234 SELECTIONS FROM ADDRESSES. 



actly its properties. A practised eye will soon detect these wet 

 fields, or the wet spots, caused by concealed springs, on land 

 otherwise dry. A few rushes, or some coarse, wiry grass, will 

 always betray the secret. Here too, the only remedy lies in the 

 drain. Its ameliorating influence is more quickly felt on this cold, 

 sour land, than in swamps, because the evil has not proceeded so 

 far. I am scarcely acquainted with a farm, in my own part of 

 the country, which has not some land upon it that needs drain- 

 ing. In nearly every section of New England, I believe that a 

 farm without some wet places on it, would be an exception to a 

 general rule. 



The mischief caused by too much water is not confined to 

 the organic part alone, but extends to the various inorganic sub- 

 stances that I have mentioned ; they, too, undergo various 

 changes in the soil, which fit them the more readily to serve as 

 food for plants, insoluble combinations gradually becoming sol- 

 uble. These changes are arrested almost entirely in presence of 

 standing water, and, in some cases, positively injurious com- 

 pounds are formed. 



Draining thus becomes, on many soils, the necessary founda- 

 tion of all permanent advantage, and must be considered as one 

 of the most important operations connected with improved cul- 

 tivation. 



It is urmecessary to cite any facts, proving the inequality of 

 organic matter in different situations ; every person, at all con- 

 versant with practical farming, knows, that scarcely any two 

 soils are alike in this respect. There is no exact standard fixed 

 as to what ought to be the proper quantity. We find fertile 

 soils, containing from one to twenty per cent., and therefore, 

 conclude that the establishment of such a rule is not necessary. 



This organic matter, being caused in the soil by the decay of 

 plants and animals, must have been originally derived from the 

 atmosphere The earth at first, was certainly destitute of any 

 such matter, and the first plants were dependent for it on the 

 air alone. This may seem an argument, telling rather upon the 

 side of those who uphold the doctrine of inorganic manures ; 

 but it is to be remembered, that there are certain classes of 

 plants which will thrive in such situations. On the bare, drift- 



