12 MODERN HIGH FARMING. 



ditions the latter will undoubtedly increase the quantity and value 

 of the crops, too much water will effectually prevent us from 

 drawing any crops at all. Nothing, therefore, can ever be done with 

 land anywhere, if it be not properly drained where there is too much 

 moisture, or properly irrigated where the necessary natural water 

 supply is not forthcoming. It is because of the vital importance of 

 this question that we are thus emphatic at this early stage. To 

 ascertain whence such an excess of water proceeds is not by 

 any means a matter of difficulty ; a very damp climate, a spongy 

 and retentive soil, the existence of underground springs all these 

 or any of them may be the causes of disastrous effects, which can 

 be easily remedied by those possessed of such knowledge as we have 

 endeavored to describe. In the first of the cases named, the evil 

 may be overcome by ordinary surface drainage, but in the second, 

 it is only after ascertaining the true composition of the soil, that we 

 can effect such mixtures with other soil, or combinations with lime 

 or sand, as may suggest themselves as necessary, while in the third 

 case, the construction of deep underdrains alone will carry off the 

 water from the sub-strata without allowing it to reach the surface. 

 Wherever there exists a faulty or careless system of drainage, 

 no correct estimate of the agricultural value of a property can 

 possibly be formed, for although from its excessive dampness a soil 

 may remain unproductive, it may, nevertheless, contain all the 

 necessary elements of fertility. 



