370 The Land and Its Treatment 



Avater puts the land in condition to hold more capillary 

 moisture in its own tissues, and improves it for agricul- 

 tural purposes. 



For vegetable-gardening purposes, particularly if quick- 

 est results are desired, it is necessary to underdrain hard 

 clay lands, even if they are not wet. It makes them work- 

 able early in the spring after rains, and enables the plants 

 to obtain a quicker foothold. These same lands might 

 be used for orchards, however, without underdraining, and 

 they might also be very productive of general farm crops; 

 but in such cases the crops may occupy the land for a 

 term of years, and very early results are not essential. 



For temporary purposes, surface drains may be em- 

 ployed, or the land may be ridged so that the surface 

 water is taken off in the dead-furrows. This surface drain- 

 age, however, results only in carrying off superfluous water 

 and does not have the effect of ameliorating the land. 

 Surface drains are temporary creeks. 



In most cases, it is better and cheaper in the end to 

 use tile underdrains. Board drains were formerly some- 

 times used, but they are not so efficient nor so permanent. 

 In stony countries, excellent drains may be made by par- 

 tially filling the ditch with stones, particularly if flat 

 stones are to be had so that a conduit can be laid in the 

 bottom. Such drains not only provide the advantages 

 of underdrainage, but also afford a means of disposing 

 of superfluous stone. If they have a good fall, and care is 

 exercised not to fill the spaces between the stones with 

 ■earth, they may be nearly or quite as efficient as tile drains. 



The deeper the drains, the deeper will be the ameliorat- 

 ing effect on the soil and the greater the area they drain. 



