258 



2. Tenant farms are especially liable to decrease in productive- 

 ness as the years go by because of the general lack of an adequate 

 system for maintaining their soil fertility. 



3. Plans for farming are possible whereby both tenant and 

 owner can make a fair profit and the farm still be kept permanently 

 productive. 



4. The owner should make the plan, since he is the one most 

 vitally interested in the continued productiveness of the farm. 



5. The plan should be based on: (a) A rotation of crops 

 which of itself will keep up the humus and nitrogen supply of the 

 soil over the whole farm; (6) a manuring or fertilizing system 

 which will keep the soil adequately supplied with phosphorus, 

 potash, and lime; (c) a division of the expenses and the returns of 

 the farm which shall be fair to both owner and tenant; (d) terms 

 of rental which shall induce permanent tenure; and (e) a simple 

 system easily understood and easily carried out, based on crops and 

 practices best adapted to the locality. (F. B. 437.) 



DRAINAGE. * 



Farmers frequently desire an improvement in the general man- 

 agement of their lands without realizing the exact changes that will 

 be necessary to bring it about. When they find their land too wet 

 for cultivation, they put off the active steps to remedy the evil. 



Facts which are easily discerned by the casual observer have 

 pressed the subject of drainage home to both practical farmers and 

 nonresident landowners in a most emphatic way. Those who have 

 gone further into the subject of soil improvement by drainage have 

 discovered greater advantages and more surprising benefits than were 

 formerly thought possible. It is conceded to be a necessary accom- 

 paniment of scientific agriculture, and our most progressive farmers 

 have taken advantage of it to a greater extent than is generally sup- 

 posed. It is an improvement applicable to all land not possessing 

 natural drainage, and hence is required for the attainment of the 

 best results from some of our most fertile land. The farmer, when 

 convinced that it will be to his interest to construct some kind 

 of a drainage system for the improvement of his soil, desires to know 

 how to plan and perform the work in an effective way at an expense 

 not exceeding the limit of profitable returns which can reasonably 

 be expected. He will find it an advantage to have an intelligent 

 idea of the theory as well as of the practice of drainage in order that 

 he may adapt his work to the several varieties of soil and conditions 

 with which he has to deal. (F. B. 187.) 



A drained soil is one which is moist but not saturated with 

 water. Soils for the production of the plants most prized by the 

 farmer,* gardener, and fruit-grower, must, in addition to other neces- 

 sary elements, contain a definite percentage of water in order to yield 

 the' largest returns. If the soil contain too little moisture the plants 

 are dwarfed, or the crop yield curtailed; if too much water it is 

 practically worthless for cereals and other valuable crops. Plants 

 take their nutriment from the soil in liquid form only, it having 

 been prepared by natural chemical action of heat and moisture on 



* For illustrations, see pages 105, 123, 231, 30i 



