UNDERDRAINING. 151 



Statement of E. G. Kelley. 



I offer for premium about five acres of land underdrained 

 during the last five years, a portion each. year. The drains 

 commenco on a declivity, and are made for some distance with 

 brush wood, then with stone, till the land approaches nearer to 

 a level, when tile were used exclusively. About one-half acre 

 each, was drained with brush and stones, and both have worked 

 well ; but we do not advise the use of either when suitable tile 

 can be conveniently obtained, particularly if the expense of 

 labor, difficulty of adjusting materials, and confidence in their 

 future successful operation are duly considered. 



The drainage of the lot has not only proved entirely satis- 

 factory, but each successive year the first drained land has 

 given marked evidence of the utility of underd raining as an 

 annual improver of the soil, in addition to its immediate 

 benefits, which the committee will readily understand by a 

 moment's reflection upon the comparative effects of freezing 

 and thawing clay subsoils underdrained and undrained. In the 

 former, the expansion by freezing leaves both soil and subsoil 

 in a lighter and more pliable condition after thawing ; while 

 the latter, become more tenacious, like mortar, more or less so 

 to the depth frozen. The frost, however, we have observed is 

 not so deep in the drained as in the undrained. 



In view of this yearly increasing benefit to underdrained 

 land, by these natural processes, we have many doubts of the 

 expediency of subsoil ploughing clayey land, after draining, so 

 often recommended, a matter to which we have given some 

 attention. One acre of the above has been trenched two and 

 a half feet deep — the drains running one foot deeper — three- 

 fourths of which acre was the only part of the five which had 

 not a clay subsoil. 



It is gratifying to be able to cultivate this drained land almost 

 as soon as the frost is out, rather than to wait as formerly, till 

 a dry spell would, by degrees, evaporate the surface water, 

 leaving a hard crust on a cold under-soil, previously to which it 

 was difficult getting about on the field. The improvement in 

 this respect is very evident compared with a lot drained by open 

 ditches, for want of sufficient outlet ; but the contrast is still 

 greater by the side of an acre more elevated and hitherto the 



