112 THE BUSINESS OF FAEMING 



rocks that require strength and money to remove. 

 If any of these lands are swampy, the additional 

 expense of drainage must be applied to them. In 

 fine, both our new timber and prairie lands must 

 be drained before they are fit for cultivation. 



Our soils which have been subjected to cultiva- 

 tion for a period of years, if care has not been 

 used to keep them filled with organic matter, be- 

 come compact, and so are not sufficiently ven- 

 tilated for the successful growing of crops in 

 them. It is necessary that these soils be ditched 

 so that ventilation for the soil be secured. It is 

 now a settled fact that plant roots breathe; that 

 free oxygen must reach them or the plants perish. 

 Oxygen must freely reach the seed in the soil or 

 we do not get the healthy growth. Soil ventila- 

 tion produces the necessary nitrates in the soil 

 and prevents also their destruction. 



The soil must be properly ventilated that soil 

 bacteria may live and perform their function of 

 changing the nitrogen of decaying organic mat- 

 ter into a form suitable for plant food. Drain- 

 age is one of the chief aids to accomplish this end. 

 Drainage conserves moisture, promotes soil 

 ventilation and gives soil the proper temperature. 



In the restoration of worn and worn-out soils 

 drainage in one of the main remedies that must 

 be employed. And here at this point it is well 

 for a brief period to wait upon the soil doctor 

 and get his ideas of putting the soil in condition 

 for the carrying on of the business of farming. 



When our bodies become diseased we call the 

 physician who, in our judgment, "has rare skill 

 in diagnostics,'* who by critical perception and 



