58 REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 



To the first, it may be said that soils having comparatively a 

 deep surface, soil impregnated with clay, and retentive of water so 

 that willows and wild grapes make their appearance in the place 

 of timothy and red-top, this is evidence of standing water, from 

 the fact that these water-loving plants would not have been found 

 there, had not the stagnant water below the surface been present 

 and encouraged their growth. 



In reply to the second inquiry it may be said that all cereals 

 and root crops require that water should be removed from twenty 

 to twenty-five inches below the surface, for the purpose of giving 

 deep plowing, thus admitting air and warmth. 



It has come under the observation of extensive root growers 

 on meadow and swamp lands, that if the water stand in the 

 ditches only six or eight inches from the surface, that the root pen- 

 etrates only to that depth but refuses to go further ; here it makes 

 half a dozen little fangs or fingers, branching off sidewise — any 

 where rather than into its enemy — cold water ; and the result is 

 a half-starved crop. 



All cereals require the very opposite of wet, cold land, but a 

 deep, loose, friable soil, and this can not be reached, when water 

 is at or near the surface ; it has of late come to the knowledge of 

 observing cultivators, that the small roots of cereals extend many 

 feet, instead of only a few inches as was formerly supposed; hence 

 when these small tender roots come in contact with any pernicious 

 substance, their growth is retarded, the stock grows pale and 

 sickly, consequently a meagre crop. 



Stagnant water again is deadly poison to young pear trees and 

 grape vines, therefore the young man who intends to embark in 

 the cultivation of pears or grapes, should carefully study the na- 

 ture of his soils, their texture, location, aspect, etc. ; and for any 

 or all of the above named crops, he should be satisfied with 

 nothing short of a deep pulverized soil, and this can not be had 

 when its foe is at the bottom. 



Nursery-men and market-gardeners have long since learned, 

 that having a well drained soil, either naturally or artificially, and 

 deep cultivation, have been their stronghold to success. 



It was the theory of the early teachers of agriculture, that hav- 

 ing a soil free from water, and by giving deep and frequent plow- 

 ings, it would so much enrich the soil, that successive crops might 



