38 



miums is large, thereby giving the Committee an opportunity of 

 selecting the best and most successful experiments as entitled to 

 an award of one or more premiums. As a beginning has now 

 been made, we hope that hereafter the number of entries will in- 

 crease from year to year, and that the object of the Society in 

 offering premiums for experiments in underdraining land may in 

 future be fully attained. We believe the necessity of underdrain- 

 ing a large part of our soil, in order to render its cultivation both 

 pleasant and profitable, is now almost universally admitted, in 

 theory at least, by all the best farmers in the county. Enough 

 has already been done to show that the benefit derived from a ju- 

 dicious and thorough system of underdraining is such that no 

 intelligent cultivator of the soil can fail to see it, and having seen 

 it, we think he will not hesitate to avail himself of the advantages 

 derived from it. If, however, there are still any farmers in our 

 midst who have any doubts in regard to the practical benefits of 

 underdraining land, and who are believers in progress, we now 

 invite them to a free ride in our omnibus while we take a short 

 drive over the county. 



Now, gentlemen, please keep your eyes open. We have jusfc 

 passed over a small brook, and are now upon a causeway in a 

 meadow or swamp. Now look to the left hand side of the road 

 and see what kind of a crop this meadow or swamp naturally pro- 

 duces. Behold coarse grass, rushes, brakes, alders, bushes, skunk- 

 cabbage, and many other varieties of semi-aquatic plants, to say 

 nothing of the numerous frogs, snakes and venomous reptiles and 

 creeping things concealed beneath, and the still more noxious va- 

 pors arising from it. A worthless crop, say you. So say we. A 

 miserably poor soil, say you, not worth cultivating at all ; good 

 for nothing but " to hold the world together," and rather poor for 

 that. You pity the man who has to pay the taxes on it. So do 

 we, while it remains in its present condition. But now look to the 

 right, and see a piece of land which a short time since was of the 

 same character, and produced the same kind of crops. What 

 have we now ? Potatoes, clover, redtop, herdsgrass and various 

 other things, suitable for the sustenance of man and beast, large 

 in quantity and good in quality. A splendid crop, say you. So 

 'say we. Do you ask what has caused this difference ? The an- 

 swer is simply this. The land on the right hand side has been 

 v.nder drained — on the other side it has not. On one side the soil 

 is partially covered, and entirely filled with stagnant water during 

 most of the year. On the other side it has been thoroughly 

 drained, and the stagnant water removed from the surface, and 

 also from out of the soil to the depth of one foot at least. Do you 

 say that underdraining alone has not caused all this difference ? 

 Admitted. But we do say that, without thorough draining, all the 



