1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



577 



but we also ^et the mysterious catalytic (that is, 

 dissolution iuto parts,) influence, by which, in the 

 contact of fermenting nitrogenous substances, tlie 

 wliole mass is fermented, much in the same man- 

 ner as when, liy a little leaven, the whole lump of 

 meal is leavened. We know that there is labor in 

 composting, and that labor costs monej' ; hut we 

 very much question whether any labor on the 

 farm is more economically expended than upon 

 the compost heap." 



We entirely agree with the writer on this 

 point. It is one of the most profitable and 

 important duties of the farmer, and yet is 

 greatly neglected by a large portion of them. 



Gather up the muck now, for muck is ma- 

 nure. It is not sand, nor gravel, nor clay, 

 nor stones, but decomposed vegetable matter 

 with more or less mineral elements of fertility 

 washed into it from higher lands. 



For the New England Fu'mier, 

 DRAINAGE OF DRY LAND. 



I deem it my duty to state, with your per- 

 mission, through the cokunns of the Fakmer. 

 that in my letter on the drainage of wet and 

 dry lands, published in your issue of May 

 20th, I said, at that time, all I intended to say 

 on the subject. I tried to wrice plainly, and 

 to keep to my subject, and made but one point 

 wherem I dilFered from your very learned 

 Boston correspondent, IMr. Fireside Farmer, 

 and that was this : — that the dry lands, such 

 as I there described, which are only a fair 

 sample of thousands of acres of similar lands 

 in the vicinity where I am writing this letter, 

 and of many others scattered all over New 

 England, do not need artificial draining. 



1?hey are what I call dry subsoil lands. They 

 vary from very coarse, light sandy loam, to 

 that which is liner, heavier and more compact. 

 In some places they are rocky and hilly, in 

 other places tiiey are level, free from stone and 

 sandy. But all agree in or.e ijarticular, their 

 subsoil is dry. No water ever stands so near 

 the surface as to obstruct the roots of plants 

 in their downward course in search of food 

 and moisture. I have examined the lower 

 strata of these soils in our vicinity pretty 

 thoroughly for the last forty-five years, where 

 I have owned and worked a small farm of this 

 kind of land, on which I have sunk wells, and 

 have assisted and been present where wells 

 have been sunk on other farms. Usually it is 

 necessary to go down all the way from ten to 

 thirty feet, to reach permanent living, stand- 

 ing water. Such land, in my opinion, is suf- 

 ficiently drained naturally. 



I will now define for my worthy friend what 

 I mean by the natural drainage these lands 

 already possess. I may differ from him some- 

 what on this point also. By natural drainage, 

 I mean that perpendicular drainage I alluded 

 to in my letter, published in the Farmer 

 of Maj' 20th. My theory and belief is this : 

 All such dry subsoil lands are sufficiently 

 3 



drained by those innumerable little pores and 

 subterranean channels, whereby the surface 

 water that is formed by the storms, gentle 

 showers of rain and melted snows, find their 

 way down to the standing water in the lower 

 strata of the earth ; the soil absorbing from 

 them as they descend, their heat and other val- 

 uable properties they may contain. So also 

 the air, as the surface water settles away, en- 

 ters the soil by the numerous little veins left 

 vacant by the receding water, and impart heat 

 to the soil, and perhaps other beneficial influ- 

 ences ; and the same may be said of the dews, 

 which have ample room, and find these soils 

 in proper condition in which to perfoi'm their 

 office. 



Thus I have tried to be brief, and to the 

 point. I think that these dry lands need no 

 artificial drainage, and I state my honest con- 

 victions, according to my present light, as 

 gathered from an experience of more than 

 fifty years, that, as man and boy, I have 

 worked these kinds of lands ; using the hoe, 

 wielding the spade, and holding the plough, 

 with my own hands. 



But 1 claim to belong to the party of prog- 

 ress in agriculture, and if your Boston cor- 

 respondent has practical facts in his possession 

 that will show how these dry New England 

 lands can be benefited by artificial drainage, 

 I am all attention, and should be very happy 

 to read his communications on the subject. If 

 he has not^ny of these facts to controvert 

 the theory 1 have laid down, and the point I 

 have tried to make in this letter, it seems to 

 me to be arrant nonsense to pursue this sub- 

 ject any farther in its present form, as my 

 worthy friend seems to be treatino; the drain- 

 age of dry, gritty soil in Scotland forty years 

 ago, while what I have written on the drainage 

 of dry and wet lands has reference to lands of 

 this kind here in New England, such as I have 

 described in this letter. 



One thing more. My worthy friend says in 

 his last letter to the Faioier, that there is 

 much fi-uctifying matter in rains and snows, 

 which, if allowed to sink into the soil, instead 

 of being washed off its surface, make a fair 

 manuring of themselves. In this proposition 

 I agree with him in part ; but will venture a 

 good honest Yankee guess, that should a far- 

 mer rely on the above dressing to feed his grow- 

 ing crops, he would soon have to resort to the 

 manure heap or ruin his land. He would find 

 himself in the condition of the individual who 

 set out to live by faith, but after getting some- 

 what reduced by hunger, concluded he would 

 modify his views somewhat and take a little 

 bread and cheese. Royal Smith. 



MilUngton, Mass., August 7th, 1871. 



— An Iowa paper says that a drover near Knox- 

 ville let forty -two hogs go without water, one hot 

 day last week, and that they all died in con:^- 

 quence. 



