86 HANDY-BOOK OF HUSBANDRY. 



the air clean, and then on filtering through the loose soil, has 

 deposited, near enough to the surface to be within the reach of 

 roots, all of its impurities. 



Seed planted now finds as much moisture as it needs for germ- 

 ination, and only as much ; its rotting in the ground is impossible. 

 And if we will follow all of the processes of growth, and all of 

 the operations of cultivation and harvesting, we shall find that 

 the former are never impeded by too great wetness of the soil, and 

 that the latter may be performed always in good season and with 

 the best effect. Neither are the crops destroyed, or even greatly 

 injured by drought, for if there is one effect of underdraining that 

 is established beyond doubt, it is that it is at least the basis of all 

 those operations by which we most successfully attempt to over- 

 come the effect of drought ; and it isfitself the greatest of all 

 preventives of drought. 



Instead of being a pest to the farmer, disappointing half of his 

 hopes, and baffling his best skill, this acre of land has become a 

 pliant tool in his hands. So far as it is possible for him to be 

 independent of the changes of the weather, he has become inde- 

 pendent of them, and he works with a certainty of the best reward, 

 which changes his occupation from a game of hazard to a work 

 of fair promise. 



To answer the question, then, which stands at the head of this 

 article, underdraining is the knocking out of the bottom of the 

 water-tight box in which our soil is incased. If we are the happy 

 occupiers of land through which water settles away as it falls, we have 

 no need of the operation. But if our only (or our chief) outlet 

 is at the surface, with the drying sun and wind for draining tiles, 

 we do need it, and we can never hope for the success to which 

 our seed, our manure and our labor entitles us until we adopt it. 



How it is best to do the work depends on soil, situation, price 

 of labor, price of material, and depth of outlet that can be secured. 



Stone drains, tile drains, brush drains, board drains, mole plow 

 tracks, and all other conduits for water are proven pretty good, 

 so long as they continue to afford a channel through which the 

 water can run freely. The choice between them is based on the 



