St. Landry democrat., 1888-07-21
FLOORING AND DROUGHT.
How to Provide Against the Evils of
Long Dry Season.

FLOODING AND DROUGHT.
How to Provide Against the Evils of
Long Dry Season.
A serious inconvenience which farm
ers encounter in the cultivation of their
fields, is the excess of water in the soil
at one period in the season, and the
parched and dried-up earth at another.
Nothing is more efficient for avoiding
these evils than thorough underdrain-
ing. It prevents flooding in the wet
period, and in doing so allows the soil
to be finely pulverized, provided it is
properly treated, instead of being baked
into hard mass. In order that it may
hold water like sponge, it must be
kept finely pulverized; ifmerely broken
into Jumps, it will be a failure. Coarse
clods will allow the water to pass off
without absorption, like throwing
water on q heap of stones. A brick
bat drenched with water will retain but
little; finely pulverized earth will hold
and retain large quantity.
The cultivator should make provision
especially against the inconvenience
and evil of drought: As soon as the
ground is dry enough, pulverization
should begin. It can not easily be done
after the earth has become baked; and
it can not succeed by working the soil,
when wet, into mortar. Attention
must. be given to do the work at the
best time After the soil has been put
into the right condition, much less
labor will be needed to keep it so, be-
cause such a soil will then become a
self-regulator, by absorbing and taking
care of any excess of moisture; and in
then giving it off as needed it will pre-
vent excessive drought.
The gardener, with small beds of
plants, may regulate the amount OF
water in the soil to some extent by
artificial watering. But still he is
hardly aware of the amount required
for changing parched piece of ground
into moist one. Suppose, for exam
pie, that he has a garden or fower-bed
equal to one ten feet in diameter, and
he wishes to give it moderate water
ing, or a succession of waterings,
equal to only one inch in depth. He
must apply no less than fifty gallons of
water, or nearly two barrels. For a
two-inch watering, he must give this
single bed 100 gallons. If his garden
contains half an acre, it would require
at least 200 hogsheads for the inch
watering, and keep a horse-cart at
work about half month for only sin
gle shoWering.
When we come to the more extend
ed area of a farm, figures show the ut
ter impossibility of artificial watering,
other than by large natural or artificial
streams. A single inch of rain on a
hundred-acre farm pours down upon
its surface 10000 hogsheads; and three
inches will give the land 10000 hogs
heads. Yet this is less than it often
receives in single month. When we
pass beyond the boundaries of small
farms to the broad regions of whole
counties and States, we are naturally
struck with the amount of the i'm
nlense supplies which the whole land is
receiving from the clouds above, and
without which the country would soon
become barren waste, and the inhab-
itants> would perish.
The lesson which these facts suggest,
is the Importance, for successful Guilt
walton, OF obtaining control of the soil
hy regular tile-draining, instead OF
being driven off for weeks together by
long and heavy rains and wet weather;
and then after having thus obtained
possession, to pursue a wise course oil
tillage which shall keep the land in a
finely pulverized state for the absorb
ton of an excess of rains, and for hold
ing it for the benefit OF growing plants
through periods Of drought. Country
Gentleman.