Mexico weekly ledger., 1884-12-11
UNDERTAKING..

SoAhc oA t"o hAtNA ssAN 4
from "A Judicious System of Drainage.
/. 1t prevents drought.
2. 1t furnishes an increased supply of
atmospheric fertilizers.
3. 1t warns the lower portion of the
soil.
4. 1t hastens the decomposition of
roots and other organic matter.
s.. 1t accelerates the disintogration of
the mineral matters in the soil.
6. 1t causes n more even distribution
of nutritious matter among those parts
of the soil traversed by roots.
z. 1t improves the mechanical texture
of the soil.
s. 1t causes the poisonous excremen-
It'll Gus matter of plants to be carried out
of reach of their roots.
9. 1t prevents the grasses from run
ming out.
10. 1t enables us to deepen the sur
face soil by removing excess of water
II. 1t renders soil earlier in the
spring.
II. 1t prevents the throwing out of
grain in winter.
Is. 1t allows work to be done sooner
after rains.
II. 1t keeps off the effects of cold
weather longer in the fall.
ID. 1t prevents the formation of acetic
and other acids, which induce the
growth of sorrel and other weeds.
16. 1t prevents, in a great measure,
the evaporation of water, and the con-
| ~sequent abstraction of heat from the
soil.
II. 1t admits fresh quantities of
water from rains, etc, which are al
| ways more or less imbued with the fer
tilizing gases of the atmosphere, to be
deposited among the absorbent parts of
soil, and given up to the neces sites of
plants.
Is. It prevents the formation of so
hard a crust on the surface of the soil
as is customary on heavy lands.
~. 1t prevents, in a great measure,
grass and winter grains from being win
ter killed.
The first care of the farmer, that on
which the success of his future cops
almost entirely depends, is the removal
of unnecessary supplies OF water
whether arising from the tenacity of the
surface retaining too much, or from
springs eXuding to the surface. For it
is evident that as different crops require
very varying quantities. SO the c~ultiva-
tor must adapt the moisture of the soil
to the crops he proposes to produce; the
supply which is necessary, for instance,
for the profitable growth of the rice
plant would destroy the grasses; and
again the damp soils, which are so favor
able for the growth of grasses, would be
much too moist for the cereal crops.
The nature of the climate, the soil aud
the subsoil must all be taken into az.
count. The plants growing or sandy
soils, of course, will bear a much larger
proportion of water than those vegeta-
ting on clay soils. Underdrains COM
monty vary in depth from two and one.
half to four feet, and in peat soils, or
account of the very material settling
which takes place as they are brought
into cultivation, from this to six or seven
feet. The first operation necessary upon
a field intended to be drained is the
examination of the strata, or veins o.
earth, of which it is composed, and thi:
is commonly effected with the boring
!, auger, or by digging small pits or opeI
{ drains, as by this means the oozings Oh
weepings will speedily display them
selves. and indicate pretty correctly TIL
source whence the superintendent waite
proceeds. This being ascertained, the
, direction of the underdrains will be tn
, more easily decided. If the soil is o
!, such a description that the subsoi
r plow can be used with advantage. thel
! the tops of the stones, bricks or tiles b.
. which the drain is formed and preserved
, should not be less than two and one
f half feet from the surface of the soil
In the formation of these drains tn
workman always commences on TIL
/ lowest extremity; by this means, be
, sides other advantages, the water, as h
g arrives at it, drains away from him, an
e shows him. by its escape, that he is pre-
serving a proper fall. When the drail
Y is cut to the proper depth it is filed u
with the materials through which tn
r drainage waters are to flow, TO with
such a distance only as is out of reac
of the pillow, and then the earth i
@ shoyeled back again over the drainag
i materials.-An0reW II. Ward, IN B0st0
@ Globe.
u Louisiana planters claim that til