4 PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY PASTURES 



value, regret need not be wasted on their disappearance. 

 As a rule, the work can be carried out at a cost which wiU be 

 returned with interest in the course of a very few years. 

 Drainage alone wiU go a long way towards turning a marsh 

 into a profitable pasture, and it renders other improvements 

 possible at a trifling expense. The important point to be 

 urged here is that undrained land should not be laid down 

 to grass. Otherwise careful tillage, costly manures, and the 

 finest grass seeds wiU certainly be wasted. The result is 

 only a question of time. Sooner or later the valuable grasses 

 which are sown wiU be supplanted by sedge and rush and 

 other semi-aquatic vegetation, until the pasture gradually 

 reaches the worthless condition which invariably prevails on 

 undrained land. 



Every year more water passes through land which is 

 naturally or artificially drained than through soil which is 

 generally saturated with moisture. Where stagnant water lies 

 no rain can enter : it simply runs off the surface by any outlet 

 it can find. The soil can neither breathe nor digest any 

 fertiliser applied to it, and it is incapable of utilising the sun's 

 heat for the development of plant Ufe. 



When rain falls on a weU-drained field it does more than 

 merely moisten the soil and supply plants with water. It 

 has been computed that in each year, by means of rain 

 alone, every acre of well-drained land in this country is 

 benefited to the extent of five to ten pounds of nitrogen. 

 One of the advantages of good drainage is that it allows the 

 atmosphere to be freely carried into the soil by rain, when 

 the oxygen sweetens and converts injurious organic substances 

 into wholesome food for plants. At the same time, carbonic 

 acid gas derived from rain and air performs the same operation 

 for the mineral constituents of the soil. 



Another advantage which results from draining is an 

 increase in the temperature of the soil. It is well understood 



