THE QENEBEE FARMER. 269 





"Some of the advantages derived from draining are, that the ground becomes about as dry in two 

 or three days after the frost conies out in tlie spring, or after a heavy rain, as it would do in as many 

 weeks before draining ; enabling the farmer to work his land at almost any time he may desire to do 

 60. It also dries it uniformly all over the field, so that in plowing he does not find spots of wet and 

 dry, but is all in good condition at once. It causes the lowest places, which are generally too wet in 

 seed time, and consequently produced but little if any crop, to produce the best of any part of the 

 field, being generally the richest soil, from having had the wash of the surface of the laud about it 

 for many years. 



"Some of the land I first drained had been planted with young orchard trees; and in the wettest 

 places, Pome trees died the first winter and a greater number the second, and some young nui-sery 

 trees on the same ground were nearly thrown out of the ground by the frost. After draining it, I 

 replaced the orchard trees, and all have grown well, and the first crop of nursery trees, which I was 

 compelled to remove to save them, before draining, have been replaced by others since draining, and 

 they have succeeded perfectly ; so that I may now well say, that if we desire to deprive Jack Frost 

 of his power to do us harm, we should keep everything as dry as possible which is within his reach 

 and liable to injury. And I am from my own experience fully convinced that, for whatever crop, 

 and especially any crop liable to be injured by frost in winter, such aa wheat, clover, <fec., whether 

 the season be wet or dry, if the soil retains its moisture too long'at any season of the year, (and most 

 soils do,) it will be materially benefitted by draining; and in fact I am well convinced that most of 

 the winter-killed young fruit trees in many places, especially the peach, as well as the winter-killing 

 of many valuable shrubs, vines, and evergreens, which survive the winter in some places in tliis lati- 

 tude and are destroyed in others, is more to be attributed to excessive moistui-e in the soil during 

 cold weather, than to all other causes combined. 



" I will only estimate the increased value of the land by saying that I have the past year made 

 over 1,200 rods on twenty acres, at a cost of about $25 per acre, and that I should not permit such 

 land to remain without such draining even were the expense doubled. Most of the lands so drained 

 have been purchased by me immediately preceding the construction of the drains, and their very 

 recent construction precludes the possibility of giving the specific and comparative productive 

 capacity before and after draining, though on much of it very light crops have been grown for many 

 years past, and no good crop of wheat has been raised on it for a long time ; but the reason has not 

 heretofore, to my knowledge, been ascribed to an excess of water, which I believe to have been the 

 principal cause of the non-productiveness of the land. From the experience of two seasons on the 

 small quantity first drained, I am of the opinion that the increased value of the land is much greater 

 than the cost of constructing the drains, but more time is needed to fully test with accuracy the 

 benefits to result therefi'om." 



ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 



In the future of agriculture in this country, the manufacture of chemical manures is 

 destined to occupy a most important position, and to be one of the principal means of 

 improving it. It is therefore necessary, at the commencement of this movement, that 

 chemists and the agricultural press generally, exercise caution and discrimination in the 

 recommendation of the various articles now manufactured and offered for sale to the 

 farmer as special fertilizers for this or that particular kind of crop ; for by encouraging 

 in any way the sale' of a worthless article, the cause of agricultural advancement is seri- 

 ously injured, and discredit brought upon all the recommendations of real science in the 

 minds of the farming community. 



In England an immense trade is carried on in the manufacture and adulteration of 

 chemical manures, especially of superphosphate of lime. It is about ten years since this 

 manure was first manufactured, and such has been its success that it has gradually 

 increased in demand every year, till now many thousand tons are annually used as a 

 special manure for the turnep crop. It has done as much to improve British agricoiture 

 as any one thing, by increasing the growth of ruta bagas, turncps, and other root srops, 

 which being consumed on the farm by cattle and sheep, increase the quality and' quan- 

 tity of the manure heap, and, as a consequence, the average yield of wheat and" other 

 grains. And thus, while it is found that superphosphate of lime is of no valtie as a 

 direct manure for wheat, and is not used for that purpose, yet its employment as a 

 special manure for the turnep and clover crops has, by its good eft'ect on them, iruii- 

 rectly increased the wheat crop to a considerable degree. It is manufactured from finely 



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