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NEW ENGLAND FARIVIER. 



Not. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 OBSERVATIONS ON DKAINAGB. 

 BY JUDGE FRENCH. 



Since my treatise on Farm Drainage was pub- 

 lished, three years ago, I have carefully watched 

 all the drainage operations that have come within 

 my sphere of observation, as well as the published 

 statements in the agricultural journals, and espe- 

 cially in the Transactions of Societies, and no sin- 

 gle instance has come to my knowledge, where 

 even a tolerably well conducted experiment in 

 drainage has proved unsatisfactory to the propri- 

 etor. Indeed, the fact, that almost any poorly 

 conceived, and half-executed plan of drainage, 

 produces such wonderful results, is an obstacle in 

 the way of the most thorough and permanent, 

 and in the end, economical execution of the work. 

 A farmer, who has run a few open two-foot ditch- 

 es through his meadow, triumphantly points out 

 to you the perfect realization of his idea of suc- 

 cessful drainage, and another, who has filled alike 

 ditch two-thirds full of roadside stones, and cov- 

 ered it with shavings and soil, exhibits his field as 

 a new evidence of the importance of underdrain- 

 ing. All this is well, if the same labor and ex- 

 pense would not have done the work better. Any 

 drainage, like any plowing or any manuring for a 

 crop, is better than none at all, but let us keep the 

 standard at its proper height, and work as nearly up 

 to it as practicable, and let no man flatter himself 

 that anything less than tile drains four feet deep 

 is really the best drainage. Stone drains are just 

 as good as tiles, if they can be kept open, but 

 unless very deep, so as to be below frost and the 

 operations of moles and mice, they are likely to 

 be obstructed, and when once obstructed, cannot 

 be repaired. 



THE OBJECTS OF DRAINAGE 



may be briefly stated thus : 1. To remove stag- 

 nant water ; which is, for some reason not easily 

 defined, poisonous and destructive to all valuable 

 grasses and cultivated crops. 2. To deepen the 

 soil, and so afi'ord to the roots of plants a larger 

 pasture or feeding ground. 3. To promote pul- 

 verization of the soil, so as to allow the roots to 

 traverse far and wide and to find their appropriate 

 nourishment in its proper condition. 4. To pre- 

 vent surface washing ; by allowing rain and snow 

 water to pass through, and not over the soil. 5. 

 To prevent freezing out of grass, grain, and even 

 shrubs and trees ; by allowing the water to pass 

 quickly down, instead of freezing near the surface 

 and expanding by crystallization, and so tearing 

 the roots from the soil. 6. To lengthen the sea- 

 son for labor and for vegetation ; making what was 

 before a late soil in spring, the earliest for work- 

 ing, and giving all the autumn, till the ground 

 freezes, for fall tillage or improvement. 7. To 



save, on moist land, twenty-five per cent, of the 

 labor of cultivating ; heavy soils being rendered 

 by thorough drainage, almost as easy of cultiva- 

 tion as naturally light land. 8. To promote the 

 absorption of fertilizing substances from the air ; 

 and so to get your share of the exhalations from 

 your neighbors' manure heaps, as well as from the 

 swamps and cities. 9. To supply to the roots of 

 plants, air ; which is necessary to their very life, 

 and which must follow the rain water as it de- 

 scends towards the drains. 10. To warm the soil, 

 which can never be warmed while filled with wa- 

 ter. Heat cannot be propagated downward in 

 water. No degree of heat applied to the surface 

 of a vessel of water, can warm it at the bottom. 

 Heat passes through water by the circulation of 

 its heated particles, which, being made lighter by 

 heat, always go upward. TTie only way to warm 

 the soil in the spring, is by allowing the snow wa- 

 ter to pass down and warm water or air to take 

 its place. A rain storm of boiling water on soil 

 saturated with cold water, could not perceptibly 

 warm it three inches below the surface. 11. To 

 render the soil more moist in times of drought ; 

 a pulverized soil holding, by attraction, much more 

 water than a lumpy or compact soil, as is readily 

 proved by the fact, that water may be squeezed 

 from a moist, light soil, as from a sponge, even 

 by hand pressure. 12. To prevent injury by 

 drought, also, by causing the roots to strike far 

 deeper in early spring, than they can do in wet 

 soil, thus giving them an equal moisture through- 

 out the season, instead of floods in spring, which 

 prevent expansion of roots, followed by a lower- 

 ing of the water-table beyond their reach. 



These advantages of drainage are all real and 

 intelligible, and may be greater or less, according 

 as the particular field under consideration may 

 be more or less moist. It may be added, that all 

 fruit-growers and nursery-men seem to agree, that 

 stagnant water, even in winter, is vei-y injurious, 

 and that standing even in that season with their 

 feet in cold water is destructive to fruit trees. 



WHY TILES ARE BEST. 



Tiles are getting to be abundant in many parts 

 of New England, and as there is no reason why 

 they may not be made wherever common bricks 

 are made, any demand for them will soon be met 

 by a supply. Where tiles cannot be obtained at 

 reasonable rates, it may be often expedient to use 

 stones. There is no one advantage, that a stone 

 drain possesses over a tile drain, and no reason 

 can be given for using stone, except economy, 

 which is a point presently to be considered. 



Tile drains are better than stone. 1st, Because 

 they are more permanent and reliable. No mole 

 or mouse, or insect large enough to do any harm, 

 can enter a tile drain properly laid and secured. A 



