108 ON DEEP-DRAINING. 



throiig'li the soil, and tliat is, that it is the only cai-rier of 

 heat downwards. Nothing- can 3'ou g-et to carry heat 

 downwards excepting- water. It robs the air of its heat, 

 the topsoil of its heat, and warms the subsoil. Tliat is one 

 of the most important operations of water. In summer the 

 surface of the g-round is often 136 degrees, the subsoil at the 

 depth of 4 feet is about 46 degrees. But the water fall- 

 ing- on well-drained land passes down to the drains, leaving- 

 behind it the heat it contained. That is a well-known 

 scientific fact ; and we all know, the warmer our subsoil is the 

 better our crops g-row. Well, then, g-entlemen, what a sin 

 and what a folly it is to make water-furi-ows open fiuTows 

 on the top to carry it away, instead of making- drains below 

 — furrows which not only carry away the heavenly rains, but 

 a g-reat deal of the soluble parts of our manure that lie near 

 the top. I know^ perfectly well that, on undrained land, if 

 you ])ut a top-dressing- of soot, and there happens to come in 

 the course of the day a very heavy " shot" of rain, as it is 

 called, you have the mortification to find next morning- that 

 soot travelling- down your ditches rather faster than you like 

 to see it. But if the land be thoroug-lily drained and porous 

 like a spong-e, the particles of manure find their way down ; 

 the roots g-o in search of this manure, and up they bring- 

 it by capillary attraction. We all know that veg-etation 

 has great capillary power. We know it by the great trees. 

 You observe a dry season ; wherever you see a large tree in 

 a field he drains the moisture around from the roots of his 

 weaker neighbours, the corn. The consequence is, that your 

 returns in the present season are not near so large as they 

 proved to be the 3'ear before. Gentlemen, the subject of 

 draining- is a vital one to agriculture, and I have laboured 

 hard to satisfy the minds of agriculturists, and to remove 

 their prejudices. I have done 33 acres myself, 6 feet 

 deep ; it answers perfectly ; and I therefore recommend 

 you to do the same. I think, last year, some of you pro- 

 mised me you would try half an acre. I consider you are 

 bound by your own interest, and by the interest you feel in 

 this Society, to make the trial. I should state that the 

 5-feet drains are opened only 18 inches wide on the sur- 

 face, and that there is no particular difficulty in reaching 

 a dej)th of 5 feet with only an 18-inch opening at the top. 

 The cost of that is, in honest clay, where no pickaxes 

 are to be used, Gd. per rod workmen's labour. I have 

 opened some drains in a field recently called a light sandy 



