MANAGEMENT OP MEADOWS. 243 



support vegetation. That soon becomes exhausted, and the 

 land appears worn out. Draining opens up a mine of fer- 

 tilizers below, the roots run quickly down to it, and there 

 is no question that the crops are greatly increased. There 

 is much land in our State that would be greatly improved 

 by draining. The soils that will be improved can be 

 ascertained, during the wet season, by digging a hole in the 

 fields and watching the height to which the water rises. In 

 many places it will remain almost on a level nearly all win- 

 ter; in others showing itself one, two or three feet below 

 it. And this, too, on rolling lands that are supposed to be 

 dry enough. Not only are the wet lands made dryer, but 

 the dry lands made wetter. This is effected by the soil be- 

 coming porous, so as to better admit the moisture of rains 

 and dews. It is made warmer, and consequently frosts will 

 have less effect, there being less moisture to freeze on the 

 surface. And besides, by being warmer the crops come on 

 earlier. 



Our Northern farmers practice almost exclusively tile 

 draining. This is a costly mode, and if it were the only 

 way our farmers would be frightened at once from the ef- 

 fort. But so thoroughly is this "plan practiced that it is no 

 longer an experiment. Some counties in Ohio have spent 

 the public funds in digging and draining the mains so that 

 farmers can lay their drains into them. Wood county, 

 Ohio, in 1867, spent in one year $500,000 in digging 

 mains. One drain was dug 30 miles long, and six feat 

 deep, while the districts dug 400 miles more. 



The Agricultural College of Michigan appointed a com- 

 mittee to investigate the effects of draining. They bought 

 twenty-five acres of swampy land, covered with bog-grass 

 rushes, flags and other worthless vegetation. They laid 

 about 800 yards of tiles at an expense of $480, and sowed it 

 in grass. At the first cutting the crop was sold for $1,570, 

 leaving a clear profit, the first year, over all expenses, 

 of $548.70, and the second year they cleared $975. This 



