^46 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



Draining Prevents " Jleaving Out " 



Among other evils incident to un- 

 drained soils, is the liability to heave 

 or freeze out the crops sown thereon, 

 so that it is difficult, if not impossible, 

 to grow winter grain or clover profitably 

 though the soil otherwise is well suited 

 to their production. A case coming 

 under our observation the past winter, 

 will well illustrate the subject. A field 

 of five acres, seeded to clover two years 

 ago upon rye, owing in part to the pre- 

 sence of snow upon the ground the grea- 

 ter part of the first winter and spring, 

 escaped with slight injury from this 

 cause, and gave a very good growth of 

 clover. But the past winter, the weather 

 being of a different character, the grass 

 on about three acres of the field was en- 

 tirely destroyed, every root of clover, 

 being pulled up or thrown out, laid loose 

 upon the surface of the ground the pres- 

 ent spring. This was an example of 

 "heaving out" of unmistakable charac- 

 ter. 



The cause and process of freezing out 

 has been explained as follows : "The 

 soil is pulverised only to the depth of 

 the plow, some six or eight inches. Be- 

 low this is stratum of clay (or hard-pan) 

 nearly impervious to water. The 

 autumn rains (and melting snows in 

 spring) saturate the surface soil, which 

 absorbs water like a sponge. The 

 ground is suddenly frozen; the water 

 contained in it crystalizes into ice, and 

 the soil is thrown up into spicules or 

 honey-combs, and the poor clover roots 

 or wheat plants are drawn from their 

 beds, and, by a few repetitions of the 

 process, left dead upon the field in 

 spring." 



The evil lies in a saturated soil. It 

 matters little whether the surface be 

 clay or sandy — it did not in the case 

 above mentioned — if the subsoil is of an 

 impervious character. We were much 

 surprised to find in a slight depression, 

 some three or four rods across, where 

 the surface soil was alight sand, that the 

 clover was as badly winter-killed as on 

 the clayey part ^ of the field. And the 

 clayey part, it is well to mention, had 

 good surface-drainage from the descent 

 or slope of the ground — at least an inch 

 in a foot. This sandy corner was un- 

 derlaid by an impervious hard-pan, hold- 

 ing water equally as well as the clay ; 

 and we believe this will generally be 

 found to be the case in all loams which 

 suffer from heaving or freezing out. 



We have shown in a previous article, 

 that "draining deepens the soil," and 

 hence it is the remedy for freezing out in 

 all cases. Water no longer saturates 



the surface soil in such quantity as to 

 form honey-comb ice every time it 

 freezes; the plants are no longer confined 

 to short roots, but have a better hold 

 upon the soil, and it has been found that 

 no loss whatever results from this cause, 

 however unfavorable the season, on a 

 thoroughly drained soil. 



A little testimony on this point may 

 not be out of place here. Maxwell 

 Brothers of Geneva, tell us, in the 

 Transactions of the N. Y. State Agri- 

 cultural Society for 1855, about draining 

 a clay field which previously could not 

 be worked for spring crops in season for 

 sowing, and heaved so badly as to rum 

 winter crops, which draining has render- 

 ed as mellow and productive as can be 

 desired, so that they can cultivate imme- 

 diately after heavy rains, and grow 

 wheat and clover without loss from frost. 

 John Johnston of Seneca county, has 

 given pointed evidence on the subject, 

 both in our own columns and in other 

 publications. By draining he has so 

 improved his clayey farm that no loss 

 is suffered from this cause, though for- 

 merly it was a source of great injury to 

 the crops in the low lands, entirely ruin- 

 ing wheat, and destroying it in many 

 places upon the higher parts of the farm. 

 Many like cases of the beneficial results 

 of draining in this respect could be given 



were it needful, to our readers. 

 «» 



Detection of Horse Thieves. 



Freedom, March 12, 1859. 



Mr. Francis; — In view of the in- 

 creasing amount of horse stealing, I have 

 been thinking for some time about a 

 practible method (to be adopted by tnp 

 masses, especially the Agricultural por- 

 tion of men,) in order to check these 

 depredations. And it appears to me 

 that my project (although it may not be 

 new) might be made to pay well, both to 

 the patron and the publisher, which is 

 simply this; that some publisher of an 

 Agricultural journal, attach to his per- 

 iodical a stolen horse detector, the list to 

 briefly state the owners name; the Post 

 Office address, minute description of the 

 animal, the time stolen and the reward, 

 &c., &c. Which notice should stand for 

 a given time, say three or six months, 

 the owner of the animal advertised to 

 pay a fixed amount of money for said 

 insertion, or in his getting a certain 

 amount of paying subscribers as compen- 

 sation. 



The objects are these, to deter thieves 

 from stealing, and to enable the owners 

 of stolen horses to recover tbeir proper- 

 ty, and further to enable officers and 

 other individuals that are anxious to de- 

 tect thieves, and protect innocent per- 

 sons from being imposed upon in the 

 way of purchasing. You may say, how 

 can such an argument effect any thing ? 

 Simply in this way, when a horse ap- 



peared or is offered for sale by a stran- 

 ger or other individual under suspicious 

 circumstances, the purchaser or acasual 

 observer could refer to the list and if in it 

 the animal is then described, &c., it 

 might lead to the detection of a thief 

 and help the owner of the animal to re- 

 cover his property; and more than that 

 it would deter thieving. There has been 

 many horses stolen in our county the 

 past year, very few of which have been 

 recovered or the thieves detected; and 

 there have been quite a large number of 

 strange horses sold, under circumstances 

 that created much suspicion, so much 

 so as to induce some individuals to put 

 forth efforts to traee out the whereabouts 

 said, horses were obtained — no doubt 

 stolen in some remote section and run 

 here for sale. 



I have mentioned the project to many 

 individuals, all of whom speak favorably 

 What think you ? Would it not be an 

 inducement to individuals to subscribe, 

 that would not if the list was not in ? 

 All the trouble would be to get' it estab- 

 lished. I see no difficulty in describing 

 a horse minutely and as briefly, as a 

 bank note. The people of our locality 

 are alive in interest, in organizing Socie- 

 ties, the object of which is to detect 

 horse thieves, and if they accomplish the 

 object sought after, our Penitentiary 

 will soon be overrun, if there is as much 

 complaint in other counties through the 

 State as in this. But the measure I 

 propose would not cause any increase 

 of detections, but probably would deter 

 criminals, or cause them to seek other 

 fields of operation. Yet that does not 

 remedy the rule. We want the means of 

 detecting them, let them operate where 

 they may, or in. other words, we want a 

 Detector, or Detectors, extensive enough 

 so that whenever they may appear, with 

 those stolen horses they would be in the 

 midst of numerous tell-tales, in the shape 

 of detectives. 



Some individuals manifest much inter- 

 est to expel a thief from a community 

 where he is known to be a stranger, and 

 among strangers. I think it is wrong 

 for when we know, a man to be a thief, 

 we can watch him, and keep him under 

 restraint, but when we drive him among 

 strangers, he is free from restraint, and 

 is induced to steal, from a thievish dis- 

 position. Consequently we do the 

 stranger an injury, and the individuala 

 greater injury. 



JOHN H. HOSFORD. 



A year or more ago Mr. Pollard 

 Simmons, of Mason County, got up a 

 prospectus for a paper similar to that 

 recommended by Mr. Ilosford. It was 

 to be published semi-monthly at a low 

 price, and one copy of each number was 

 to be sent to the Sheriff of each County. 



:JJ 



