Some q/' the Agricultural Lessons of 1868. 
43 
farm of any contrast between drained and undraincd land last year. But 
there was an example plain enough on the farm adjoinimr, in a field next 
to one of ours, which was wheat last season, the whole of it teing farmed 
alike in every way, both as to manuring, tillage, and drilling of the seed, 
except that ])art was drained. On that portion of the field the plant all 
through the winter looked the strongest, healthiest, and best colour : in the 
spring it grew earlier, and kept its superiority up till harvest, when it was 
evident to any passer-by that there must be a quarter of wheat more to 
the acre, and about half a load more straw than in the rest of the field 
undrained. That which was the wettest in winter suffered the most from the 
drought in summer, it having cracked so much more. Our experience is that 
the wetter the land in winter the wider the cracks when exposed to the 
summer's sun. There were many instances last summer of fissures three 
to four inches wide, and three to four feet deep. A few years ago we had two 
fields of wheat adjoinmg, one drained, the other undrained ; both were good 
crops, but the drained field, although all had been drilled together, was 
ready for harvest fidly a week earlier than the undrained field. Ours is 
emphatically a steam cultivated farm, the whole of the breaking up of the land 
being done and the seed beds formed by steam power ; and our experience is 
that very deeply cultivated land sufi'ers much less from drought, as well as from 
wet. On our stiff soil the deeper it is "broken up the greater amount of 
moisture it will retain ; and the quicker the extra water is drawn away, 
the lighter it leaves the soil, and the more the roots of the corn will penetrate. 
The sun also has not such a baking effect : whilst it dries, it does not harden in 
the same unyielding manner as it does the ground under the shallow cultiva- 
tion. One of our fields cropjxid with wheat this season has never been inverted 
for the last eight years; the crop was a remarkably heavy one, there being as 
much as could possibly stand ; notwithstanding the dryness of the season, it 
was much laid in places, and at harvest many competent judges estimated 
it at six to seven quarters to the acre. The past summer was exceedingly 
favourable for steam cultivation. The long dry, hot weather made the land 
so rotten and friable, that we were able to prepare most of our seed beds 
at one operation with the cultivator, nothing more being done to them before 
drilling and harrowing in the seed." 
From Foulness, Mr. Harvey has sent the following report, 
which describes an experience on low-lying alluvial land : — 
" The land of this island has all been redeemed from the sea, and consists 
of a mixed soil on the east and south next the river Thames, and a heavier, 
stiffer soil on the north and west next the rivers Crouch and Eoach. Land 
draining has only just begun, but as far as I can see it has done good, even 
during this dry year. Land that has all the water drained out of it in winter 
does not dry up so hard in drought. It is in a more kindly state for the 
roots to work in, and does not cnick so much as when it is undrained, there- 
fore holds the moisture better in hot seasons like the one just past. My land, 
which has been steam cultivated, has, I think, withstood the dry weather 
better than the land that has not been done. I have as goo^!, if not better, 
fields of mangolds this year on steamed land than I have generally grown." 
Mr. Bailey Denton, of 22, Whitehall-place, s.w., has kindly 
taken great interest in the inquiry to which the above have been 
replies. Having taken pains to inquire among people of infor- 
mation what has been the relative produce in 1868 of drained and 
undrained lands of similar quality and with similar climate, he 
has found the general opinion to be, that in spite of the excessive 
