The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-01-22
ESSAY UPON THE SUBJECT OF UNDER
DRAINING AND DEEP TILLAGE
Read at a Meeting Of the Woodlawn Farm ers
Club, Fairfax County, Va.

Club, Fairfax County, Va.
There is time-honored axiom, that
whatever is worth doing at all, is worth
doing WE'LL" which is universally conceded
to be applicable to all the pursuits of life.
Notwithstanding the controversy that is
now being carried on by some of the agrul-
tural Swans Of the country, in regard to
deep and shallow blowing, it is pref
ty well settled fact, and has been de-
monstrated to the satisfaction of most
observing men--that land which needs UNI
der-draining, also needs deep culture to
bring it to its highest producing capacity
but preparatory to the deep cultivation, the
understanding should be performed, SO that
the heavy rains will not fill the soil to the
extent of overflow, and large portion of
this excess of water, of necessity, thereby
being compelled to remain in the soil until
it can pass off by evaporation, very slow
and tedious process in the short, cool days
of spring, and attended with disastrous re-
suits to the farmer unless the deepening
process is carried beyond the ordinary linn
its, which will be treated of more at length
hereafter.
1t is argued by many farmers, who hold
to the doubtful proprety of draining other
than springy or excessively wet lands, that
it aciH not pay; but that a man who has
land which needs systematic draining had
better sell, and go elsewhere and buy land
that does not need draining. Apart from
the fact that many are so situated as to be
averse to leaving their own immediate
neighborhood, it is confidently asserted
that it UiH pay, as the already abundant
testimony on that subject will show. Any
one need but to hear the evidence of that
venerable pioneer of understanding in the
United States-John Johnston, Of Geneva,
New York--to be convinced. Iquote from
letter, recently received from him, on the
subject, in which he says : 81 can safely
say that understanding is the first improve
rnent that should be made ON the land, aud
nothing pays so iceH on my d'yest land.
] am saTe that the excess of too iotedt
crops would pay the cost of draining, and
on land that was more wet the excess of
first crop would more than pay all cost
of draining. 1t is thirty-one years since
commenced to under-drain, and have laid
over 100000 tiles and to great profit"
He further says: 81 would not take the
present of farm on our stiff or springy
lands and be bound to cultivate it, if | were
not allowed to drain it,"
One very prominent fact in connection
with this subject is that such land, after
being thoroughly drained, becomes of the
most reliable character for the production
of crops, provided always that the soil is
well MANFRED and stirred to a reasonable
depth. While on this branch of the SUBJ
ject, the recent improvements in steam ma
chinery for working the soil suggest them
selves. 1t is notorious fact that improve
ments in agricultural machinery have not
kept pace with those of other branches OF
industry, which must be attributed, in a
great measure, to the fact that the policy
pursued by most farmers in the past has
tended to transfer all the best talent aud
genius of the country into the departments
of trade, commerce and manufactures, and
the professions.
That state of things, however, is gradu.
ally undergoing change, and it is now be-
ing realized that the business of the tilleI
of the soil is calling as noble and enob ling
as any of the pursuits of life, and is capa.
BILE of being made more or less so, at the
option of the one who is engaged in it.
Such being the case it is confidently to
be expected that the next ten or twenty
years will result in an improvement in ag-
ricultural machinery that many of us,
even at the present day, can hardly realize
and that steam will be so utilized as tc
be the constant and ever ready servant o.
the farmer as it is in the other departments
of industry, and that we shall be able to
cultivate the soil to any required depth,
and to behold our farms becoming as pro.
ductive as the market gardens around the
large cities. That very successful English
farmer, Alderman Mechi, states that he has
employed as working capital upon his
farm, about eighty dollars per acre, and az
the result OF his observation and ex
perience he is satisfied that it would
have paid better if he had uset
very much more than what he did
He further states, to use his own language
"sTo farm to the greatest advantage thu
soil and sub-soil to the depth of three fee
should be well MANFRED. NoD, we only
manure the top five or six inches. 0ul
root crops can never be oyer-manured, fol
they feed in the deep sub-soil, when in
lit condition. Market gardeners under
stand this well, and around the metropolis
they easily grow seventy tons of mangold
per acre, and other crops in proportion
If it is a wise precaution to so prepare thu
soil in the humid climate of England, how
much more so must it be to avail ourselves
OF its advantages in this country, with it
long, hot, and dry seasons.
If, then, it is paying operation to cult
vate the soil at the great depth here recon
mended, steam is the power whereby i
must b., ACCOMPLISHED and that such will