The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1876-09-14
Advantages Of Draining

Alexander Hyde closes long aTti-
cle in the New York Times as follows:
| The advantage which drained has
| over undrained land i'm absorbing fer
/ tiiity from air and moisture can hard
| ly be appreciated too highly. The
air is the great stOre-hOuse of organic
fertility. AS organized matter de-
| Gays, by far the largest part escapes
in the atmosphere. Set fire to stack
of hay, Cr leave il TO the slower pro-
cess OF combustion by raturaI decay,
and there is scarcely anything left on
the surface Of the ground To tell where
the stack stood. a few ashes, or n
little vegetable mold, containing pot
ash, lime, soda, etc., are all that re-
main. The balance, the great bulk,
has assumed = gaseous form and
mingled with the air, and from this
air plants must derive their organic
food. IL the land is light and porous,
/ the air gives up this food freely, not
only by entering the pores, but more
/ especially with the deeending rams
and the depOsiting dews. II the rains
run of from Tie surface of land in
stead of entering il, vast amount Of
| fertility is lost. Tiles allow land TO
breathe and drink, and the soil re-
tains teDaciOUsly most, If not all, Of
the richness which air and moisture
| bring with them. We can hardly put
/ this advantage of draining in too
strong light. We have noticed the
effect upon our own land, but as we
have manured literally also, the re-
suits might be attributed to the man.
neT rather than to the titio- O'a oIi-
/ has haan
/ practieed with little or no SUBSEQUENT
manuring, we notice a gradual i'm
prOvement of the soil from year to
/ year. The heritage improves In quail
ity and quantity, and we are salts
fed that one great cause is that the
land drinks in, and breathes in, the
rich elements of plant food from the
air and rains.
Another advantage Of draining Is
the addition which it makes 10 the
| length OF the season Of cultivation.
/ Much OF our undTained land cannot
| he plOwed till it is too late for the per-
feet development of 8 crop of corn or
potatoes, and altogether too late to
| insure full crop of English grains.
/ Il is the early planters and sewers
that catch full harvests, hut early
4 planting is impraeticable on wet
land Grass, some think, stands bet
/ ter in the aprinS on swampy places,
but in this they are mistaken. Where
a warm spring OoZes from the ground
the grass may keep green ali winter,
I but IL is the rich dry lands that fur
nish the first sweet herbage OF spring.
I SO, in the autumn, Jack Frost at
taeks the low, swampy places first,
and the dry fields last. We may safe
/ Iy reckon that drainage adds three or
four weeks TO the growing season of
crops, 3 consideration of no small im-
pOrtance in the short summers OF the
temperate zone.
Drainage adds to the warmth of
land at all times of the year, and pre-
vents the frost from throwing the
roots-of plants out Of the soil-"win-
LeT-killing," as the term is. Wet
land is prOYerbialiy cold, even IN
summer. The evaporation which ~
going on from the surface of the soil
must make il cold, just as the evapOra-
| ton of either or alcohol eOOls the
head I'm the hottest summer day.
| Water expended into ,SS TWEEN
| thOusand-fOld increased
ealOric, and must aLsOrl IN Ia souoa A,
rounding objects, AL o,T-I a..
ton requires bottom h " 'he
cannot he had in a d1icting repCr
might as well undpTtC COy9goerci0y