450 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
f December, 
Og'den Farm Papers— Ho, 12. 
e 
"W. C," of Ohio, sends me the following ques- 
tions : " 1. Can land ever become so compact 
that underdraining will be of no account ? 2. 
Does the overflowing of land that is under- 
drained injure the drains and have a tendency 
to stop them up ? We have some land that 
overflows during freshets, and some that after 
a freeze, is, at the surface, of the consistency of 
batter, — like a thin mortar." This latter, he 
thinks, maybe so tenacious of water that drain- 
ing would do it no good. 
I know of no land so compact that draining 
will not benefit it. A pile of bricks — made of 
the sliffest clay — which are wet as they come 
from the machine will, if placed in a close room 
where there is no circulation of air, wet the 
floor under them, and the upper tier will be at 
the end of a few days considerably dried, while 
the lower tier will have become wetter than 
at first. The water settles down by its own 
gravity ; passes from particle to particle of the 
clay and finally runs out on the floor. No soil 
can be more compact than a machine-pressed 
mass of stiff clay; and water will move much 
more freely in any arable soil — however com- 
pact it may seem — than in compressed brick 
clay. There is a great difference between the 
amounts of water that different soils will take 
up and hold against the force of gravitation ; 
but water so held is contained only within the 
finer pores of the earth,— in the interiors of the 
particles (not in the spaces between the parti- 
cles). Consequent!}' a compacted soil, one that 
is rammed together so hard that these spaces 
are obliterated ; that is, a soil that is con- 
solidated and kneaded together like dough, 
will hold more water, by simple absorption, 
than will one that is finely pulverized and made 
to occupy more space, — that is, to have more 
spaces between the finer particles of earth. It 
is impossible to so drain a heavy clay soil that 
it will not retain moisture for a much longer 
time than would a lighter one. Draining alone 
will produce on such a soil as is described by 
my correspondent, a much less rapid effect than 
on one of lighter consistency. But, however 
slow the action may be, it cannot fail to be de- 
cidedly beneficial. Soils are often spoken of as 
"impervious." That means that water cannot 
pass through them. If this were possible, such 
soils could never become wet. If water can 
get into them to make them wet, it can, with 
equal ease, get out of them to leave them dry. 
AVhile such a soil as is described will be ben- 
efited by drainage alone, the benefit will be 
greatly hastened and increased if other means 
are adopted to loosen its texture and to coun- 
teract its cohesive tendency. Tiiis may best be 
done by fall plowing, exposure to the frost, re- 
peated cultivation, and above all by the plow- 
ing in of green crops. The systematic growth 
of clover, by means of which the soil is pene- 
trated in all directions by roots that are left 
to decay after the removal of the crop, is the 
best of all means for improving its consistency. 
If "W. C." wishes to satisfy himself that 
draining and thorough cultivation will benefit 
his land, let him fill a cask with some of the 
worst of it when in its wettest condition, and 
even add water uutil it is perfectly saturated. 
Then cover it over with boards to prevent evap- 
oration and make a scries of holes around the 
bottom of the cask. He will find at the end of 
a longer or shorter time, that the water has 
settled down and run off at the openings below, 
leading the earth in a moist condition, but not 
wet. When it was first put in, it contained so 
much water that a handful of it could be mould- 
ed into a ball and would retain its shape. After 
the surplus water has passed off this can uo 
longer be done, the earth will crumble beneath 
the pressure of the hand. There will be no 
water left in the mass be3 r ond what the finer 
particles of the clay bave absorbed. If after it 
has become dry this earth is worked over as in 
plowing, it will become still lighter. If the 
cask had been light at the bottom, the earth 
would have retained its moisture for an indefi- 
nite time. This earth is subject to the same laws 
in the field that affect its condition in the cask. 
If the field have a light bottom, the superabun- 
dant water will be retained uutil it is slowly 
drawn up and evaporated by sun and wind at 
the surface. If holes be made in its bottom by 
the introduction of underdrains, the water of 
saturation will be withdrawn, and the land will 
become loose and friable. This is the theory 
of the subject and it will hold good in practice 
with such modifications as the character of the 
soil ma}' introduce. If it is a nearly pure clay, 
devoid of fibrous organic matter, the withdraw- 
al of the water will be slow, though its rapidity 
will increase from year to year, as the action of 
the air which follows the descent of the water 
changes the character of the heavier parts. 
While it is always to be advised that heavy 
clays be uuderdrained, it is equally important, 
as a matter of profitable cultivation, that every 
possible means be taken to loosen the soil by 
cultivation and to add to its porosity by the in- 
troduction of organic matter. Better drain and 
thoroughly cultivate five acres of such land than 
drain twenty acres and leave the soil to the slow 
action of the air as the only means of amelio- 
ration, — it would pa}- better both at the outset 
and in the end. 
