62 THE SOILS AND CROPS OF THE FARM. 



Stagnant water in the soil checks chemical action and 

 the preparation of plant food. It prevents the access 

 of ail'. 



The roots of most plants make only slow and feeble 

 growth in such a soil. The yield of farm crops is 

 much reduced, and often the quality of the produce 

 is made poorer. Land which is too wet to be profit- 

 ably cultivated may give a fair return if kept in grass, 

 but the quality of the pasture or the hay is usually 

 not so good as that grown on well-drained land. 



The working season is often shortened if the land is 

 wet. The land cannot be cultivated so early in spring. 

 Heavy rains may unfit it for being tilled for days at a 

 time when the crops are in need of cultivation. In 

 many cases such land is cultivated when too wet, to 

 the serious injury of the crop. 



On fairly level land the presence ;]of a few small 

 ponds or swampy places may indicate that drainage 

 of the whole tract is needed; for, although the water 

 stands on the surface over only a small per cent of 

 the area, the soil may be saturated with water to with- 

 in a few inches of the surface over much of the tract. 



Drainage of wet land tends to make the region more 

 healthful for both man and the domestic animals. 



In general, it may be said, well -drained land can be 

 cultivated at less cost, with more ease, and will give 

 larger yields of a larger variety of crops, with less 

 danger of loss during bad weather or from frosts, and 

 that it is often more healthful and always more at- 

 tractive than undrained, wet land. 



ISnrface and Underground Drainage. — The 

 good results from improving the surface drainage of 

 wet land, by straightening and clearing the natural 



