

 the crop will be heavier, arid will mature earlier. 6. 

 Being more porous and less compact, I think the soil 

 of a drained field retains more moisture in a season of 

 drouth, and its growing plants suffer less therefrom, 

 than if it were undrained. In short, I thoroughly 

 believe in underdraining. 



IV. Yet I advise no man to run into debt for drain- 

 ing, as I can imagine a mortgage on a farm so heavy 

 and pressing as to be even a greater nuisance than 

 stagnant water in its soil. Labor and tile are dear 

 with us ; I do not expect that either will ever be so 

 cheap here as in England or Belgium. What I 

 would have each farmer in moderate circumstances 

 do is to drain his wettest field next Fall that is, after 

 finishing his haying and before cutting up his corn 

 taking care to secure abundant fall to carry off the 

 water in time of flood, and doing his work tho- 

 roughly. Having done this, let him subsoil deeply, 

 fertilize amply, till carefully, and watch the result. 



