The Jasper weekly courier., 1876-11-10
Essay on Underdrain-
ing.
Br pELos WOOD.

would seem that in This aye Of i'm
1toremeiit. - hen 30 much has 0een said
lnf written OF the great bene OF un-
.de.rir-ir ng. that there would Oe 40
nre'' O. ding snything more 10 con
yiuc, ou- .armcrs that il was the foun-
.l.iiou. f"e chief cornerstone. whereon
.mu-- n Jreared the !beautiful and re-
auu, 90 .UDer,tTucture OF thorough
.lud Successful, iarming. Iet IL j. 2
otai +. fact that there are hundreds and
e. ous 'Ud> ot those that would be incsi-
.criab.v benefited thereby, that either
li5pn. .udifirr rnce or unbciief refuse 70
e. sn're 'or themselves and be con
,iuced q -se error OF throw blg away
time snd labor upon land 90 cold snd
wet a, 10 uuil,fy nearly all their effort.
30 produce paving crops. recOllect
ifrsuirg. some veyrs ago. that perhaps
the greatest rv tnc farmers of Ohio
have % cuntcad with is the tendency @:
our climate 20 extremes OF lroIth aud
'mCi>ture. Inis d. eninrIily i1ic Oi sil
heavy clay land. a. well a, of much OF
fhr ordinarily dry lands. of al of our
western States. but the owners thereof
scsru 10 have sccepted II - aD evil 20 be
endured. and have gone on, yesr sfter
year. p'o wing in the mud. cultivstiuE
the clod-. and harvesting upon tho hard
burned soil without ever making an ef-
fort 20 find le-nety Indeed. uie ma
io-itv OF them will even yet lsugh y0u
TO s~urn for suggesting that wei laid
lille drains. fou~ feet below the surface
will remove a., these d!.iicnlties. Nel
l. = nevertheless. au uucoutrovcrtibl,
fact. being shown by experiments al
sround us. five will but opcn our eye,
/ 10 = superficial observer our tenacious
ID clay soil looks like an inslrmount.lbl,
obstacle to understanding. Why" We
are told. what is the use2 Tho water
can not get in: il will stand in open
bitches when the soil. three feet from it
! is a. hard aud dry as brick" Yet th,
same men who thus object. complain
that II l. impossible TO have GOOD
cellar. because they can not keep tht
water out. think this was tod m,
if0v times. by as MANY diflerenI persons
while ] was laying down tile on m,
iOwn farm. Bu' - Il was not ;he water
lin the ditches. but IL the soil below
'tilt troub cd me. continued INV work
II by LAYING tile four feet deep / could
lreduce the wa'cs-table fthe lire Of th'
wafer sctrating tie soiD 10 the leve
.of tie Zoo of Ire drains. 1t would b,
rIt Of nv w and the object AIMED a
would ro accomplished. II WIS foy
'Ws-. : thought that drains should have
iusut. porous covering, in ord ~ % Giv,
.Ifg'e access 20 tie surface water; but i
'is now cons .ered by tar the best Wa,
10 pack trc clay as solid SIS possibl,
without dispiacing the tile; then th'
clear water. froil which every psrticl,
,Of Az Bything that would eur.ch the sol
hiss been absirac;ed, will rise m i1tS
the drains ard flow OF: thns making
room ior fhl. on the surface 10 sinl
down. carrying With il. also, all dirt ant
silt that would he likely to obstruct th,
drain. thus IL j. c-sy To see that W,
receive all trc benefit Of whatever ma
1ure is app .C| 90 tic soil, instead O
hav e az least or half of il carrie.
sway by t,iu heavy rims. or burned ui
rl.h he trouih. Y hss been said tina
lone Dad of manure, on drained land
j. W n t..ee ou rutriined land ant
irv o. C..1 eXpetI ace col firms il.
-. Cat. - says. that "the import
lance anu Pdvantsgc OF draining resul
- wy '.f..i NttiNf 'Nt NfttT OUT Ol
Out niSo from letting the air into th,
soil rhus Warming the ground aud put
ting u ~ condition 10 more perfectly
, develop the plant .ocd that Il contains :
acorrelstion Of forces that produces yer,
, important and signiil laut n sults."
: To many 70 would seem that drainini
would only increase ,lre IN effects of on
hummer drou,h but it Is not 40. Nj
lWaring says, that lands which sufie