640 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



periences of my fellow farmers ; and we, as a 

 whole, became as nearly converts to the ''stu- 

 pidity' of draining light lands as could be; 

 and had some conscientious opinions that we 

 were not exactly invested with all the agricul- 

 tural wisdom then afloat. T'iuie and experi- 

 ence satisfied us that we had been wrong. 



Now I could easily fill a page of your excel- 

 lent [)ractical paper in showing how these 

 beneficial results hapjiened ; but it is enough 

 to say that the tllect of drainage was to deepen 

 the soil and render it porous ; give it power 

 to retain a healthy (piantity of water, at a 

 depth where plants could reach it, and in a 

 position where it could not be evaporated by 

 the heat of the sun. There is much fructify- 

 ing matter in rains and snows, which, if al- 

 lowed to sink iulo the soil, instead of being 

 washed oif its surface, make a fair manuring 

 of themselves. Let any farmer catch a tub of 

 rain-water, allow it to settle and then examine 

 it, and he will find a (juantity of fine sediment, 

 prepared for the food of plants, which will 

 sur{)rise him. Let him, in snow time, take a 

 quantity of the purest snow, press it firmly 

 into a glass tumbler, and cover it carefully up 

 so as to allow nothing to get into it, and when 

 it melts he will find a considerable portion of 

 pure charcoal precipitated, which, left in the 

 soil instead of being washed off, could not but 

 have excellent effect on crops. It is of no use 

 to say that if drainage makes land porous that 

 these fertilizing ingredients will be washed 

 thi'ough the soil into the drains ; for let any 

 ■one examine the outlet of a main drain during 

 a heavy shower, and he will find the water 

 flowing from it to be as clear as if coming from 

 a living spriiTg. No ; these fertilizing sub- 

 stances, in the process of infiltration, remain 

 in the soil and add to its depth and vital ac- 

 tivity. I say nothing of the advantages of 

 ventilation, heat, &c., which are also essen- 

 tials demanded in a healthj^ soil, and which 

 thorough drainage will produce in the most 

 desirable and profitable way. 



On overhauling the very excellent, commu- 

 nication of "C. E. K." of Dudley, Mass., I 

 do not see that we are at issue in anything but 

 one.' He seems to hold that irrigation is a 

 beneficial tiling, "on good corn land," without 

 drainage ; and I respectfully beg leave to dif- 

 fer. Were land under irrigation drained 

 (there being a constant supply of water,) the 

 benefits of drainage would be incalculably 

 greater than if it were otherwise. The reason 

 for my belief is roughly hinted at above, and 

 I think your intelligent correspondent will see 

 the point. 



Finally, I entirely approve of "C. E. K.'s" 

 suggestion that experiments should be made 

 with drains on dry land to prove their value 

 or the contrary. It was just by that process 

 that I was comjjulsorili/ convinced that drain- 

 age, undei' all circuias-tances, was proper aud 

 profitable ; and I am not sanguine enough to 

 believe that any other method of proof will 



satisfy thousands of practical farmers — readers 

 of the Niav England Fakmek — that the the- 

 ory I have advanced is a correct one. By all 

 means let us have practical evidence, even on 

 a small scale. I indeed challi'nge it to come 

 forward in my defence, but especially for the 

 benefit of the agricultural conununity. Thank- 

 ful that this draining rpiestion has engaged the 

 attention of so many intelligent correspon(lents, 

 1 am, &c. A Fireside Fakweii. 



Boston, July 17, 1871. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 TOP-DHESSING. — STEAMING HAY. 



In the address of G. F. Beede, Fremont, 

 N. H., (see Fakmek, July 22,) is some sound 

 advice hi regard to the top-dressing of. grass 

 lands. But there is one idea to which I would 

 especially refer, and that is, the ellect uf ani- 

 mal manures in rendering compost materials 

 of greater value, over and above the value of 

 the added manure itself. 



Last summer, during the severe drought, I 

 carted a larger quantity of loam than ever be- 

 fore into my stable, piling it u]i in rear of the 

 cows, and to such a depth under foot as to 

 make it difficult to walk in the stable. 



In cleaning the cattle stable, I removed not 

 only all the loam which was wet, and also, as 

 for several years before, a small amount of 

 dry loam to cover it, and to hold the ammo- 

 nia, but I went still farther, and got down 

 into the cellar a great deal more than I had 

 before supposed to be necessary ; thinking 

 that the fermenting of the manure would 

 warm up, loosen, lighten, "leaven," as Mr. B. 

 says, the whole mass ; believing, also, that the 

 alkalies and the carbonic aud other acids 

 would act as disintegrators on the crude par- 

 ticles of inorganic matter, and that the loam 

 and the manure would be of more value thus 

 worked together, for these reasons, than if all 

 saved and separately applied. 



One of my neighbors, an excellent farmer 

 of sound judgment, disagreed with me ; think- 

 ing, as I had formerly done, that enough to 

 absorb the liquid was about all that was of use 

 ill the manure ; and that whatever was used 

 farther than this could be directly ajjplied to 

 the field with less labor and the same result. 

 I to])-dressed some of my grass land with this 

 material, and the elFect was surprising. Cut- 

 ting a swath lengthwise of the field, commenc- 

 ing with the top-dressed, you passed to the 

 other with the thought of going down a high 

 stair, and in tliickness the diii'erence was 

 equally as great, and the quality of the top- 

 dressed was far the best. 



The use of rotted loam alone, however, is 

 not practiced so much as it will hv. sometime. 

 A neighbor of mine has a field at a distance 

 from home, which he has kept. in good grass 

 as to quality and quantity for twenty-five 

 years by this means alone, never ploughing, 

 and the soil is only a common light loam. 



