GENERAL REPORT. 
81 
of necessit}^, be proportioned, other things being equal, to the 
amount of real agricultural science he may be able to master. 
And accordingly, it is more common—though, as yet, by no 
means universal—to find on their tables, and in their usually 
scanty libraries, some one or more of the many excellent agri¬ 
cultural journals and a more or less liberal supply of the hun¬ 
dreds of valuable, practical books that now treat on almost 
every branch of husbandry. In proportion as this foolish 
prejudice against all knowledge that has once found its way 
between the lids of a book, or into the columns of an agricul¬ 
tural journal, dies away, our farmers will become more success¬ 
ful as individuals and resoected as a class. 
X 
DRAINAGE. 
The time has been when no Wisconsin farmer thought of 
draining his land, either by open or under drains, unless they 
were marsh or damaged by permanent ponds of stagnant vs^at- 
er. Now there are many who not only drain lands of this class 
but such as hitherto have borne orchards of fruit or been cul¬ 
tivated for years as being dry enough for all practical pur¬ 
poses. They do not in all cases fully understand the philoso¬ 
phy of drainage as applied to lands not over-burdened witli 
water, but they have learned by observation or experience that 
it jpays in many cases where formerly deemed useless, and they 
require no further argument. 
When they come more fully to understand that it not only 
removes stagnant water from the surface and surplus water 
from under the surface, but that it likewise warms the subsoil; 
equalizes the temperature of the soil throughout the season of 
growth, which is also by these means prolonged; deepens the 
soil; supplies a greater amount of mineral food to the crops 
by the oxidation of valuable substances otherwise incapable of 
assimilation; carries down soluble substances to the roots of 
plants—thus increasing the efficacy of manures; brings up 
from the depths below moisture and with it soluble food which 
else could not rise sufficiently near the surface—thus at once 
opening new store-houses of food and preventing the disas- 
