CULTIVATION-. 190 



tains free space enough to receive a rain-fall one inch 

 in depth, and, by the same token, four feet of 

 drained soil can receive twelve inches of rain, — 

 more than is known to have ever fallen in twenty- 

 four hours since the deluge, and more th-an one quar- 

 ter of the annual rain-fall in the United States.'''' * 



Of the precise ji?rq^fe of under-draining this is not 

 the place to speak : many of the agricultural papers 

 contain numerous accounts of its success. It may be 

 well to remark here, that many English farmers 

 give it, as their experience, that under-drains on 

 heavy clay lands in ordinary cultivation, pay for 

 themselves every three years, or that they produce a 

 perpetual profit of 33^ per cent., on their original 

 cost. This is not the opinion of theorists and Ijook 

 farmers. It is the conviction of practical men, who 

 know,yV'6»^ expe7'ienoe, that under-drains are bene- 

 ficial. 



The best evidence of the utility of under-drain- 

 ing is the position, with regard to it, which has been 

 taken by the English national government, which 

 affords much protection to the agricultural interests 

 of the people, — a protection which in this countiy is 

 unwisely and unjustly withheld. 



In England, a very large sum from the public 

 treasury has been appropriated as a fund for loans, 

 on under-drains, which was lent to farmers for the 

 purpose of under-draining their estates, the only 

 eecurity given being the increased value of the soil. 

 The time allowed for payments was twenty years, 

 * Drainmg for Profit and Health, p. 22. 