My answer therefore to the first question is a 
negative one; but I believe that some land is so 
compact that practically it will not pay to un- 
dcrdrain it unless additional means be adopted 
for making it more porous. 
The overflowing of.underdrained land, if the 
work has been properly done, will not injure the 
drains, unless the overflow is accompanied by 
such a deposit of soil in front of the outlets as 
will obstruct them. By " properly done," I 
mean that the tiles should be well laid, on a line 
of uniform descent, and that the earth should 
be so well rammed down about them as to leave 
no possibility that the water will run to them 
from the surface even in the smallest streams. 
If underdrains receive even a very slight flow 
of water directly from the surface, dirt will be 
washed into them and choke them up. 
No matter how great the quantity of water 
lying on the surface of the field, if the drains 
are protected against this one danger no appre- 
ciable quantity of water will run into them from 
above. That is not the way in which water 
reaches them. The floor of a drain tile may be 
compared to the top of a mill-dam. The rain 
failing through the air does not, deviate from 
its appointed course to fall toward the top of 
the dam, but continues directly down to the 
water and raises the general level until the top 
of the dam is reached, and then water com- 
mences to flow over it. So in the soil : water 
that reaches its surface has a downward ten- 
dency and it will not be turned from its course 
by the fact tiiat a drain is buried twenty feet 
from where it falls. It will go right down until 
it reaches a point where the soil is full of water 
(what we call the water-table). By its volume 
it raises the water-table until the level of the 
drain is reached, and then a flow commences. 
It is not likely that in any soil so compact as to 
need underdraining, water travels sideways 
seeking an outlet. It is the raising of the water 
in the pond in the one case, and of the waler- 
table in the soil in the other, that causes it to 
flow over the dam or into the drain. It will be 
seen, therefore, that no amount of water accu- 
mulating on the surface is likely to carry ob- 
structions into well-made underdrains. 
There is, however, another consideration that 
is of much consequence. Clay, when it con- 
tains too much water, if subjected to motion, 
forms what is technically called, a "puddle," in 
which condition it is as nearly impervious lo 
water as any unburned earth can be. If a pond- 
hole is dug in a soil containing considerable 
clay, and is filled with water during heavy rains, 
the agitation of the water by winds, puddles the 
bottom, and causes the water to be retained, or 
at least, to leak away very slowly indeed. It is 
likely that the " batter land " spoken of, when 
covered with water, which is either flowing or 
is disturbed by winds, will be so puddled that 
the percolation of the water will be very slow. 
Surface drains will therefore be necessary to 
remove the water as rapidly as possible, leaving 
the surface in a condition to be again pulverized 
by cultivation, or, at least, by the cracking open 
that accompanies the drying of all earths con- 
taining clay or other constituents that shrink as 
they lose their water. Whether it will pay "W. 
C." lo underdrain his overflowed lands depends 
on circumstances and conditions, which can be 
determined only by personal examination ; for 
with the information given him above, he, 
knowing the character of the soil and the 
feasibility of keeping the outlets open during 
the floods, cau decide much better than I can. 
Ogden Farm has, however, made one outside 
speculation, one which at the outset has, I fear, 
cost it some money. The pasture farm I hired 
for my young stock had such an immense 
growth of grass early in the season that I bought 
about thirty small beef cattle to keep it from 
running to waste. If we had had plentiful 
showers all through the season, I have no doubt 
the result would have been good. As it was, 
the stock all did well up to about the first of 
September, and from that lime remained sta- 
tionary until they took a turn and commenced 
to fall off. About Oct. 20th, they were in such 
condition that they felt the cold nights more 
than was good for them. We fed hay in the 
field for a while, but still they fell off. Then 
we took them home and put them in the sheds, 
where they present the sorry appearance of 
half-starved brutes, and I would be glad to get 
rid of the whole lot at considerably less than 
they cost in June. I have lost their keep for 
four months and must feed them at least a month 
before they will be worth, their original cost. 
To help matters on, the price of beef has 
fallen, and these animals are worth less, pound 
for pound, than I gave for them. 
Even this tale of woe carries its valuable 
moral, and points to soiling as the only safe 
plan for the keeping of stock. In June I had 
too much grass. I must buy more cattle or lose 
fodder. Buying cattle to save the grass, I load- 
ed my fields with more stock than they could 
carry in September, and have literally been sup- 
porting them on the flesh I bought on them. If 
the land had been used for soiling I could have 
cured its extra growth for fall and winter use, 
and there would have been no loss. As the 
farm in question is not in a condition for soiling, 
it would, Of course, have been the wiser plan 
to have kept it understocked; but who could 
have foreseen such a drouth as we have had ? 
