54 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



III. 



RARNl DRAINAGES. 



IT is a fact well known to the farmer that uniformly good 

 crops can only be grown on a well drained soil. While 

 a good start has been made in the drainage of our farm 

 lands during the present generation, it is only a start, and there 

 yet remains in all parts of the country much land which would 

 be improved by drainage. Probably, under a better system 

 of farming, we shall see much of our upland drained which 

 is not at present thought to need it. A large per cent of our 

 uplands are retentive of water, and slow to dry out in the 

 spring, so as to be in fit condition to work, and the farmer must 

 often wait till the cool, favorable weather of April has passed, 

 and hot weather has come, before he can plow these lands. 

 Under these conditions his team suffers with the heat and heavy 

 work of breaking the land, and, without great care and labor, it 

 is likely to dry and bake in bad condition, so as to render it im- 

 possible to grow a heavy crop. 



Advantages of Drainage. Farmers who have drained 

 extensively have found many benefits from it which would not 

 be thought of by those who have no practical experience in the 

 matter. Dr. Townshend, who was one of the first farmers in 

 the West to drain with tile, gave in a lecture on this subject the 

 following points of advantage gained by thorough drainage. 



1st. It deepens the soil. 



2d. It prevents the killing out of the best grasses and the 

 bringing in of sedges in their place. 



3d. It makes the land warmer. 



4th. It improves the texture of soils. 



