RESULTS OF DRAINAGE. 219 



Mr. Brown. I should be glad of an opportunity to say a few 

 words in relation to this subject, because it interests me greatly. 

 The effects of drainage upon soils will be as surprising to per- 

 sons who have not looked into the matter as any operation of 

 the farm in which they have ever engaged, and, I am inclined 

 to think, more so. It is one of those curious operations that 

 sometimes work by contraries. In the first place, it makes cold 

 land warmer ; in the next place, it makes wet land dryer ; in 

 the third place, it makes dry land more wet; in the fourth 

 place, it makes heavy land light ; and, in the fifth place, it 

 makes light land, in some cases, I believe, a little more com- 

 pact. Now, if that is not working by contraries, apparently, I 

 do not know what is. 



In the first place, I say, it makes cold land warm. You will 

 all ask me how. There is nothing that the roots of plants 

 dislike so much, probably, as to stand over stagnant cold water, 

 and if they can by any possible means run away from that cold 

 water, they will do so. They will follow almost any course to 

 escape going down into that cold water. Now, in the case of a 

 drought, you will find that the plants on low, wet lands, fail the 

 soonest ; just where people who have not looked into the matter 

 would suppose they would fail last. After there has been a 

 drought of two or three weeks, if you look into what are called 

 the low runs, you will find that the young maples and some 

 other trees — the black alders, perhaps — are shedding their 

 leaves. And why ? Because the young maple grows on wet 

 land, where the water is cold underneath, and stands within a 

 few inches of the crown of the root ; and it never throws a root 

 downward to penetrate into that cold water. It will not go 

 there. It skims along on the surface. You will find it only 

 two or three inches below the surface ; not much more than 

 ■ covered up. Consequently, when the drought comes, these 

 roots, being right on the surface, feel its effects the soonest, and 

 therefore, plants growing in lands that are ordinarily wet, are 

 the very first plants to suffer. By taking that cold water away, 

 you warm up the land. How do you do it ? There are several 

 ways, one of which is this. If the cold water is drawn off from 

 below the surface, when the rain falls, it brings down with it a 

 good deal of heat, and instead of running off in streams on the 

 surface, it passes directly down, carrying the heat along with it. 



