New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-03-12
WHAT KNOW OF FARMING.
NJ HORACE GREELEY
DRAINING GENERALLY

,t,rderdraips am sure that there is a great deai
tbst could not at present be drained To pion''
Forests hillside pastures, and most dry gIaNeHS VI
sandy tracts place in this category. PerhapS ono
third of New-Engand. half the Middle States anu
throc-f ourths of tho Mississippi Valley may ui'i
mately be drained with profit
u tUswamp lands without exception. nearly all
dry soils and n majority of the Hat OF gehuy-
rolling lands of this country must eventually De
.,,,inoa 70 thew are TO be titled with the best
re.ults doubt that there is garden on earth that
>rould not be tuness it already has BEEN improved
by thorough undertaking. :,
III The uses of underdTains are many and Ill
verse To carry off surplus water, though the nosC
obvious stands by means alone. /. Underdralheu
land may be plowed and sowed considerably earlier
In Spring than undrained soil of like quallty. &
Drained fields lose far less than others OF their
fertility by washing g. They not so liable TO De
sullicd by sudden thaws or flooding rams T. mere
field has been deeply subsoiled. am confident that
at will remain mellow and permeable by roots longer
than If undrained g. Less water being evaporsted
from drained than from undrained land the soil will
DE warmer throughout the growing season hence,
fhe crop will be heavier, and will mature earlier g.
Being more porous and less compact think the soil
pf drained field retains more moisture in season OF
drouth and its growing plants suffer less thererom.
than if it lwere undrained. In short, thoroughly
believe in undertaking.
" Yet advise no man TO run into debt for diaiii-
In. "a | can imagine a mortgage on farm so heaVy
mud pressing as to be even greater nuisance IMAM
r,,,,nt water in its soil Labor and tile dear
with "a do not expect that either will ever be so
rheao here as in England or Belgium. What l
uoRid have each farmer III moderate circumstances
Ito is to drain his iccest field next Fa-that is after
finishing his haying and before cutting up his corn
taLing care to secure abundant fall to carry off the
water IN time of flood, and doing his work tho
roughly. Having done this, let him subsoll deeply
fertilze amply till carefully, and watch the result
think It will soon satisfy him that such draining
paws. .
Y do not insist on tile as making the only good
Drain, Int have had no success with any other.
The use of stone in my opinion, is only justified
where the field to be drained abOunds in them and
90 other use can be made of them. To make good
Drain with ordinary powders or cobble-stones re-
gnircs twice the excavation and involves twice the
labor necessarily expended on drain; and II Is
petbcr so effective nor so durable Earth VIII be
tarricd by water into stone drain rats and other
vermia will burTow in il and dig Tor enlargel holes
thence to the surfaces in short it is not the thing
Better drain with stone where they are nuisance
than not at all but predict that you will dig them
np after giving them fair trial and replace them
with tile. In q wooden country, where tile were
scarce and dear should try draining with slabs or
cbean boards dressed 70 q uniform width of six or
eight inches and laid in ditch dug with banks in
Cliued or soped TO the bottom, as to form sort
OF V; the lower edge of the two side-slabs coming
together at the bottom, and third being laid firmly
across their upper edges so as to form perfect cap
or cover. In firm, hard soil. this would prove an
efficient drain, and if well made, would last twenty
years Uniformity of temperature and of moisture
would keep the slabs toerably sound for at least so
long: and if the top of this drain were two feet be-
low The surface. blowing or tTampling over it
would barn it.
VI. As 70 draining by what is called Mole Pillow,
which simply makes waterway through the subsOil
al a depth of three feet or thereabOut l have no
acquaintance with it but by hearsay 1t seems to
me morally impossible that drains so made should
not be lower at some points than at Others so to
,etaiA their I'LL of water instead of carrying 1t rap
idly of and am sure that blowing, or even carting
heavy loads over them, must gradually choke and
destroy them. Yet this kind of draining is compare
lively so cheap and may, with strong team, be ef
fccted so rapidly that can account for its popular
ity especially in prairie regions. Where tho subsol
u rocky it is impTactcable where 1t is hardpan, 1t
,opst bo very difficult: where it is loose sand it
not endure but in cays heavy loans, 1t may, for
2 few years. render excellent service. | wish the
heavy clays Of Vermont, more especially of the
Charnplaiu BASIN were well furrowed or pierced by
even such drains for / am confident that they
would temporarily improve both soil and crop and
il they soon gave out, they would probably be re-
placed by others more durable.
/ shall not attempt TO give instructions in drain
making; but urge every novice III the art to pro
cure Warnings or some other work the subject and
study it carefully: then, if he obtain at fair
mice the services of experienced drainer hire him
70 guperyise the work. One point only do Insist
that is draining into a main rather than an open
ditch or brook; for il is difficult in this or any
harsher climate to prevent the crumbling of your
outlet tile BIZ frost Below the Potomac OF the Ar
kansas this may not be apprebeDded; and there 1t
may be best TO have your drains separately discharge
from a roadside bank or into open ditch, as they
viii thus inhae air. and thus help lin Summer
towarm ard moisten the soil above them; but in our
climate believe it better to let your drains dis
charge into a covered main or mains as aforesaid.
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