SECURES A DRY SEED-TIME AI^D AN EARLl HARVEST. 307 



same openness of the soil which enables the rains tc wash out those so- 

 luble noxious substances, whicli have been long collecting, permits them 

 to carry off also such as are gradually formed, and thus to keep it in a 

 sound and healthy state ; but let this openness be more or less impaired 

 by a neglect of the drainage, and the original state of the land will again 

 gradually return. 



4°. This constant descent of water through the soil causes a similar 

 constant descent of fresh air through its pores, from the surface to the 

 depth of the drains. When the rain falls, it enters the soil and more or 

 less completely displaces the air which is contained within its pores. 

 T^his air either descends to the drains or rises into the atmosphere. 

 When the rain ceases, the water, as it sinks, again leaves the pores of 

 tiie upper soil open, and fresh air consequently follows. It is in fact 

 sucked in after the water, as the latter gradually passes down to the 

 drains. Thus, where a good drainage exists, not only is the land re- 

 freslied by every shower that falls — not only does it derive from the 

 rains those important substances which occasionally, at least, are brought 

 down by them from the atmosphere, and which are in a great measure 

 lost where the waters must flow over the surface — but it is supplied also 

 with renewed accessions of fresh air, which experience has shown to be 

 so valuable in promoting the healthy growtli of all our cultivated crops. 



5°. But other consequences of great practical importance follow from 

 these immediate effects. When thus readily freed from the constant 

 presence of water, the soil gradually becomes drier, sweeter, looser, and 

 more friable. The hard lumps of the stiff' clay lands more or less dis- 

 appear. They crumble more freely, offer less resistance to the plough, 

 and are in consequence more easily and economically worked. These 

 are practical benefits, equivalent to a change of soil, which only the 

 farmer of stubborn clays can adequately appreciate. 



6°. With the permanent state of moisture, the coldness of many soils 

 also rapidly disappears. The backwardness of the crops iri sprjng, and 

 the lateness of the harvests in autumn, are less frequently complained 

 of— for the drainage in many localities produces effects which are equi- 

 valent to a change of climate. " In consequence of the drainage which 

 has taken place in the parish of Peterhead, in Aberdeenshire, during the 

 last 20 years, the crops arrive at maturity ten or fourteen days sooner 

 than they formerly did ;"* and the same is true to a still greater extent 

 in many other localities. 



7°. On stiff' clay lands, well adapted for wheat, wet weather in au- 

 tumn not unfrequently retards the sowing of winter corn — in undrained 

 lands, often completely prevents it — compelling the farmer to change his 

 system of cropping, and to sow some other grain, if the weather permit 

 him, when the spring comes round. An efficient drainage carries off" the 

 water so rapidly as to bring the land into a workable state soon after the 

 rain has ceased, and thus, to a certain extent, it rescues the farmer from 

 the fickle dominion of the uncertain seasons.f To the skilful and in- 



* Mr. Gray, in the Prize Essays of the Highland and Agricultural Society, U., ■p. 171 

 This opinion was given in 1830, since which time many other extensive improvements have 

 been made in tliat part of the island. 



1 "Formerly," says Mr. Wilson, of Cumledge, in his account of the drainage of a farm 

 in Berwiclcshire, " this part of the farm was so wet, that — though better adapted for wheat 

 than any other crop— the season for sowing waa frequently lost, and after an experisive fat 



