1 Jan., 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 5 
The lands which most require draining are: Swamps, and low places—soft 
places where springs ooze out; sandy soils with clay subsoils—stiff, clay soils. 
The last need draining most of all arable land, as it renders them easier to 
work, and, when drained, horses can be put onto them much sooner after heavy 
rain than if they were left undrained. 
I recommend you to study this subject closely. Go out onto the farms, 
and look at the crops on dry and wet land. You will not fail to notice that it 
will pay the farmer to drain his land. 
; Questions on Lesson 8. 
What is meant by a subsoil? In what does it differ from the surface soil? 
Should the subsoil on a farm be brought to the surface? Why not? 
What is the object of subsoiling ? 
. What is meant by a ‘“‘plough-pan”? What causes it? How is it 
broken up? 
5. What is meant by drainage ? 
6. What are the objects and effects of draining ? 
7. How do you explain the fact that draining will remove moisture in the 
soil, and yet assist in retaining it? 
8. Explain the term “capillary attraction” ? What is the effect of it ona 
soil? 
9. Describe an experiment proving your last answer ? 
10. What lands require draining ? ¥i 
Em So Pot 
Sru Lesson. 
SECOND STAGE. 
Closely connected with draining is Irrrearton. To trricate land means to 
run a quantity of water over it. You may also irrigate land with liquid 
manure. The object of irrigation is to supply sufficient moisture to plants to 
ensure their growth. The amount of moisture required by plants is well 
known, and if that amount is not supplied by ordinary rainfall it must 
be supplied by art, or the crops will not thrive. Take an ordinary 
maize crop. From the time it appears above ground until the corn has 
hardened on the cob, it demands as much water as would cover the soil 
it grows on to a depth of 14 inches. You have most probably seen a RAIN GAUGE 
at the school. <A rain gauge is a simple instrument which enables a farmer 
or anyone else to find out how many inches of rain fall in a day, a week, a 
month, or a year. Suppose you want to begin farming in some district. It is 
very important that you should know how much rain falls in the year, and during 
what months it falls in greatest or smallest quantities. All you have to do, 
then, is to take up the table of rainfall which is given in this Journal, 
and you get the information at once, thanks to Mr. Clement Wragge, 
the Government Meteorologist. There are districts in Queensland which 
possess magnificent farming soil, but, owing to the small annual rainfall, crops 
are very difficult to raise. In such a case it may be possible to irrigate the land. 
When you water your garden (which it is to be hoped you have started) by 
means of a watering-pot, you are irrigating the garden. The Chinese gardeners 
raise fine vegetables in the driest parts of Queensland by irrigation. But it is 
plain that you cannot irrigate 100 acres with a watering-pot. You must take 
some other means. Two things required are—pLENTY OF WATER, and some 
method of bringing it on to the land. If the land is on a hill above the water 
supply, irrigation will be a most expensive business, and will only pay on a very 
large scale. At Bingera, near Bundaberg, where Messrs. Gibson and Howes 
have expended £40,000 on irrigation works, the water of the river whence the 
supply is drawn is far below the canefields. But for the farmer of 100 or 200 
acres such a position will not pay to irrigate. 
I told you in the last lesson that drainage and irrigation were closely con- 
nected. So they are in this way: If your farm lies very low, before you irrigate 
you must drain the land, otherwise you will do more harm than good by 
