The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1874-05-09
Glle 6armer.
UNDER-DRAINING.

WITHDRAWING.
In no department Of agriculture has
there been more marked, a more i'm
portant, more scientific, more practi-
cal step in advance, than in draining.
Farmers, ike other men, have been wont
to limit their draining, as they limited
their care Of manure, or their depth of
blowing, to the production of directly
visible or tangible effects In planting
seeds, or in hoeing corn, if they found the
ground to be well loosened to the depth to
which the hoe penetrated, they wore
satisfied. If the brown liquor from the
manure-heap ran through gully under
the barnyard gate into the high road, they
could see the waste, and the means Of
stopping it. If they saw water standing
on the surface Of the land, or saw that
surface wet and spongy when it should be
dry, they saw that some means should be
provided to remove the superfnous mois-
ture.
The more enlightened among them have
learned, in these later years, that the roots
Of plants penetrate more deeply than the
hoe or the surface pillow, and that there are
riches in the sub-soil which win amply
repay the labor Of loosening them up.
In our opinion, the extension of the
practice Of understanding offers greater
promise to the farmers of the older States.
than does any or all other improvement of
the century. Indeed, it is the keynote Of
good farming on all lands that are not
naturally thoroughly drained; and naturally
well-drained lands are neither very fire.
quent nor usually very good Generally
speaking, that which is most susceptible of
high cultivation, with lasting and profitable
results, is that which, in its natural condi-
ton, is underlaid by retentive sub-soil,
which holds water until it is removed by
the slow and chilling process of evapora-
ton. Such land usually contains more of
the ingredients that growing plants require
than do the lighter and looscr sandy soils.
The difficulty with them is, that they are
50 water logged, so chilled by the evapora-
ton Of their water, so pasted together by
moisture, so baked into elods by drouth, SO
scaled against the entrance of air, so un.
favorable for the healthful action of the
suns heat and for the needful fermenta.
ticn Of their organic parts, that they are
uniavorable to the termination of seeds,
inh0spitable to tender rootlets, and un-
generous Of their hidden wealth.
Our long entertained conviction that the
above statements are true, has been
confirmed by the reading Of a work en-
titled Draining for Profit and Draining
for Health" recently written by Col.
Waring, the Engineer Of the Drainage of
Central Park, who has made the science
and art Of agricultural and sanitary drain.
age speciality for years.
In the confidence which his observation
Of the effects Of tile-draining has inspired,
he gives less attention to the making Of
stone drains than many farmers would
consider desirable, but all Of his arguments
win apply with less force perhaps to
these, as well, and the undoubted SUI
periority and economy titles are sufficient
justification Of the policy, to which he
alludes as follows:
''To our writing in advocacy of improve
meuss, Of any kind, there is Always temp
tation TO throw tub to the popular whale,
and to suggest some makeshift by which
q certain advantage may be obtained at
halfpriee 1t is proposed in this essay to
resist this temptation, and to adhere to
the rule that whatever is worth doing, is
worth doing well, " in their belief that this
applies in no other department of industry
with more force than in the draining Of
land, whether for agricultural or for
sanitary improvement Therefore, il will
not be recommended that draining be
even confined to the wcttest lands only
that, in the pursuance of penny wisdom,
drains be constructed with stones, or