SUCCESS IN MARKET GARDENING 



depth of drain. When it is necessary, on account 

 of underlying rock or by reason of insufficient fall, 

 to go only three feet deep, the drains should be 

 as near together as twenty feet. 



No great exactness can be had in such a matter 

 as this. In consideration of the variety of soils, and 

 our inability to measure the exact amount of water 

 to be drawn off (which is never a constant 

 quantity), or even the rate at which it may reach 

 the drains by percolation through any given soil, 

 uniform depths and distances cannot of course 

 be prescribed with any pretence to theoretical 

 precision. A general judgment made up from 

 experience and observation is all that can be 

 offered. 



For explanation of the beneficial influences of 

 draining, we must endeavour to realize some of 

 the conditions of plant life. One of these is 

 moisture at the roots. If drainage were attended 

 by a complete withdrawal of all the permanent 

 moisture of the soil, no one would be its advocate. 

 Some imagine that wherever executed it is to the 

 detriment of the land's capacity for production, 

 though increasing its capacity for being cultivated. 

 They say "more tillable is not more fertile. Tile 



[16] 



