The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1853-10-24

fren have a natural passion for anrexation,
pride in extended dominion, or else natural
repugnance to following good advice. Sure
Iy,if Wisdom ever cried in the streets, she
has been bawling herself hoarse these twen-
y-hve centuries againt the folly Of main
tanning iences and aging taxes on hum
.oreo-acres OF land in order to grow crop
mat might have be II Produced from ten.
out the sinners against lighc and KIN wi
edge IN our day have far less excuse than
thelr remote ancestors, or even their own
grandfathers. 1t was always well to urge
deep blowing and the like; but 90 long as
the pillow was but forked log or stick, with
one prong sharpened for roulter. and the
other employed as a beam, it was hardly
possible to plow Thoroughly. In our day,
however, the advance from wooden blows
through iron points aud iron muod- boards, to
irpn plows, stee points, steel pIows, and SUBJ
soiling, has been SO signal and decisive that
the shiftless creature who with his two lean
ponies skins and skins over the fields he
ought either to cultivate or let alone
scratching their surface mildly To depth of
three or four Inches,-sins against such an
arrav of Iigh' and k: oyle 'ge that he is far
less excusable than his ancestors who did
not pretend to plow at all but stuck in seed
here and there as they could easiest find a
hole or make one, and trusted in Providence
to give them an unobserved return for their
spiritless and frivolous efforts.
The three main features oil Agricultural ad
vancement among the AnglO-SaxOn race
nowadays are: /. Deep blowing or subsoil-
ing; 2. Draining; 8. Irrigation. lam quite
aware Il at Draining should take precedence
IN the order OF time, yet believe, in point
Deep Flowing has led to Draining, by de-
monstrating its necessity. an not Draining
to Deep Flowing. We suffer Immensely
from drouth in ibis country. Probably the
aggregate annual loss from dronth alone
throughout the Union decidedly exceeds, tax.
ing one yevr with another, the entire cost oi
our Federal Government. Yet we know that
the roots Of most plants will descend IL
moisture, no matter how dry The surface il
the earth beneath is porous, mellow and in
viting. Hence we real Ze the imncnse i'm
por, ce oil Deep Piow ny; and, after doub.
ling our teams, I'D sinking or deepest pIows
to the beam, we Summon I, cur aid the sub
soil Implement, and 80 down depsh beyont
that of any single furrow. But we soon hnl
that the pulver,zatoB Of the sub.soil, thus at
tanned, has no permanent effect; that the wa
ter tnat 'eaches dow to it settles u into q
compact, solid mass, which the roots canno
perfurate; and all our sub soiing needs to be
done over again. The remedy that readily
suggests itself is the freeing OF the sub.soi
from water by drains sunk below it, say three
to six rods apart, and filled half way up with
pebble with fat.stones forming sort o
culvert, or, sill better, laid with draining tile
or hollow brick, laid end t. end and forming
a cont nuous channel from the highest part o
any slope or grade to the brook which drains
il. And now the sub-soIl, surprising the
drains we'll made, and the drainage.w ay sufi
cient, is readily freed from any water settiin.
into it, and long returns the porous and pene.
trable character communicated To it by deep
blowing. iil@ p
Of course, this does not exhaust the COCO
effects 0t Draining. The subsoil, thus loos.
ened and freed from excessive moisture, be.
comes q source of food us well as drink to the
plants growing above It; for that it is c"pa
Bile of ieeuing plants. OF one, who has OBJ
served the rank vegetation growing out d
the earth thrown up by draining or digging
can doubt. Instead of being like slough IN
wet weather and like brick in dry the sub.
soil retains sufficient moisture to cheer the
plants but too little to indurate itself. Ane
the mean ten perature of the soil, hitherto
lowered by the constant evaporation of the
water contained i'm tho sub-soii is raised sever.
al degrees By the suns rays, no longer coun.
teracted by the evaporating process at least
not to any such extent as belore--sO that the
plants grow more luxuriaBtly, mature more
rapidly, and SO are earlier out OF danger from
! frost. And beside this, the CO slant passage
of currents of air thrvu Ih that portion OF the
drain not occupied by water,-and each drain
should have an opening at its head as wei
as at l.s mouths an additioral source Vi
| ;rrt y through the chemical combinations
| it insIres. Ii would be difficult to overstate
the salue, the Importance, the profit, o
Many are accustomed to saw, "Ihis land
| needs no "drainipg;" meaning that it is not
hibitualy too wet. But draining proves as
! useful, il it is not as imperatively necessary
| on dry soils as on wet. On dry lands it is
required that the sub-soil, once broken up and
pulverized, shall not, by the settling of muis.
ture therein during the wet season, be bar.
, dened and rendered impesviOus again; these
lands need to be rendered porous aud Pene-
| trable b.; roots to a greater depth because of
their drynes>; they need to b. shielded from
the pernicious effects OF co ns ant evaporation
| in cooling the soil, and thus retarding the
growth OF its plants. There is very much
| land not worth tiling; bu, there is none that
will justify ti.lage which would not reward
Draining. .eFt.t tIH
OfIrrigation, we in this country know
very little by experience: but we are destin-
IN nd h.,a lt.dh v
our knowledge. True there are 'nds that
may be readily drained and sub-soied that
cunnot SO readily be irrigated. owing to their
elevation aud dcfc,enf supply vi water.
apprehend, however. that these lands are not
| IN he inund In Indiana nor In any other