216 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



spring, and the lengthening of the season in the autumn is 

 nearly as great as in the spring. Paradoxical as it may seem, 

 the drained lands suffer much less in a drought than the un- 

 drained, the roots of the grasses having more " depth of earth," 

 and the moisture being drawn up in due proportion by the 

 capillary attraction of the granules of the soil, acting like small 

 tubes, as does sugar or a lamp-wick. There are thousands of 

 acres of mowing lands in Massachusetts where the herbage is 

 scanty and of poor quality, not because the soil is poor, but be- 

 cause the roots are water-soaked. Water is good. Neither 

 man, beast nor plant can live without it, but neither animal nor 

 plant that is designed to live on terra-firma can flourish if com- 

 pelled to make a home in water. Drainage alone will so change 

 the character of these lands that more nutritious grasses will 

 spontaneously spring up where the coarse aquatic plants once 

 grew. 



Wherever water stands the land must be cold. The constant 

 evaporation carries off all the heat furnished by the earth or 

 the sun. Every tyro that is big enough to go bathing knows 

 that the evaporation from the surface of his body as he comes 

 out of the water makes him shiver even in a warm summer day ; 

 and every one that has experienced this sensation should know 

 enough not to let his land lie shivering in the wet. The quan- 

 tity of heat that becomes latent by the expansion of water into 

 vapor will surprise those that have not made accurate experi- 

 ments upon it. Chemists tell us that steam contains a thou- 

 sand degrees more of caloric than the water from which it is 

 evaporated. If we can save all this caloric in the soil by drain- 

 ing off the surplus water, instead of leaving it to be evaporated, 

 it will prove a great gain. When the land is thoroughly drained 

 there will be less danger from the late frosts in spring and the 

 early frosts of autumn. We have noticed a part of a field of 

 buckwheat that had been drained in full bloom after a Septem- 

 ber frost, while another part, undrained, was damaged. Grass 

 stands the cold and wet better than any other crop ; but if we 

 wish green fields early in the spring and late in the fall they 

 must be drained and thus be rendered dry and warm. We are 

 more and more convinced that a warm soil, other things being 

 equal, gives great advantage, and in no way can this warmth be 

 so effectually promoted as by the use of tile. 



