Feeding the Land 189 



tindrained, this capillary movement of moisture 

 cannot go on. No tree or vine can thrive in such 

 earth; you must first convert it into soil. The 

 first step is drainage; the next step is drainage; the 

 last step is drainage. Whatever the aspect of 

 the fruit-farm, sooner or later we come to drainage. 

 No drainage, no soil; no soil, no plant; no plant, 

 no fruit. Perfect drainage means a responsive soil. 

 Plowing, spading, cultivating, fertilizing, are in 

 vain without drainage. Most lands have natural 

 drainage, but too sharp incline of strata means 

 wash and waste. Could a transverse section of the 

 land be made, on your farm, to a great depth, say 

 of three hundred feet, you would doubtless discover 

 a succession of rock strata at bottom, then coarse 

 gravels, clays more or less porous, then mixed 

 gravel and fine clay as loam, and, at top, the soil 

 as we commonly know it. The many gas wells 

 which have been sunk in the Valley give us this 

 knowledge. Land that can dispose of all ordinary 

 rainfall without washing or flooding is well drained. 

 Of two evils, a dry soil or a wet, the dry is prefer- 

 able; for cultivation gives moisture, but standing 

 water makes any land untillable. Land which, 

 untilled, is hard, dry, and bare, may be made 

 highly productive by cultivation, — stirring the 

 earth makes it porous, sets capillary action free, 

 converts the wild into a garden. By this break- 

 ing up, gases and liquids in the earth go down 

 and moisture and gases rise. In brief, circulation 

 sets in. Earth must be aired, aerated, like bread, 



