iyi2. 
THE RURAL NEW-VORKER 
710 
LIME OR TILE DRAINAGE. 
Improving the Land from the 
Bottom. 
On page 637, J. T. H., of Con¬ 
necticut, writes in regard to ex¬ 
perience with lime on the potato 
crop. In our section of New 
York State a lime application is 
sure to produce scab on potatoes. 
In a certain garden on a farm 
that the writer owns there is a 
spot where ashes had been 
dumped, and although they had, 
been all cleared away as much as 
possible the potatoes grown on 
that spot were always worthless 
on account of scab. Although 
this was not lime, the results were 
the same. [The ashes contain 
one-third their weight of lime.— 
Eds.] But J. T. H. gives me a 
text for a sermon, and with my 
life experience and observations 
before me I cannot refrain from 
offering it to your readers. 
The way a great deal of our 
agricultural land is handled re¬ 
minds me of the way I have seen 
some buildings erected; the 
building first, and then after a 
time when it had settled out of 
shape, a foundation was placed 
beneath and much of the perma¬ 
nent value of the building was 
lost. The roof, if of any of the 
various kinds of flexible materi¬ 
als, is wrinkled badly. The plas¬ 
tering is cracked on the walls, 
doors and windows out of plumb, 
etc. The foundation is the first 
requisite. J. T. H. says the lands 
were so wet that the Alfalfa killed 
out, as did Crimson clover, and 
the year that he had the good 
crop of potatoes was a dry one, 
making conditions favorable. 
Although the soil in Connecti¬ 
cut is very different from our 
Western New York lands, one 
rule holds good in both and every 
case, that land needs underdrain¬ 
ing. Then it will be moist in dry 
seasons, and in the Spring or 
after every heavy rain at any time 
of the year it will always be dry 
and ready to cultivate much 
sooner than the other and higher 
parts of the land, and always 
produce heavier crops; again, it is 
easier to plow and cultivate. I 
have seen hundreds of acres of 
this class of land in Connecticut, 
covered, in many cases, with bogs, 
that I just wanted to apply our 
Western New York methods to, 
for it was land of the most val¬ 
uable character—simply held un¬ 
der excessive water bondage. 
Many have spent their lives in 
cultivating lands under this hand¬ 
icap, as did their fathers before 
them, and have passed into the 
broad beyond never realizing the 
wealth of possibilities-that these 
acres possessed. I will cite one 
of the many instances in my ex¬ 
perience. This was a small farm, 
70 acres. Little was ever grown 
on it but grass, and that of a 
scant growth and poor quality, 
particularly in the large rather 
flat field by the swamp. It came 
into the possession of a man who 
believed in the value of tile drain¬ 
age. A couple of miles of drains 
were put in, and as there was 
abundant fall and good outlet, 
with a soil easily worked, it was 
no great and expensive job. But 
the results are wonderful. The 
soil acidity is corrected without 
the lime application (although 
I should advise its use), and the 
present owner is gathering where 
others strewed. There is no fear 
of the overpopulation of this 
of his neighbors, installed a 
most complete system of drain¬ 
age on the home farm, where 
he had a great deal of this class 
of land. He made the growing 
of potatoes a specialty, and the 
story of his wonderful yields was 
heralded far and wide. The skep¬ 
tics became converts and profited 
by his example. But proper pro¬ 
vision was not made to maintain 
the high standard of fertility, and 
there was a gradual decrease in 
yield of the potato crop. I be¬ 
lieve a change is being made in 
the rotation, at present, and this 
land will still be heard from as 
producing record crops. There 
is no other one thing that money 
can be invested in that will give 
such returns—not only in dollars 
but in that which is of more value 
—the lifting of the profession of 
farming to a higher plane where 
it properly belongs as the noblest 
occupation man can engage in, 
for it prepares the way for all 
the other progressive methods 
in the way of fruits, grains, etc. 
HENRY E. COX. 
country, for when all our waste land is re¬ 
claimed and brought under cultivation the 
whole of Europe could be dumped in on us, 
and there would be food for all. 
Again, when this class of land is reclaimed 
by drainage, it is rich with the stored-up ac¬ 
cumulations of material for crop production, 
and, under proper management, this fertility 
is easily maintained. The mistake, however, 
is sometimes made that its resources in this 
line are inexhaustible, and after a few years 
there is a decrease in these marvelous crops. 
One instance: A young man, bright and 
progressive, against the advice and criticism 
THE ORIGINAL ORANGE COUNTY HEN HOUSE. Fig. 277 . 
REAR VIEW OF ORANGE COUNTY HEN HOUSE. Fig. 278. 
WHERE THE HENS SPEND THEIR DAYS. Fig 
WHERE THE HORSE DOES THE STACKING. Fig. 280. 
DRAINAGE FOR TREES. 
The larger part of the soil on 
my little suburban farm is clay 
loam, a part lies flat and low. 
This top layer of soil reaches 
down about three feet; under 
that is sand. I have lost three 
apple trees during the last hard 
Winter, five years from the plant¬ 
ing, in nice shape last Fall—dead 
this Spring. Other trees of the 
same age and varieties, planted 
on higher ground, came through 
all right. I have been thinking re¬ 
garding the planting of new trees 
in place of the ones lost. If I 
plant the new trees according to 
may own figuring, I will dig holes 
down to the sand, then I will 
throw in cobble and broken stone 
say six inches, then good, loose 
soil (not clay), in which I will 
plant my trees. I figure that in 
this way I will get better drain¬ 
age than at present. 
Will some of you old apple 
men tell me if I am figuring right 
in this matter? I know to most 
of you three young apple trees 
does not mean much, but it is 
not funny to me at all to dig out 
those three trees that I planted 
five years ago, and which I have 
worked over, and watched and 
have seen grow into sturdy, 
healthy little trees with promise) 
in a year or two longer of red-t 
cheeked and golden fruit, only to 
fall a victim to the spade and the 
ax. All of which strengthens my 
convictions that when it comes 
to gambling in uncertainties or 
taking business chances, the farm¬ 
er is, far and away, more of a 
gambler than his brother in town. 
In my business in the city, if I 
make an error in judgment or 
meeting with a business accident, 
I can correct my error or make 
good my accident the next day 
or the next week, but let me make 
an error in judgment in farm 
work, or meet with an “accident,'’ 
like my three frozen trees, and I 
wait 12 long months for a chance 
to correct my error and possibly 
12 long years to make good an 
accident to a choice tree. j. b. b. 
R. N.-Y.—We think this will 
help the drainage and in a severe 
Winter help the trees. It will 
not be equal to a good system of 
tile drainage. On our own farm 
these small well or saucer drains 
finally fill up and refuse to let 
the water through. 
