62 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



himself, he can readily obtain them from persons by whom they 

 are bred or kept. 



The means to be used for keeping up or increasing the fertility 

 and productiveness of the land, require particular consideration. 

 Besides the application of manures, the importance of which in 

 this section will be universally admitted, there are ways of 

 improvement which have not generally received due attention. 

 I allude especially to drainage and irrigation. This occasion 

 will hardly permit the presentation of details in regard to the 

 circumstances under wliich these processes of improvement 

 should be carried on. A brief notice of fundamental principles 

 is all that will be attempted. 



Drainage, if not strictly a means of adding to the fertility of 

 the soil, is highly useful in reference to the development of 

 fertility. Soil may be rich and yet contain so much water that 

 plants cannot thrive in it ; or, in consequence of being over- 

 charged with water, substances unwholesome to vegetation may 

 be formed in the soil. By drainage these noxious substances 

 are decomposed or carried off, and the soil affords to plants 

 their appropriate food. 



It is a common impression that as our climate is a dry one, 

 drainage is comparatively unnecessary here. This objection is 

 made without due regard to the effects of drainage. It is a 

 fact abundantly proved that some soils which suffer greatly 

 from drought are rendered by drainage less likely to be affected 

 from that cause. Clayey soils, which do not readily admit the 

 passage of rain water through them, are run into mortar in a 

 wet tim&, and in a dry time are baked to such a degree that 

 the roots of vegetation cannot extend themselves. The effect 

 of drainage in such cases is to carry off the water, or, in conse- 

 quence of the openness of the soil and subsoil, to allow the 

 water to sink so fast that it does not ^ pack the soil. Hence, 

 instead of becoming consolidated, the soil remains in a com- 

 paratively friable state, in which it not only holds more moist- 

 ure, but allows plants to extend their roots freely in search of 

 it. As an example of the great advantage that may be derived 

 from draining tenacious soils, I would refer to what has been 

 done in some portions of the State of New York, particularly 

 on the farms of Mr. Johnston, near Geneva, and those of Mr. 

 Swan, Mr. Foster, and others in the same neighborhood. This 



