AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 587 



cliestniit tree nearly one hundred feet, running horizontally two 

 feet below the surface to a manure heap, without a single lateral 

 fibre. To show you the superior advantage drained lands have 

 over undrained, last spring I plowed, harrow^ed, manured and 

 sowed oats on a thoroughly drained and sub-soiled field during 

 a long drizzling rain storm, and harrowed it during a heavy rain, 

 without injury to the land, and the crop grew finely, and yielded 

 well. The contiguous undrained field at the same time was cover- 

 ed with water, and I was unable to plough it in two weeks after. 

 I have, on several occasions, saved my corn crop on drained land 

 in a perfectly ripened state, when I have lost it on a contiguous 

 undrained field, planted at the same time, and can assure farmers 

 that they will never be compelled to complain of their wheat or 

 rye field being winter-killed or frozen out, if their fields are w^ell 

 "underdrained and sub-soil plowed ; nor will they be subject to 

 the potato rot. I plant large fields annually, and have never 

 had the rot on my farm, nor do the potatoes decay after being 

 pitted or housed. 



Well drained lands defy drought, from the fact that being pul- 

 verized they absorb and retain moisture much longer than un- 

 drained land, and the temperature is on an average 14 degrees 

 warmer than undrained. Corn will not vegetate unless the soil 

 contains 56 degrees of heat, and invariably rots at 46 degrees; 

 this is the case with many seeds. The sun has an immediate 

 effect upon a drained soil, and will raise the temperature in it to 

 nearly 100 degrees, when there will be no heat administered to 

 the contiguous undrained wet land, as it cannot descend. Place 

 water in a pot, and apply heat to the top, and you will find that 

 it will not become hot; fill the same vessel with ice, and place 

 on it one thickness of letter paper filled with boiling water, and 

 it will not melt the ice. In draining land I find great advantage 

 in leaving my drains open at both ends of the field, so that the 

 air may pass through and serate the ground. In several experi- 

 ments tlie diiference has been one-half in favor of this practice on 

 muck land, as it supplies oxygen in large quantities; when this 

 is excluded the vegetable compounds in the soil must obtain this 

 element from any earthy substance that it is capable of decom- 



