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off, and tlie sun and heat gets to it does this process take 

 place. It is a question to him whether mucky land pays 

 to till or sinipl}^ let it go to grass. This is something 

 each individual must settle for himself. In coming to 

 crop lands we (ind they ai-e pretty difficult to handle. 

 You must dig your drains and put in your tiles and some- 

 times loose stones, you have to go through the hard pan 

 and it is quite a job to dig it up. The speaker thought 

 it a good plan to bury the useless stone walls on the 

 farms and convert them into drains. For draining there 

 is nothing better than the round tile. The joints will 

 take care of themselves and when once covered the dirt 

 will pi event any spreading or movement of the tile. 

 After the tile is laid be sure to cover with loose stones 

 and scraps of leather or something of the kind and be 

 sure to leave none uncovered over night, as a little rain 

 or any caving of earth might fill the tile and it would not 

 be noticed. There is now a theory of "under-airing" the 

 soil the same as underdraining, that is to get the air into 

 the soil, which is claimed to be very beneficial to the 

 crops. In draining, do" not lay your drains over two feet 

 deep, as three or four feet in a dryyear will cause the land 

 to suffer from drought accordingly. 



Mr. David Warren, of Swampscott, here gave some very 

 interesting personal experiences that clearly demonstrated 

 this, your crops will always be the best just over the drains, 

 and you can readil}^ mark the course of your drains by 

 the crops, especially in grass. 



President Appleton spoke in the general line of re- 

 claimed land and also of irrigation, that would be so use- 

 ful to the market gardeners and horticulturist. 



Mr. Emerson, of Haverhill, spoke at length on the 

 question of underdraining and the urgency of knowing 

 how to drain before attempting the operation, so that one 

 will not have to do the work all over again. In draining 



