THE FARMERS' CABINET, 

 AMERICAN HERD-BOOK, 



DEVOTED TO 



AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, AND RURAL AND DOMESTIC AFFAIRS. 



" The Productions of tlie Earth will always be in proportion to the culture bestowed upon it." 



Vol. VI — No. 4.] 



11th mo. (November,) 15th, 1841. 



[Whole No. 83. 



KIMBER «& SHARPLESS, 



PROPRIETORS AND PUBLISHERS, 



No. 50 North Fourth Street, 



PHILADELPHIA. 



Price one dollar per year. — For conditions see last page. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Under Draining. 



JMr. Edttor, — This is tlie season for mak- 

 ing under drains; the leisure of autumn and 

 the open weather of winter cannot be so well 

 employed as in this most necessary and all- 

 important operation : by tliis means, too, la- 

 bour is found for our helps at a time when, 

 otherwise, they would be suffering privations 

 from the want of employment; and when the 

 business is judiciously conducted, it is sure to 

 pay a percentage upon the cost, far greater 

 than any other that can be devised, as that 

 land which has been reclaimed by draining 

 "will oftentimes require no manuring for an 

 age; the herbage, too, being of a peculiarly 

 difti^rent species from that hitherto produced, 

 and far more nutritious. It must be observed, 

 however, that drains cut nt this season of the 

 year should be filled and finished immediate- 

 ly, lest the frost might shake the sides of the 

 newly-cut earth, and render the labour in a 

 measure abortive, by partially filling them, 

 before the stones, or other articles used, are 

 placed. 



On land that has been drained, the system 

 of subsoil ploughing can be adopted with ten- 

 fold advantage, which is an object of the high- 

 est importance, for there is no doubt, the use 

 of the subsoil plough will ere long be in very 

 general requisition on almost all soils, having 

 been found as valuable on light lands with 

 retentive bottoms, as upon those of a more 

 compact and stiffer surface — rendering, as 

 has been observed, all soils drier in wet wea- 

 ther, and more moist during a season of 

 drought. On this all-important subject, I 

 find some interesting remarks in the Southern 

 Planter, a new agricultural periodical, pub-i 

 lished at Richmond, Virginia, which stands | 

 high in public estimation, and deserves the 

 liberal support of the country througii which 

 it circulates. It is said, 



" We are inclined to believe the very great- 

 est improvement in modern husbandry is, the 



Cab.— Vol. VI.—No. 4. 



system of complete and thorough draining, 

 now insisted on by the best agriculturists of 

 the day. That a tenacious and impervious 

 subsoil must be relieved from the water col- 

 lected and retained on its surface before the 

 earth can be fitted for the growth of vegeta- 

 ble matter, we think has been most clearly 

 and satisfactorily ascertained ; the best mode 

 of effecting this object may be a question, but 

 although it is, probably, the most costly, we 

 believe that under-draining will, in the end, 

 be found the most economical. The mere 

 expense of cutting the ditch is the same, pro- 

 bably, whether a blind or open way is used, 

 but in the covered ditch there is the additional 

 expense of that arrangement, by which the 

 bottom is kept open whilst the top is closed; 

 and this is considerable, varying with the 

 means used, which will be different accord- 

 ing to circumstances. Intimately connected 

 with this system of draining, is the plan of 

 subsoil ploughing ; by this is meant, the break- 

 ing up of the earth to a greater depth than is 

 usual in the ordinary process of cultivation. 

 A very singular fact has been discovered in 

 the practice of modern husbandry — a stiff 

 clay, impervious to water, when once broken 

 up in this way, never runs together again — 

 this may be true with respect to all, except a 

 particular species which is known as pipe 

 clay, and advantage has been taken of this 

 discovery to run a plough of a particular 

 shape, called a subsoil plough, in the bottom 

 of the furrow made by an ordinary plough, 

 so as to loosen the soil without turning it: by 

 this means, the excess of water, which would 

 otherwise have been retained stagnant about 

 the roots of the plants, to their serious injury, 

 is now distributed to a much greater depth, 

 and by the conjunction of open or under 

 drains is entirely carried off. The relief thus 

 afforded to a soil of this character has been 

 known to double and even quadruple the pro- 

 duct; and there is very little soil that, in its 

 natural state, would not be greatly benefited 

 by the operation ; consequently, a man had 

 better, if it be necessary, sell one-half his 

 land, to enable him to drain the other." 



There are many articles used in the filling 

 of under-drains. On the old and low mea- 

 dows of England, it is usual to cut drains 18 

 inches deep and 12 inches wide, and in the 

 middle of the bottom of these, to sink a foot 



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