1871] 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



283 



mals are not turned into too early or the 

 pastures stocked too hard "} There is a class 

 of farmers that year after year carry their 

 stock thi'ough both summer and winter on only 

 sufficient food to keep them from starving. 

 With such it is of no use to reason. They are 

 joined to their idols, and we will let them 

 alone. 



I have refrained from recommendin'r any of 

 the so called special fertilizers, not because I 

 have no faith in them, but because of their 

 not being universally good in all localities. 

 They have for some time past, and even now 

 are engaging more attention probably than all 

 other manures on the part of thinking, prac- 

 tical agriculturists. They are so persistently 

 thrust into notice by those who deal in them 

 that farmers are almost compelled to give them 

 this attention. If all soils and climates were 

 essentially alike in all respects, many of them 

 would be of universal value. This is not so, 

 and therefore to this cause we are to ascribe 

 their failure in some localities, while at the 

 same time they are decidedly successful in 

 others. So far then as these commodities are 

 concerned, the part of wisdom is to be gov- 

 erned by careful experiments made on our own 

 lands and under careful supervision. 



To illustrate the importance of being thus 

 careful in this particular, I will sUite that my 

 father's farm and mine were three-fourths of 

 a mile apart. On his land, ashes were very 

 valuable, while on mine I could never discover 

 the least benefit from their application to ani/ 

 crop. The Lodi Poudrette was a good invest- 

 ment for me, while for him it was compara- 

 tively worthless. 



These suggestions I do not wish to be looked 

 upon as authoritative, but as hints deserving 

 careful thought, even if not accepted in prac- 

 tice. Should time permit, I may make some 

 suggestions on grass for pasturage and hay, 

 and also on straw and modes of marketing. 



April 17, 1871. K. o. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THE VAIiUE OF DRAINAGE. 



To the Editor of the New England Farmer. 



Sir : — It gives me great pleasure to note the 

 zeal with which you commenced the practice 

 of thorough draining, orally and editorially ; 

 and as that process lies at the very root of the 

 successful cultivation of the soil, I trust that 

 you may continue its discussion, and that your 

 efforts will have ample reward in the general 

 adoption of your excellant advice. 



For the last twenty-five years I have — as 

 you know — had very frequent opportunity of 

 being present at farmer's meetings, and it has 

 really surprised me to hear, tune after time, 

 year after year, and decade after decade, men 

 of strong good sense, discuss the merits of 

 deep and shallow ploughing, top-dressing or 

 ploughing in manure, &c., without having an 

 associate favorable word to say concerning 



what would settle all those questions on a safe 

 and general principle, viz : Thorough Drain- 

 age of the soil. 



Even if it should startle a majority of your 

 readers half out of their cow-hides, I make, 

 and will uphold, the assertion that there is no 

 description of arable land, however situated, 

 or whatever constituents it may have, that 

 cannot be profitahhj improved by draining. 

 An experience of many years, which included 

 everything from the most tenacious clay to the 

 loosest sand, — the latter, however, merely expe- 

 rimentally, — has fortified my proposition ; and 

 it fairly amazes me to be told, as I often have 

 been, by intelligent men on every other subject, 

 that to drain certain dry patches on their farms 

 would be to lay them specially open to the dis- 

 advantages of drought which would not assail 

 them in their sodden, nndrained condition. 

 Why, sir, agricultural experience has proved, 

 any time during the past thirty-five years, 

 where draining has been conducted in a proper 

 way, that the very opposite results are conse- 

 quent. But the retention of moisture is not 

 the only benefit on such soils when drained, 

 for drainage permits all manures artifically and 

 naturally applied, to remain in the soil for the 

 fructifying of crops planted upon it, instead 

 of being washed off, or out, of It ; and if 

 these fertilizing substances should sink down, 

 drainage renders the soil so porous that the 

 feelers of grains and roots will go deep into 

 It, to almost incredible distances, in search 

 of food and moisture. I once was present 

 at a test of how deep the roots of wheat 

 would penetrate, and they were traced, in 

 directions almost perpendicular, all the way 

 from three feet to five feet four inches. This 

 was proved on the farm of the celebrated Mr. 

 Mechi, of London, and on land that was 

 drained five feet in depth, and, I think, fifty 

 feet between the trendies. Tap-rooted plants 

 will penetrate the soil much farther on the 

 search for food and moisture. 



But I do not wish to take up too much of 

 your space just now ; however. If you will al- 

 low me I will endeavor in due season to furnish 

 you with some practical reminiscences of 

 Scientific Drainage, and its effects, which, I 

 hope, will in some degree illustrate the value 

 of the efforts you have been so laudably mak- 

 ing in favor of the primary agricultural im- 

 provement, draining. A Fireside Farmer. 



HO"W TO HAVE EABLY TOMATOES. 

 D. A. Compton of Hawley, Penn., writes 

 to the American Institute Fai'mers' Club as 

 follows : 



Do not forget to tell your agricultural 

 friends that tomatoes on heavy soil may be 

 obtained fi'om four or five weeks earlier than 

 usual by setting the plants on the tops of 

 sharp hills. The hills should be about fifteen 

 inches high and three feet diameter base. 



