DRAINAGE. OR IRRIGATION 65 



dealing for the most part with plants which are used before matur- 

 ity and in which large free growth of foliage, stem and seed vessel 

 are the points desired and not mature seed. Most of these plants 

 are also shallow-rooted and are concerned in the lower layers of 

 soil not as a place for root-activity, but rather as a reservoir of 

 moisture and a storehouse of plant food which shall come to them 

 dissolved in the upward movement of abundant water. Conse- 

 quently these plants do not require the degree of soil dryness which 

 best ministers to maturing processes nor do they need such deep 

 penetration of air as is needed to make subsoils hospitable for deep- 

 rooting plants. They are plants, too, which need the maximum per- 

 centages of moisture, which their nature demands, to secure the 

 quick growth and succulence which makes them delicious and profit- 

 able, as already stated in the preceding chapter. For all these rea- 

 sons, the view of underdrainage here presented is somewhat at vari- 

 ance with orthodox drainage tenets held in humid climates and is 

 also widely diverse from views which the writer holds with refer- 

 ence to the drainage requirements of fruit trees. But there are, of 

 course, some situations in which water may accumulate to satura- 

 tion, rendering the soil cold and water-logged. In such cases drain- 

 age is indispensable for early planting to get growth well started or 

 complete in the rainy season, but the opposite may be true of the 

 same situation and soil if desired for late planting and growth in 

 the dry season. 



