1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



453 



For the New England Farmer. 



DRAINING, &c. 



Mr. Editor: — One of the most difficult matters 

 in carrying foi'ward improvements in agriculture, is 

 to maintain a correct system of teaching and prac- 

 tice. This fact is very evident to the obser\'ing man, 

 when he sees so many different theories set forth as 

 guides to go by. Many of these theories are abso- 

 lutely false, when reduced to practice, Avhile others 

 are of such doul)tful utility that they will not pay 

 the farmer for trial or investigation. 



Among other theories which have of late sprung 

 up, are those in regard to "draining," which are 

 maintained by a certain class of " scientific opera- 

 tors" as correct teaching. They say in substance, 

 as there is a great deal of wet and marshy, boggy 

 land, that requires thorough di'aining, before it can 

 be well cultivated, so there is no soil, however deep 

 it may be, but that it will pay well to "drain," if it 

 will j)ay to cultivate at all. I hesitate not to say 

 that a greater piece of "radicalism" or untruth, was 

 never put forth, than to assert that a piece of natu- 

 rally dry soil required draming in order to make it 

 right for cultivation. 



A writer in the JS\iv York Tribune, in a word of 

 adrice to farmers, among other things says : — "But 

 there is no land in the old States worth plowing, 

 which will not pay for draining and subsoiling. Dry 

 soils need these meliorations quite as much as wet, 

 and will as richly reward them. There is no toler- 

 ably good land in this State, so dry that it might 

 not, by underdraining and deep plowing, have been 

 made to stand the drought of the past summer, 

 without rolling a single blade of corn. Proper 

 draining moistens land when too dry, as much as it 

 dries it when too wet. These facts are well known 

 to the decenlly instructed farmer, and we need not 

 dwell on them," &c. 



Now this writer seems to carry the idea that 

 draining and subsoihng must always go together, in 

 order to ensure success. And I admit that in all 

 wet, hea\T, swampy lands, that need thorough 

 draming, subsoiling 'will be a valuable addition. But 

 then that does not prove that all ordinary dry soils 

 need draining, nor anything of the kind, for they do 

 not want it. All soils capable of cultivation may or 

 will be improved by deep plowing and subsoiling ; 

 lands that are naturally moist and retentive, may 

 need a subsoiling every year; while those which are 

 more open, one thorough suljsoihng may answer 

 for three or four years. In fact, on many soils that 

 are quite retentive of moisture, all the draining 

 that will be necessary can be done by deep plowing 

 and thorough subsoiling, say to the dei)tli of eigh- 

 teen or twenty inches. Tliis operation opens the 

 pores of the soil, and drains down the surface wa- 

 ter that may accumulate by heavy rains, and also 

 the retentive water that lies near the surface, of 

 course leaving the soil in a jjliable state for cultiva- 

 tion. Then in case of dry weatlier, moisture will 

 be drawn up from the subsoil by attraction from 

 the atmosphere. So if the surface soil is well ])ul- 

 yerized, tliis soil may be kept tolerably moist dur- 

 ing a dry spell. Of course, on all wet, boggy, mar- 

 shy swales or soils, thorough draining is necessary 

 before any other improvement can follow. There 

 are many other soils, which on first appearance 

 would look as though draining was not necessary. 

 But on a closer examination of the soil and subsoil, 

 and the grass grown upon the surface, driuning 

 would be found to pay well. 



As to the material used for draining, much •will 

 depend on circumstances, situation, Sec. &c. I am 

 inclined to think that the tile now manufactured in 

 many places for this purpose, is the cheapest and 

 best material that can be used, even if stone are 

 close at hand. Draining by tile is the most sure 

 and certain process, in the long run, and the cheap- 

 est. But then this writer says, "jjroper draining 

 moistens land when too dry, as much as it dries it 

 when too wet," Sec. Now 1 confess, for one, that 

 I do not understand this doctrine, although I 

 have given considerable attention to soil cultivation 

 for the past twenty years. As I understand it, 

 draining proper means conducting off the surplus 

 water and moisture gathered from the soil, and dis- 

 charging it into a main ditch or reservoir. Now I 

 cannot see why in dry weather even that the tile 

 will not continue to gather the moisture and con- 

 duct it off; and in that case, a dry soil drained, in- 

 stead of becoming .more moist in dry weather, must 

 be exhausted of moisture. But I can readily see, 

 as I have explained, how by deep plowing and 

 subsoihng, and keeping the surflice soil mellow and 

 stirred often, that a tolerably moist or dry soil may 

 be reUeved of surface water in wet Aveather, and 

 made more moist in dry weather. As to haying 

 soils so thoroughly plowed, subsoiled and drained 

 that a single blade of corn will not "roll up" in a 

 great drought, I have heard spoken of before, but 1 

 had much rather see it, than hear it told of, for my 

 satisfaction. On many soils of a deep loam that 

 are higlily cultivated, a crop of corn might be car- 

 ried through a great drought, like the one just past, 

 without the blades rolling much. But on a dry 

 gravel or sandy soil this woidd be impossible, and all 

 the subsoilmg and draining could not })rcvent corn 

 blades from rolhng. It has been a long oljserva- 

 tion of mine, and of others, that during a drought, 

 when corn blades rolled during the day and un- 

 rolled during the night, the crop did not suffer 

 much. But when the blades rolled thoroughly 

 through the daj-, and did not unroll at all during 

 the night, then the crop suffered for want of mois- 

 ture. The Indian corn crop will stand a great 

 drought, when the soil is well cultivated, many 

 times beyond our calculation. But then tliis bid- 

 ding defiance to rain and diy Meather, and say- 

 ing as good crops can be raised by scientijic culture, 

 without these blessings, as with, is going beyond 

 limit. And after all the care and attention that the 

 farmer may bestow on his crops by well-directed la- 

 bor, he may have his expectiitions cut off by drought, 

 storm or flood. Yet good cultivation will generally 

 succeed, when well followed out, and it is only the 

 extremes and exce])tions to this rule that will fail 

 to ensure generally good crops. 



Yours truly, L. Durand. 



Derby, CL, 1855. 



Starch, Sugar, Carhon. — Twelve pounds of 

 starch contain five jjounds of cariion. A person of 

 sedentary habits throws off about five oimces of 

 carl)on in twenty-four hours — a iiard laborer twelve. 

 To su])ply this he must eat sixteen ounces of starch 

 and sugar. If he take it in the form of wheat I)read, 

 it will require one pound and threc-fo\irths — if in 

 the form of potatoes, seven and a half jjounds, to 

 suj)ply what is lost by breathing alone. A horse, 

 or cow, will give off from four to six j)()unds of car- 

 bon daily. The amount of food, to supply tliis loss, 

 will be proportionately greater. 



