1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



261 



not keep so well. An early and good bearer, it 

 is said, though not yet fruited at the East. 



Red Russet is a New Hampshire apple, and 

 from its firmness and good-keeping qualities, must 

 be very valuable, especially as a market fruit. It 

 is a perfect cross between the Baldwin and Rox- 

 bury Russet, partaking of both in appearance and 

 flavor, and about the size of the former. The late 

 Mr. Cole, who was instrumental in introducing it, 

 stated, from experiments, that it would keep bet- 

 ter than the Roxbury Russet, and was superior in 

 every respect. A very substantial, rich-looking 

 apple, hardy, a good grower and bearer, and prob- 

 ably destined to supply a want much needed. 



Hunt Russet, though not a new variety, is 

 not so well known as the Roxbury Russet, though 

 well deserving to be. Some suppose it to be the 

 Golden Russet, which I regard as inferior, ap- 

 pears never to grow so large, nor has it so rich a 

 russet hue. Some cultivators have wondered how 

 others could raise such large Golden Russets. 

 Probably they were the Hunt — which, (more ten- 

 der and smaller than the Red Russet) from its 

 white melting pulp, late-keeping qualities, &c., 

 must maintain an important position among the 

 spring apples of New England. D. w. L. 



West Medford, April, 1861. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 ADVANTAGES OP DRAINING. 



Mr. Editor : — It seems to me to be a suitable 

 time to bring up the subject of underdraining our 

 farming lands. It is doing a kindness to labor- 

 ers to find work for them, when there are so many 

 glad of employment. Ditches for tile drains can 

 be made now, at but little more than one-half the 

 cost of making them in the autumn, as the soil is 

 much easier to dig, labor easier to obtain, and 

 the work of the farm not so much interfered with. 



From considerable experience in draining my 

 own land for several years past, and from the fa- 

 vorable testimony of many farmers in this vicini- 

 ty who have tried the same upon their own farms, 

 I am convinced that there is no investment we 

 can make that will bring more satisfaction to us 

 than this. The advantages vary, of course, in 

 difi'erent soils and situations, but almost every 

 farm has some land that will be benefited by un- 

 derdraining. I know there are some persons who 

 discourage farmers from underdraining their 

 lands ; but I have yet to learn that any of these 

 persons have ever given it a fair trial, on their 

 own lands, or have had any practical experience 

 of the subject. 



I am acquainted with a young man who left the 

 city of' New York, several years ago, and took a 

 farm in the westerly part of that State, and com- 

 menced a system of underdraining with tile, un- 

 til he has been over a farm of 300 or 400 acres, 

 laying more than sixty miles in length of drains, 

 and increasing his wheat crop from fifteen to 

 twenty-five bushels per acre, and other crops in 

 proportion, and receiving a medal for the best 

 cultivated farm in the county. His land was ele- 

 vated land ; what we should call at first sight, dry 

 land, not needing drainage, but still a clay sub- 

 soil, retentive of moisture, and, without draining, 

 cold and late for vegetation in early spring. 



Now we have, in the vicinity of Boston, a great 



proportion of similar land, which, if properly un- 

 derdrained, will make the very best land for cul- 

 tivation of any land that we have. Let but the 

 experiment be tried, and the result will be satis- 

 factory ; vastly more than almost any one, unac- 

 quainted with such experiments, would imagine. 

 I do not wish to have it infei-red that underdrain- 

 ing alone is sufficient to produce great crops, but 

 that with thorough underdraining, manuring and 

 loosening of the soil to a good depth, we may be 

 sure of a great crop, let the season be unusually 

 wet, or unusually dry, very early, or very late; 

 and without underdraining such land as I have 

 referred to, we cannot depend, with any certain- 

 ty, upon even an ordinary crop. 



I have found a great advantage from under- 

 draining, from its removal of stagnant water, 

 from the low, springy land near my dwelling, 

 thereby removing the great nuisance of mosqui- 

 tos in warm weather, and also, in a great meas- 

 ure, the cold, damp air of the evening. When, in 

 addition to these advantages, I have seen land 

 formerly covered with hassocks, and the coarse 

 water grass, yielding the best and earliest crops 

 of the season, rivalling any that are reported as 

 the best crops of the fertile west, then I feel how 

 much better it would be, if the money now ex- 

 pended by the State upon agricultural societies 

 and boards of agriculture, was judiciously expend- 

 ed in the encouragement of underdraining the 

 wet lands of Massachusetts. 



I know there are some who still insist upon 

 using stones for underdraining, instead of tile ; 

 and some, even, who advocate plowing wet land, 

 into "beds," with open ditches between, and no 

 underdrains. From more than thirty years' ex- 

 perience in both these methods, I am satisfied 

 that draining with stone involves more expense 

 of labor, under almost any circumstances, and is 

 not so much to be depended upon ; while the 

 "beds" are very good for the plants to sleep in, 

 but not to grow in, in comparison with under- 

 draining. 



The usual expense to a farmer of underdrain- 

 ing, beside his own labor, is about thirty dollars 

 to the acre, while the advantage to the crop the 

 first year more than averages that amount. 



I think the reason that light, mellow soils are 

 usually preferred for vegetables, is, that they 

 drain themselves, and are always easily worked, 

 while the tenacious clay soils, if they are thorough- 

 ly underdrained, and well subsoiled, will prove 

 to be more certain of large crops, with an equal 

 quantity of manure. As a proof that this theory 

 holds good in its application to the "nursery" of 

 trees and shrubs, the remarkable success of Mr. 

 Wilson, of Maiden, in growing in an under- 

 drained clay soil the handsomest specimens of 

 pear stocks to be found in any nursery, will 

 abundantly testify. 



In the fall of 1858, a field of two and a half 

 acres of land in North Chelsea, was underdrained 

 with tile about four feet deep. The field had been 

 in grass, under the "bed" system, with open 

 ditches, with no very satisfactory result. These 

 open ditches happening to be about twenty-five 

 feet apart, they were adopted as the lines for the 

 tile drains. In the summer of 1859, a remarka- 

 bly large crop of cabbages was taken from the 

 field, a separate account of which was not pre- 

 served. In 1860 the field was planted with Jack- 



