96 Cultivation and tillage 



Wherever there is an excess of water it must be 

 removed before satisfactory results can be obtained. 

 Fig. 46 shows a field of wheat in May where the crop 

 is all but killed and only certain weeds survive on a 

 patch of undrained land that lay wet all the winter. 

 Draining land is difficult and somewhat expensive; 

 trenches are first cut to a proper depth, and drain pipes 

 are laid on the bottom, taking care that there is a 

 gentle slope all the way to the ditch. The rain soaks 

 into the soil and gets into the pipes, for they are not 

 joined together like gas or water pipes, but left with 

 little spaces in between ; it then runs out into the ditch. 

 Usually only clay soils need drainage, but occasionally 

 sandy soils do also (see pp. 30, 106). A great deal of 

 drainage was carried out in England between 1840 and 

 1860, and it led to a marked improvement in agriculture 

 and in country life generally. There is, however, a great 

 deal that wants doing now. 



The addition of chalk or lime to soil was found in 

 Chap. III. to improve it very much by making it less 

 sticky and less impervious to air and water. Chalk or 

 lime does more than this. It puts out of action certain 

 injurious substances or acids that may be formed, and 

 thus makes the conditions more favourable for plants 

 and for the useful micro-organisms; farmers and gar- 

 deners express this by saying that it " sweetens the soil." 

 A United States proverb runs: ''A lime country is a 

 rich country." Very many soils in England are im- 

 proved by adding lime or chalk. There are considerable 

 areas in the south-eastern and eastern counties where 

 the soil is very chalky ; here you find a wonderfully rich 

 assortment of flowers and shrubs. Where there is too 

 much chalk the soil is not fertile, because it lets water 



