Tile-Draining. 145 



the place of the original tap-root ^vhen it is pruned off extend below the 

 surface ? Will they obstruct drains four to five feet deep, and in which 

 water flows only a few months in the year ? 



And what about the grape, and the cherry on the Morello stock ? Shall 

 we have a response from some authoritative source? These are all prac- 

 tical questions of much importance to the writer just now, as they will be 

 to many others in the progress of coming events. Americans are only 

 just beginning to appreciate the importance of under-draining, espe- 

 cially in its connections with fruit-culture. A few years will witness great 

 changes in this regard, more particularly on the rich, damp prairies of the 

 West. 



^Vhen a man shall have once thoroughly drained his grounds after the 

 most approved system of tile-draining, more especially if those grounds 

 are more or less broken or undulating in surface, should he wish to make 

 a fruit-garden or vineyard of those grounds, he will always find it difficult 

 in practice to avoid frequently planting trees and vines near to and imme- 

 dediately over his drains. 



Hence the pertinence of a few questions in regard to the habits of the 

 roots of the leading fruits that are now receiving the attention of horti- 

 culturists. 



It is well known that there are trees that it will not do to plant within 

 some rods of a tile-drain through which water flows any considerable 

 portion of the growing season. The elms, the willows, and the poplars 

 are of this class. Who can tell us how near to a tile-drain we may plant 

 the various fruit-bearing trees and vines ? On this latter subject the books 

 are dumb. 



In putting out trees and vines, it is quite enough to be under the neces- 

 sity of consulting their form and habits of growth, the kinds of fruit they 

 bear, and the exposure, and the qualit}' of soil they require, without going 

 four to five feet under ground to find other conditions to still further com- 

 plicate the work. 



In grounds, moreover, laid out and cultivated with some regard to order 

 and beauty in design, with a curve here and an angle there, it will not 

 always be possible to locate the trees or vines exactly half-way between 

 two straight tile-drains just thirty feet apart. 



