NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sii.- 



For the Pfew En? 'and Farmer. 



UNDER-DRAINING. 



BY HENRY F. FRENCH. 



Tliere ure parts of almost every New England 

 farm, which might be improved at trifling cost, by 

 uiKier-drainintj — places, perhaps, in the mowiiiij- 



agents, which it has collected in falling throui.','! 

 the atmosphere, to the roots, while the pure fresh 

 air is, as it were, sucked down to fill the place of 

 the descending water. 



The great object, in draining small tracts, is, lo 



cut off the water, before it has done its mischievous 



work — before it has come out lo the surface, and give 



field, on the hill sides, where tlie water, slowly j it a harndess course from our territory. And here 



oozing out upon the surface, produces a growth of 

 wild flat grass, ornamented with an occasional 

 bunch of brakes, and now and then a clump of al- 

 ders, making an excellent cover for woodcock, and^at his own head quarters, they suffer him to over 

 a pleasant summer residence for frogs, but giving run their domain, and then give him a free passaoe 



lies the great error, observable everywhere, among 

 tliose who are inexperienced in draining, that in- 

 stead of preventing tiie evil by meeting the enemy 



no valuable crop to the farmer 



Often, this water has a mineral tinrje,as if there 

 were oil upon it, and sometimes it deposits a red- 

 dish sediment like iron rust. 



When tiiis is the case, it seems to act like poison, 

 upon all valuable plants. This substance is sul- 

 phate of iron, and frequently, by dijrcring two or 

 three feet in such localities, tlie subsoil, even in 

 sandy land, will be f(tund cemented together like 

 stone, and entirely im|iervi(>us to water. 



These wet '.pots are usually the outlets of springs, 

 and spriuiZs are no more nor less than rain water, 

 which, falling upon the earth, has encountered 

 either rock or clay, or something else which ciiecks 

 its passage downward, and so passes along until it 

 finds vent upon the surface. , 



And frequently we see on fields nearly level, 

 hoUoirs or basins, in which water stands in ihe ear- 

 ly part of the season, preventing the proper work- 

 incr of the soil, and rendering barren, the deepest 

 and richest portions of the whole farm. And then 

 we have swamps and bogs, into which the uplands 

 have for centuries, poured treasures of fertilizing 

 elements, but which are given over to desolation, 

 by reason of too much cold water, a liquid which is 



far more injurious to land, than to the owner ! 



To remove this surplus water, in the cheapest 

 and best inanner, constitutes the whole science of 

 draining. 



Before suggesting the mode of under-draining, it 

 may be well to explain why water thus flowing 

 through the soil, produces effects so disastrous, 

 while, as is well known, nothing better promotes 

 the growth of plants, especially of grass, than irri- 

 gation, or water flowing over the surface. All 

 plants require air — atmospheric air, such as we 

 breathe, and especially do thsy require that ele- 

 msnt of air, which is called oxygen. Without it, 

 iio seed can germinate, and no living thing can 

 flourish. 



If plants do not breathe like inen, they, evident- 

 ly, do soiTietliinfT very similar. 



Some plants re(iuire more air, while vegetating, 

 than others. Potatoes and corn are drowned, if 

 the ground above them is covered with water, for 

 even a few days, after they are planted. Most 

 farmers have lost their ciops in this way. Now, 

 rain water, or running water, by absorption from 

 the atmosphere, is constantly supplied with oxy- 

 gen, and readily imparts it to vegetation, while 

 stagnant water soon becoming exhausted of tliis es- 

 sential agent, excludes the air from the roots of the 

 cultivated plant, and so drowns it. 



Rain, falling upon land filled with stagnant wa- 

 ter, produces no good effect, because it cannot pen- 

 etrate, but is at once thrown off, while upon land 

 properly drained, it passes downward through the 

 soil, carrying the ammonia and other fertilizing 



onward. 



Although one might suppose it quite unnecessa- 

 ry to suggest that water is inclined to run down 

 hill, yet that circumstance seems to be often over- 

 looked. It is a very common error to run drains 

 through the lowest part of a meadow onli/, so tha: 

 the water is taken off after it has worked its way 

 slowly from the upland throvgh the soil, and not 

 before. Water usually runs down hill, and it runs 

 down, on the subsoil of clay, or gravel, after the 

 surface soil is saturated, precisely as upon the sur- 

 face, though less rapidly, and no man in his senses, 

 if he desired to turn from hisland a visible stream, 

 which ran through it, would turn it at the bottom 

 instead of the top of his field. 



The water which creates the bog or spring 

 comes, of course, from higher land. Usually, the 

 under hard stratum, or subsoil, has the same dip or 

 inclination over a large extent, so that water will 

 be found to flow but in one direction. Even in 

 deep valleys, springs will be found to come princi- 

 pally from the hills on one side otdy. 



Having observed out of what upland or hill, and 

 from what direction the surplus water proceeds, it 

 is necessary next to ascertain by digging how deep 

 lies the stratum of clay or gravel, or other subsoil, 

 upon which the water rests. Some such subsoil 

 there must be, unless, indeed, the level of some 

 stream or pond is reached, or the water would fol- 

 low its natural course down into the earth, and not 

 appear on the surface. Drains should be laid 

 across the course of the water, and opened deep 

 enough to cut afew inches in^o the hard subsoil, so 

 as to intercept the water flowing upon it; otherwise 

 the water may continue its course across the drain. 

 Three feet is a convenient depth for under-drains, 

 and by digging a few holes, at different distances 

 from the upland, before staking them out, the sub- 

 soil may he reached, and the flow of water cut n'Y 

 at any desirable depth. It is, sometimes, found 

 necessary to ditch entirely round a meadow or run, 

 and if it be extensive, to open a drain also, throui:h 

 the centre or lowest part. Sometimes a spring 

 bursts up from below, the fountain of which cannot 

 be cut off by a drain near the upland, and which 

 may require to have merely an outlet; but a little 

 thought must satisfy us, that draining through tiie 

 low parts alone cannot effect the object in view. 



An under-drain may be opened as narrow as is 

 convenient for the workmen, and with perpendicu- 

 lar sides. It sho",ld have a fall of three or fiuir 

 inches to the rod, that it may not so readily clog. 

 As tiles of brick are not yet in use with us, we 

 must make use of the best materials at hand. 



Small stones of any form, are perhaps the best 

 substitute for tiles, and if the drains have a proper 

 fall, they will answerthe purpose very well, thrown 

 in at random. 



