The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-08-14
ABOUT DRAINAGE.
A Few Words en- the Theory and Practice
of Drainage.

of Drainage.
Water is indispensable to the growth
of plants. Green vegetation contains
from eighty to ninety per cent. Of
water, and so far as this is concerned
the water is actual plant food and nee
essary nutriment. But plants require
far greater supply than this, for as
every part of the solid matter of plants
is only taken into the roots in solution
in water, vast quantity is required to
mature crop. Thus for every pound
of wheat produced in an experimental
crop grown for the purpose of investi-
eating this question, no less than 1858
pounds of water were evaporated by
the plants, and consequently passed
through them, entering by the roots
and escaping through the leaves. This
quantity was used by the wheat which
produced the least, viz: less than one
pound of grain, but when ten pounds
was produced the consumption OF water
was 1902 pounds; showing that the
larger the quanty of water used by the
crop the greater was the product. This
result, however, only goes to GER
tain extent, and when the maxi
mum result is reached and the
water is in excess of the require
ments of the crop harm is done and
the plant does not grow for the water
used by plants must be active and not
Stagnant, and must have a certain guam
tity of atmospheric air contained in it.
The water must in fact be passing
through the soil, just as the air breathed
by an animal must be in motion and
constantly renewed or it can not sustain
life. Hence when the water in the soil
is in excess and becomes stagnant the
plants Immediately begin to suffer, and
this from two causes, one that the
water in contact with the roots is ex-
hausted of the needful soluble matter
for the food of the plants and the neces-
sary supply of air is withheld. There
is no motion, no circulation of vivifying
air in the soil, and there can be no life.
Then the plants cease to grow. they
sicken, turn yellow, and soon die, and
useless and pernicious vegetation
takes their place.
This is the well-known experience
of farmers whose land has an i'm
peryious subsoil which holds the water,
and to provide means for preventing
the fatal stagnation of it in the soil.
When the drains are made and the
water passes freely through the soil, a
circulation of air is at once established,
and the more water which falls upon
the land the more vigorous and abund-
ant are the growth and yield of the
crops. But where these fatal condi-
tons do not exist and the water can
find its way naturally through the SUBJ
soil the costly drainage is not required,
and the expense of draining such land
is simply money thrown away and
wasted for no purpose. Many a
farmer, misled by the prevailing
''boom" in regard to tile drainage,
has been seriously embarrassed and
disappointed, because the promised in
crease of crops by which he expected
to be repaid for his outlay has not been
realized.
In practice, drainage is only re-
quired when the conditions above men
toned are existing. When in blowing
the land in the spring, or in digging
down into it at any other time when
rain has fallen abundantly the water
is found near the surface, then drains
are required to carry it off. In the one
case the work is interfered with and
the timely preparation of the soil for
crops is prevented, and in the other
the growing crops suffer and become
diseased or perish, or weeds abound,
or the needed cultivation of the fields
is prevented. But when no surplus
water is found in the soil at seasons
when it would be injurious or incon-
venient, and when the accumulation
from the winters rains pass off early
in the spring, enabling work to be
done in good time, and when no water
can be found in digging down three
feet at any time in the growing season,
drainage is not required, for its sole
useful purpose is to carry off surplus
water, and any other claim for it, such
as useful aeration of the land or of add
ing fertility to it, is wholly baseless.
Drains should be placed three feet
deep in the ground. The distance be-
tween them should vary, as the soil is
more or less charged with water for
Jne more water III the SOIL TO be re-
moved the more outlets will be needed.
Sixty-six feet is common distance
apart and is not too much under ordi-
nary circumstances. The porosity of
the soil always acts to retain some
water, just as sponge will hold it and
raise it above the level of its source, so
that the further apart the drains are
the higher will be the level of the
water on the line between them. The
di n ora m hnlnu ILLUSTRATOR thiS.