244 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



*•>.' 



derdraining is not built on this theory, but the the- 

 ory is founded on the practical results of under- 

 draining, and will the more commend itself to prac- 

 tical farmers. 



Plants can take their food only in a state of di- 

 lute solution. They cannot live and grow without 

 a constant supply of fresh water. Stagnant water 

 is exceedingly deleterious ; no fact is better de- 

 monstrated than that plants cannot grow and thrive, 

 however well manured, so long as their roots are 

 surrounded with stagnant water. The necessity for 

 underdraining rests on these three facts. Not on- 

 ly does underdraining remove ail excess of water, 

 and supply it when deficient, but it equalizes the 

 temperature of the soil. In the spring and fall, 

 when a warm soil is so much needed for the ger- 

 mination and maturation of seeds, the tl.ermome- 

 ter shows that an underdrained soil is several de- 

 grees warmer than one that is not drained ; while 

 in very hot weather, the case is exactly the reverse 

 of this. It is a well known fact that vegetation 

 starts much earlier in the spring, and continues 

 later in the fall, on a drained than an undrained 

 soil. 



But besides the beneficial mechanical effect on 

 the soil, underdraining has great chemical action. 

 The removal of stagnant water, and the free admis- 

 sion of air in its stead, accelerates the disintegration 

 of minerals, as well as the decomposition of organic 

 matter in the soil, rendering them both available as 

 food for plants. Again, the rain, as it falls, and filters 

 through a well drained and loamy soil, carries to the 

 plants one of the most needed and expensive of 

 all the constituents of cereal crops. The reader 

 need not be told that I mean ammonia. The rain 

 that falls on an acre in a year, is estimated to con- 

 tain over 100 lbs. of ammonia, or sufficient for the 

 growth of 17 bushels of wheat. The experiments 

 of Professors Way and Thompson have shown 

 that when ammonia is filtered through a soil con- 

 taining a good proportion of clay, the ammonia is 

 retained in the soil, and the water passes through, 

 free from it. Does this throw no light on the 

 cause of the increased crops following thorough 

 underdraining ? The other causes we have men- 

 tioned are merely concomitants. 



The cost of underdraining is the most potent ar- 

 gument against its adoption. Thirty dollars is con- 

 siderable money to invest on an acre of land ; but 

 it must be remembered that it is a permanent in- 

 vestment. When well done, it will last a century 

 or more. It is not like paying out $7 in guano per 

 acre, which lasts but one year or two, at most. It 

 is a perpetual means of obtaining increased crops. 

 The 100 lbs. of ammonia contained in the rain 

 which falls on an acre per annum, cannot be pur- 

 chased in guano, its cheapest form, for less than 

 $ 15. A greater part of this is lost on undrained soil, 

 ■while on one that is well underdrained, the whole of 

 it is, or may be, retained. The expense of cultiva- 

 tion is less on the drained than on the undrained 

 land. You can plow it earlier in the spring, and 

 later in the fall ; and after heavy rains, when the 

 land not drained is so w'et that man or beast can- 

 not go on it, the drained soil will be in fine condi- 

 tion to work. The whole of the increase in crops 

 obtained from draining must be considered clear 

 profit. I believe one-third increase to be a low es- 

 timate ; and as this one-third of the entire produce 

 of the farm is clear profit, it will pay a high inter- 

 est on the $30 invested in underdraining. Any 



farm, which, from its location, is worth $40 to $100 

 per acre, if it needs draining, cannot fail to pay a 

 handsome interest for money judiciously laid out in 

 underdraining. Professor Mapes's farm is under- 

 drained entirely with good success. John Johnson, 

 of Geneva, N. Y., has laid about 40 miles of tiles 

 on his farm, and one of his neighbors, whose name 

 I cannot now recall, has 46 miles of tiles laid on 

 his farm. Mr. J. has been engaged some 17 years 

 in draining his farm, and is perfectly satisfied with 

 the result, having grown some 27 bushels of wheat 

 to the acre, when his neighbors only succeeded in 

 getting seme 8 to 10 bushels on land otherwise as 

 good, and lying contiguous. Perhaps the pecu- 

 liar quality of the soil is such, that such farmers 

 as Mr. Johnson wjuld derive greater advantage 

 from underdraining than would others differently 

 located, and with a soil not containing as much 

 clay as is necessary to render it retentive of am- 

 monia ; but this defect in most localities, (if exist- 

 ing,) can be very readily obviated by carting on 

 clay. One hundred loads to the acre is sufficient 

 for the amendment of a soil that is nearly or quite 

 destitute of clay. Franklin Co., Mass. 



Fur the Neic England Farmer. 



BOYS' WAGES. 



Mr. Editor : — My heading is one which is 

 not often seen in the papers, and indeed, I don't 

 know that I have ever seen anything on the 

 subject. And it is not only neglected in the papers, 

 but in reality. It is, as far as I can judge, little 

 written, and little thought about. 



Boys do not generally (as far as I know,) get 

 paid in proportion to their work ; they are not al- 

 ways bold enough to assert their rights, and are 

 often — if I may judge from cases that have come 

 under my observation — put off" with little or no 

 wages, with false arguments, flattering words, being 

 told that they have been pretty good boys, and 

 would like to have them come again some time, and 

 the like. 



Another way is, when they hire out, they agree 

 to work for what the man for whom they work 

 thinks "about right," and so, when he is paid, poor 

 juvenus gets about half of what he supposed to be 

 "about right." Many a boy works for 7o cents 

 who can do as much as the $1,50 man; and for 

 20 to 30 cents, when he can do nearly as much as 

 a great many men. For instance, M'hen I got a 

 Yankee shilling per day, I could do half as much at 

 many things, and as much at some things, as the 

 men. And in numerous other ways are the boys 

 neglected, and what is worse, cheated. 



Ought not good working boys of 14 or 15 to re- 

 ceive 37 to 45 cents a day ? Or what ought to be 

 the price ? I should like to have the opinion of 

 yourself or correspondents on this subject. 



Yours truly, Unus Puerorum. 



The Famous Horse "North Star." — Henry 

 Olmsted, Esq., of East Hartford, Vt,, has taken 

 this fine horse, with several Morgan mares, and 

 gone to Harrison county, Iowa, to a new settlement 

 which is to be called Olmsted. He was offered three 

 thousand dollars for the North Star at East Hart- 

 ford, but declined the offer, preferring to retain him 



