THE FARM AND FARM BUILDINGS. 497 



closely compressed, and it would, under the same circumstances, 

 be baked and dry throughout its whole depth. No air could 

 enter for the deposit of dew, and, from its compact condition, 

 all of the moisture that it contains would move, by capillary 

 attraction, from particle to particle, to supply the evaporation at 

 the surface, while the crust thus formed on the surface would 

 prevent the free admission of air, even if the lower soil were 

 loose and porous. 



It is the same in the field. A heavy clay soil, saturated with 

 water, dries up to a condition that will not admit of the circula- 

 tion of air. Even if the thin surface soil, containing much 

 vegetable matter, is loose enough, it is soon heated to such a 

 depth that the little moisture it receives during the cooler parts 

 of the day is dried out by the midday sun, while the compact 

 subsoil is impervious to all atmospheric influence. Plants grow 

 well enough during the weeks that separate the rains of early 

 spring from the heat of midsummer, but when the drought sets 

 in, fche roots being only in the surface soil, for roots will not 

 enter a cold, saturated subsoil, vigorous vegetation ceases, and 

 we accuse Providence of having sent us a scourge for our sins. 

 As well blame Providence for our loss if we neglected to plow, 

 and harrow, and plant at seed time, as for loss from neglect to 

 drain away the water that places us at the mercy of the drought. 

 If we underdrain the land, even without the use of the subsoil 

 plow, but better with it, the early growth will be less pre- 

 carious and more uniform, and the roots of our crops will push 

 down into the subsoil, where they will find, all through the dri- 

 est summer, enough moisture for their uses. For the first year 

 or two, of course, we could only hope to modify our evils, but in 

 time we should find that, if we keep the surface of our under- 

 draining ground well stirred, a six weeks' drought, that lays the 

 whole country-side bare, has little power to diminish our crops. 



