MOST PROFITABLE FARM STOCK. 63 



land, like most of the undrained land in that section, was 

 formerly much affected by drought — the crops on it perished 

 by the extremes of the conditions under which they were placed, 

 he'iu^ imbedded in mud at one time and in baked clay at 

 another. Now they have at all times a friable loam. The 

 yield of wheat on this land has been increased more than a 

 hundred per cent, by drainage alone, averaging, for several 

 years past, upwards of thirty bushels per acre, and other crops 

 have increased in the same ratio. 



Another error which prevails more or less is, that hill lands, 

 or those from which the surface water quickly disappears, need 

 no drainage. It is frequently the case that such lands are too 

 highly charged with water, even to within a short distance from 

 the surface ; and certain trials which have been made demon- 

 strate the great benefit resulting from drains which do not allow 

 the water line to come nearer than two and one-half to three 

 feet of the top of the ground. Indeed, although but little, com- 

 paratively, has been done in the drainage of hill lands in Mas- 

 sachusetts, we have examples enough to show that there is no 

 process by which the owner of such lands could more advance 

 his interest. 



The principal indications of the necessity of drainage may be 

 enumerated as follows : — 



1. It is required wherever the soil is of so tenacious a char- 

 acter that the surface is puddled by rain or baked by drought, 

 or wherever grass or grain is winter killed. 



2. Wherever what is called hard pan (a stratum of imper- 

 vious earth) comes within two feet of the surface. 



3. Wherever aquatic or sub-aquatic plants grow — these 

 always denoting the presence of stagnant water in the soil or 

 subsoil. 



Irrigation, as a means of preserving and even increasing the 

 fertility of the soil, demands more attention than it has hitherto 

 received here. Perhaps there is no country where this source 

 of fertility is so much neglected as in ours. There can be no 

 question that water — even the purest water — is not only capable 

 of benefiting crops by the supply of that element, and by its 

 solvent action on other substances, but that it is also capable of 

 imparting actual fertility to the soil. Ample experience has 

 established this fact, although the full explanation of it may not 



