18 AGRICULTURE FOR BEGINNERS 



1. Good tile drains properly laid last for years and do 

 not fill up. 



2. They furnish the cheapest possible means of removing 

 excess of water from the soil. 



3 . They are out of reach of all cultivating tools. 



4. Surface water in filtering through the soil leaves its 

 nutritious elements for plant growth. 



EXPERIMENTS 



To show the Effect of Drainage. Take two tomato cans and fill 

 both with the same kind of soil. Puncture several holes in the bottom 

 of one to drain the soil above and to admit air circulation. Leave the 

 other unpunctured. Plant seeds of any kind in both cans and keep in 

 a warm place. Add every third day equal quantities of water. Let 

 seeds grow in both and observe the difference in growth for two or 

 three weeks. 



To show the Effect of Air in Soils. Take two tomato cans ; fill 

 one with soil that is loose and warm, and the other with wet clay or 

 muck from a swampy field. Plant a few seeds of the same kind in 

 each and observe how much better the dry, warm, open soil is for 

 growing farm crops. 



. 



SECTION VI IMPROVING THE SOIL 



We hear a great deal nowadays about the exhaustion or 

 wearing out of the soil. Many uncomfortable people are 

 always declaring that our lands will no longer produce 

 profitable crops, and hence that farming will no longer pay. 



Now it is true, unfortunately, that much land has been 

 robbed of its fertility, and, because this is true, we should 

 be deeply interested in everything that pertains to soil 

 improvement. 



