330 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
No?. 
lsfithout potash being found in them—though this in¬ 
gredient is present in the ashes of the cane plant. 
What shall be done then to learn the capacities 
of a soil? Liebig has proposed to observe the weeds 
or plants which naturally grow there, and finding those 
which flourish and come to maturity—examine the 
table of ash analyses—comparing this table with that 
of a wheat, or oat, or corn, or barley analysis—straw 
and gran—some idea of its capacity may be justly de® 
rived. 
This idea makes the subject too simple to be received 
for a time. Still it will gain ground, as has the view 
the essential importance of mineral manures, until 
some of the most earnest wishes of this laborious che ¬ 
mist are realized to the agriculturist and the world. 
Respectfully yours, E. N. Horsford. 
COLMAN’S EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE —PART VII. 
This number opens with a continuation of the subject 
of “ Tile and Pipe Draining, 55 followed by chapters on 
« Subsoil-Plowing connected with Thorough Draining, 55 
“ Irrigation, 55 “ The Rotation of Crops, 55 “ Soiling, or 
House Feeding, 55 and “ Crops. 55 
Mr. Colman is of the opinion that the thorough 
draining and subsoil plowing of the land, constitute the 
“ great modern improvement of English husbandry, 55 
and that ‘‘they seem destined to increase the products of 
the country beyond any calculations which have yet 
been made. 55 
In relation to the application of these practices to 
the TTnfted States, he thinks there can be no doubt that 
in many situations, especially in the older states, they 
would prove highly ~ben&frcial. He saj r s—“ I know 
many farms and many tracts of country, where by such 
a process, the product of the land might be expected to 
be doubled, and I have a confident hope that, in many 
parts of the country, where wheat is now liable to be 
thrown out by the severity of the frost, or to suffer 
blight from the wetness of the soil, to which, in many 
cases blight is to be attributed, we may, by means of 
this great improvement, be enabled to grow wheat with 
success. Our crops of potatoes, w r hich we generally 
plant by preference in low lands, are often destroyed by 
excessive wetness arising from heavy rains, which re¬ 
main on the top of the soil, for want of ready and suffi¬ 
cient drainage. I have known, in repeated instances, 
the seed to be destroyed in the spring; and the crop in 
the autumn to be rotted, in such cases after it had be¬ 
come ready for the harvest. 55 
The objections to this improvement in this country, 
are, 1st, the liability of the clay pipes used in draining 
to be broken by frost. This objection Mr. C. proposes 
to obviate by “laying three feet of the ends of the 
drains with broken stones, through which the water 
would find its way. 55 He thinks pipes or tiles laid three 
feet, or even two feet under ground, would not be af¬ 
fected by the frost. 
The next objection mentioned, is “ the difficulty of 
finding suitable persons to execute the work. 55 It is all 
important that a system of draining, if commenced at 
all should be well executed, and as yet “ a class of skil¬ 
ful, scientific, and experienced drainers can scarcely be 
said to exist among us. 55 Time and demand, may, 
however, it is added, “soon produce them. 55 It is re¬ 
marked, also, that it would not be easy to find laborers 
to execute the work. “ No native American laborer, 55 
says Mr. C., “ among the thousands I have known or 
employed, would have had patience, application, per¬ 
severance, and constancy, sufficient to execute drains 
after the perfect and scrupulously exact manner in which 
they are made in England. 55 Mr. C. says, “ our habits of 
haste, our habitual conceit of our superior judgment, 
&c., are national peculiarities which operate against 
aqy minute, precise, and exact labor. 55 
The great objection, however, whieh will be urged 
against such improvements, Mr. C. thinks “ will un¬ 
doubtedly be the want of capital and the expense. 55 He 
gives no positive opinion on this part of the subject; 
but remarks that in England, with scarcely an excep¬ 
tion, so far as he has seen, the improvement is sure to be 
remunerative in a very high degree; “and for that rea¬ 
son, 55 he continues, «the government are proposing a 
most beneficent measure in offering the loan of capital 
upon adequate security, for the accomplishment of such 
improvements, and in other cases allowing the owners 
of entailed estates to raise a certain amount upon the 
mortgage of such estates for the same purpose. He 
adds that where such improvements have been judicious¬ 
ly effected in this country, though they have generally 
been on a very limited scale, the result has afforded an 
ample compensation. 
The extent to wffiich drainage is carried on some large 
estates in England, is almost surprising. The Duke of 
Portland, it is said, had sometime since completed more 
than 7000 miles of drainage on his estates. The Duke 
of Bedford informed Mr. Colman that he made about 
200 miles of drainage on his estates in a year, besides 
about 50 miles in his park grounds. Lord Hatherton 
at Teddesley Park, whose estate Mr. C. had more than 
once visited, had some years since completed the drain¬ 
age of more than 467 acres, at an expense of £1508, 
17s. 4d.; and had increased the rental of his land, by 
these operations, to the amount of £435, 2s. 4d« per 
year, or at the rate of 29 per cent, upon the capital ex¬ 
pended. But such is the rapidity with which agricul¬ 
tural improvement is advancing in England, that, as Mr. 
C. states, “draining fully as efficient as the above, sis 
now reduced to one half of the expense. 55 
In view of the many examples of agricultural im¬ 
provement which Mr. Colman has witnessed, he sub¬ 
joins some excellent moral reflections. He says—“ it 
is truly delightful to witness such an application of 
wealth; and the benevolent mind is never more dis¬ 
posed to envy the possession of power, than when it is 
thus beneficently exerted.” He admits that the erec¬ 
tion of costly mansions and palaces are in some degree 
useful, by circulating a large amount of wealth where 
it is needed—that “ there is a pleasure in contempla¬ 
ting the skill and architectural taste displayed in their 
structure, the beauty of their arrangements, and the 
luxury and splendor with which they are adorned and 
finished. But often,” he continues, “ they are mere 
monuments of vanity and display; they are a serious 
draw-back upon the resources of the proprietor; they 
are much beyond his wants and convenience; they in¬ 
volve a necessity of a style of living which sometimes 
brings with it as much vexation as pleasure. 55 
On the other hand—“ how different are the results of 
the application of wealth to the purposes of agricultural 
improvement; in converting land which is waste into 
that which is productive; in the employment of the 
poor in useful and healthful labor; in increasing the 
means of human and brute subsistence; in advancing 
the real wealth of the community; in the actual crea¬ 
tion of wealth without loss or injury to any one; in 
making improvements which have in themselves a 
reduplicative energy, so that the more improvement is 
made, the more the power of improving is extended 
and enlarged; in exhibiting an example of skill and 
success which excites no ill-will, because it injures no 
man’s interest, but is everywhere beneficial, and prompts 
to a wholesome emulation; which leaves behind it 
not traces drawn in the sand to be obliterated by every 
wave that rolls upon the shore, but which are to endure 
for generations and centuries to come; and which in 
truth constitutes one of the most honorable and endu¬ 
ring monuments which a reasonable and well disci¬ 
plined ambition of posthumous reputation and fame can 
desire or seek after! 55 
The “Process of Draining,” which Mr. Colman de¬ 
scribes with considerable minuteness, and in a plain 
and clear manner, we have not room to give, but must 
refer those particularly interested to his own language. 
But it is “ Thorough Draining in connection with 
Subsoil-Plowing 55 that Mr. Colman thinks productive 
of the most beneficial results. 
; “Subsoil. plowing, 55 he says, “ is never to be recom¬ 
mended without first draining, unless in cases where 
