DRAINING. 23 



ally saturated with water, and their great fertility 

 when thoroughly drained and exposed to the influ- 

 ence of all the agents of putrefaction ; and hence 

 the necessity of draining the wet grounds on our 

 farms before we can expect to make them profitable 

 by culture. Coarse and aquatic plants, it is true, do 

 grow in wet grounds and in water; but few of the 

 cultivated crops, however, are found to thrive where 

 the ground is not dry and permeable to the influence 

 of the sun and atmosphere. 



It is not enough that the surface of a soil be dry : 

 it must be so to the depth to which the roots of 

 plants penetrate for food, at least fifteen to eighteen 

 inches, to ensure a healthy growth of vegetation. It 

 is the extremities of these roots which gather the 

 food, and which are constantly elongating while the 

 plant grows ; and if roots extend into a wet stratum, 

 the food which they take up is either too much dilu- 

 ted, or not otherwise adapted to a healthy vegetation. 

 Nor is this all : the water injures or destroys the 

 fibrous parts of the roots, and unfits them for the per- 

 forrrtance of their functions. 



We have published ample directions in the Culti- 

 vator for the various modes of draining, and have 

 pressed upon the notice of our readers the impor- 

 tance of this branch of improvement. Yet we have 

 a few remarks to offer here on the particular advan- 

 tages which under-drains possess over open drains 

 in certain situations. 



The object of draining being to carry off the sur- 

 plus water before it saturates the surface soil, im- 

 pedes early tillage, and injures the crop, it should be 

 our first care to ascertain the cause of wetness, and 

 where the deposite or fountain is which is the 

 source of the evil. Where water rises through the 

 subsoil or-tower strata, in spouts or springs, as well 

 as where, falling upon a flat surface, it collects and 

 reposes upon an impervious subsoil, under-drains are 

 decidedly best, at. least to collect the surplus waters 



