654 



NEW EXGL.VND FAElVrER. 



Oct. 



For the Xeic England Farmer. 

 DEAINAQE OF DRY LANDS, 

 I am niiich obliged to "Fireside Farmer" 

 for his ^ erv courteous reply, in the Fakjieu of 

 August oth, to my inijuiry in regard to the 

 drainage of Ex-Governor Smith's dry land, 

 alludetl to in a previous number. 



I have oftentimes thought that much misun- 

 der^tanding exists in men's minds by not 

 knowing just the idea that the writer intended 

 to convey. In the case of "Fireside Farmer," 

 the land he operated on in England is de- 

 scribed as "light, loamy clay, verv gritty, and 

 a part of it almost what" would be 'called 

 gravel bed." Now, this to a New England 

 mmd niay convey but a very imperfect idea of 

 the kind of land operated upon. If he would 

 tell us how many months in a year his drains 

 discharge water, it would give us a better idea 

 of what is considered light land in England, 

 where the humidity of the atmosphere is 

 greater than it is here ; and, consequentlv, the 

 amount of water to be got rid of, either by 

 drainage or evaporation, is greater. 



The larger part of the land which I culti- 

 vate is what is called gravel bed, of so porous 

 a texture that we are not obliged to wait any 

 length of time for it to dry, after a rain, be- 

 fore we can work it. I suppose that the larg- 

 est part of the land which we cultivate is of 

 so porous a texture that if it was trenched and 

 drain pipe put in, there would be six or eight 

 months in the year that they would discharge 

 no water. 



One of the results of the drainage of the 

 land in England, he says, was to render it 

 porous. The great trouble with much of our 

 land is that it is already too porous ; and, as a 

 consequence, I sometimes pass a roller over it 

 to make it more compact. 



Another result which he claims for his drain- 

 age is not so obvious to my mind ; and that is 

 it gave it power to retain a' healthy quantity of 

 water at a depth where plants could reach it, 

 and in a position where it could not be evapo- 

 rated by the heat of the sun. In our climate, 

 we are obliged to lay our drains three feet 

 deep, generally, in order to get them beyond 

 the ejects of frost. As I cannot suppose" that 

 there is much of a reservoir short of that 

 depth, I tiiink it would be rather hard for the 

 roots of mail)- [ilants to find their way down 

 so far in search of moisture. 



Now, I am (juite an advocate for under 

 drjiinage. ] have done a little of it, and al- 

 ways with very satisfactory results. Indeed, 

 I once put one through a verv porous piece of 

 land, to drain a cellar, and though a drop of 

 water was never seen to pass through it,— that 

 from the cellar always settling into the loose 

 gravel before it got through,— yet like Gover- 

 nor Smith's drained dry land, the grass over 

 the drain was much better than on the adjoin- 

 ing land. 



But I have a theory about it more satisfac- 



tory to nie than under-drainage. My theory 

 is, that if all our gravelly soils were trenched 

 to the depth of four feet", and two feet of this 

 space filled with small stones and covered with 

 the surface soil, it would be greatly benefited 

 by it. The stones absorb no water, but they 

 condense the moisture that is brought up from 

 below, and hold it, as a kind of reservoir, to 

 be parted with as evaporation goes on from 

 the heat of the sun. In this case, instead of 

 having four feet in depth of this dry gravel to 

 saturate, we have but two. In accordance 

 with this idea, then, I consider under-drainage 

 is a misapplication of terms. 



T make these remarks because I think drain- 

 age is sometimes made a hobby of, and being 

 reconmiended in localities where common sense 

 indicates it to be useless, there is danger of 

 prejudicing the minds of farmers again'st the 

 drainagt; of land where there is an injurious 

 excess of water. It is the dissemination of 

 correct views which we should aim at. 



\ would like to ask "Fireside Farmer" if he 

 thinks that, under our present laws for the di- 

 vision of real estate, with no law of primo- 

 geniture in force, with land held in small par- 

 cels, which is being continually subdivided, 

 and with a goverimient that stands aloof from 

 such works of improvement, any very exten- 

 sive system of under-drainage of dry soils 

 will be likely to be undertaken ? I also wish 

 he would tell us how it is that a tenant in the old 

 country can alFord to carry out such expensive 

 (or what would be considered so in this coun- 

 try) systems of drainage, while here we think 

 that it can be done only by those who have 

 nieans outside of their farms. I presume he 

 is abundantly able to give us information on 

 these subjects, and I hope he will be disposed 

 to do so. J. L. Hubbard. 



Feabody, Mass., August 10, 1871. 



For the Xew England Farmer, 

 FACTS AND SUGGESTIONS. 

 Condition of Farmers— Value of Swamp Land— Saving 

 Mat.ure— Restoration of Exhausted Land— A Home- 

 made Fertilizer— A Hopeful View. 



It is now the third year of the depreciation 

 of the hay crop with most of high ground 

 farms of this and other New England States, 

 — not more than half a crop, compared with 

 last year, with yet another short crop booked for 

 the future ; as, let it be ever so wet, the grass 

 roots are past restoration in one year. Hay 

 being the most remunerative source to the 

 farmer at this time of the low prices of cat- 

 tle, how can the old fashion farmer stand the 

 strain of high taxes and high labor ? 



A new era of farm management must soon 

 be entered u[)on or the New England Far- 

 mer and other agricultural papers will reap 

 a golden harvest for advertising " Farms 

 for Sale," with comparatively few buyers. A 

 few of these improvements I will mention as 

 they come to mind. 



