The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1869-10-30

SOME THINGS ABOUT USDgRDRAIN
other day We heard gentleman who has given
much attention 70 farm drainage remark that he
would wish no better business than to lay tile
drains on good farms, and take the increQse OF
products in the next three years for his pay. In
other words, he believes tile drains pay for them.
selves in three years. He declared that had he
only an eighty-acrs farm he would sell half and
drain the rest with tile, rather than cultivate the
whole without it. II he was right the old style
Of farming is wrong How is it, In- ~
II the facts that underlie the theory of tile
drainage were better understood there would b
more faith in it. Briefly, they are something OF
this sort: II water stands on the ground. plant
roots are drowned out. They must have air TO
breathe as much as we. But the stagnant water
for the most part keeps out the air. Open drain
and the water is drawn of, aud the soil becomes
porous and friable The air enters with It's food
The rain water ALSO which is heavily charged
with plant food soAks through the soil, which is
Natures perfect ter, and leaves its ammonia and
other tertilHing elements behind. Without the
drain most of this washes off with the water in
its surface flow, or STAYS in stagnant pools But
this is not all. Wet lands are cold landa 40.
ply heat to the top of kettle of water and it
warns up slowly. So with the sun in spring
over undrained land. But open its pores and
the hot air soon enters, heating it through and
through. 1t is claimed that drained land is two
weeks earlier and two weeks utter also-Lfor i
does not cool quickly in the Fall--really I'D
ding month to the season. Every farmer knows
how much that is worth Such land will dry
more in two or three days after the frost leaves
in the spring than other land will in as many
weeks. Psi. t- 1,y.-E
5. Strange as it may seem, drained land stands
drouth better, for the simple reason that it alb
serbs more of the moisture that is ALWAYS present
in the air, even in the dryest times, and for the
additional reason that it brings up the moisture
from below by capillary attraction. To these ad-
vantages the system OF drainage adds perhaps q
sill greater one, that the loosened, friable soil
permits plant roots TO push down so much far
Their. II the roots are kept near the surface they
must dry up in parching drou,h. But most
roots will forage for depth OF four, five or six
feet, If allowed TO, and the plant that sends down
such feeders will stand severe drouth unharm-
ed. Aside from purely agricultural reasons
drainage as q hygienic measure is especially val
liable. Nothing else will cure some of our ague
districts but this method of drinking up its ma
laria. Surface bitches, il will be seen, will not
answer this purpose as well as tile drains, while
they require labor to keep them open and take q
good deal OF valuable room. Covered drains of
stone, etc., soon clog up and have to be renewed
They are easily laid and permanent.
1t was in Illusion to this deepening Of the soil
by drainage, that Emerson, in an address at Con-
cord, thus playfully but truthfully said, "Con.
cord is one OF the oldest towns in the country
far on now in its third century The selectmen
have. once in FIVE years, perambulated its bounds.
and yet, this year, very large quantity of land
has been discovered and added to the agricultu-
raj territory. aud without murnur of complaint
from any neighbors. BY drainage we have gone
to the subsoil, and we have Concord under Con.
cord, Middlcsex under Mddlessx, and q base.
ment story of Massachr sets more valuable than
all the superstructure. Tiles are political econo
mists. They are so many young Americans,
announcing better era, day Of fat things"
We wish that the desire of more land, the easily
besettlng sin of farmers could be directed to ex.
tending their dominion perpondicularly instead
OF longitudinally Their title gives them possess.
ion to the center of the earth, but practically
they possess only a few inches Of the surface.
This subsoil costs nothing but Little labor in its
redemption from its ,sunken, dec raded position,
requires no additional fencing, and when paying
heavy interest on the price of redemption, is sell
dom thought Of by the assessor" i7 ,.sI 4