Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1892-05-12
AGRICULTURAL LECrUREs
To the Ohio State University Students
DIR. W. I. Chamberlain Speaks
on "wny We Drain"

Oh
DIR. w. ]. Chamberlain Of Hudson,
o., spoke last week to the students,
professors and visitors at the Ohio
State university on the subject "Why
we Drain"
The lecture was filled with practical
points and for the benefit 4 readers
the reporter o, tained permission to
publish notes made during its deliv-
cry.
The subject of"Why we Drain" is
one Of vast extent, but the brief sum
mary of i; is that drainage is for the
purpose of removing surplus water.
Does all land need To he drained? No,
only thai which has surplus water.
Horace Greeley said, "Ifit pays to till,
it pays to tile" but this is probably not
always true. Land with "a porous
subsoil does not require artificial drain
age, yet we should tile all that is ton
wet. 1t is, however, true that more
land need to be tiled than many per
sons suppose.
What Is surplus water? 1t is what
Is known rs hydrostatic water, or that
which cannot get any lower because
there is more water below it. Hydro
static water is always a damage and
should be removed by drainage, yet
capillary water is a benefit. The latter
is that water which is held in the soil
by capillary attraction. 1t is the
moisture in damp earth where we find
it only damp, but not muddy. 1t holds
| itself in the very minute spaces, and
will remain even in very porous soil
or rock. If the proper air spaces are
| filled with wat,r of saturation the
vegetation is destroyed. The roots
must have air, and they cannot take it
| from the air contained in water, as
| fishes do.
The level of hydrostatic water can
be found by digging hole or a well,
when the surface of the water stand
ing in it will te the level of the hydro
static water. Just now the upper sur
face is very near the top of the ground
1t is much better to remove this down
through the soil than to drain it off
over the soil. 1t makes farming easier
and quicker and makes less or no waste
land. With surface bitches farmer
has TO waste great deal of valuable
time in making turns and cultivating
small or angular patches, but with
good subterranean drains all land can
be farmed over and great deal Of
time is saved. This is q mechanical
reason, but good tile drain is also q
promoter of morality, and relieves the
farmer of the embarrassment attend
ing upon the occasion of his having to
use what Oliver Wendell Holmes has
chosen to cali his ''unsanctitied mon
osyllables."
The second reason for removing the
hydrostatic water through the soil is
that it removes the water in the land
as we'll as that on it. The wheat crop
frequently dies of wet feet, but this
can easily be prevented by careful
drainage.
Again, it tends to diminish the loss
offertiIity. Ifnot drained great deal
of the plant food is carried off and
washed away, but in drained land the
fertility is kept in the soil, as it acts as
filter to the water before reaching
the drains.
1t also warns the soil and tends to
increase its fertility. 1t leaves the air
spaces open for the warmth to come up
from below, and thus hastens or aids
early spring growth. 1t also gives a
chance for warm spring rains to
descend and thus aids growing crops.
The thawing of ice by warmth from
the air is a very slow process. Drain
ing also saves the necessity of cooling by
evaporation when thawing by the sun,
and it takes away the surplus
moisture that must otherwise be
evaporated. This evaporation itself
cools the land greatly, and continues
nearly all the time. 1t is the same
principle as is used in making artificial
ice by evaporation. 1t keeps the land
so cold that corn and even oats will
often not sprout at all. Although a
porous soil may freeze deeper, 1t
lengthens the season of tillage and that
at each end, too. Drained land is also
a decided advantage tothe farmer in
the fact that he is able to cultivate it
500 after rain.
1t increases the area of the roots will
have to run near the surface in order to
get breath, and tits thus shown that il
also increases the depth of root, space.
In twenty years, 63 per cent of the
speakers apple trees died out on land
that was not drained, and in the same
length of time but Is per cent, died out
on drained land.
r. w. Emerson shows that there's
always room in the lower story, ifprop-
erly found by deep tillage. Draining
also permits one to thoughly pulverize
the soil, but it isabsolutely is impossible
to pulveriZe mud.
1t also prevents the frost from heav.
ing plants out of the ground, as we
sometimes see clover roots in the spring
on wet land. Further it lowers the level
of saturation and permits the formation
of a valuable dust mulch.
We all know the beneficial results OF
clover, but if we are going to have any
of these results we must tile drain.
Capillarity can lift the water to the
surface, but no farther. What will take
it to the surface of the ground? Evap.
Grafton and frost. A thin layer first
freezes, then another under. that, and
again another beneath, and thus the
process continues. If it gets around
anything like the root of plant il
must come up with it, but ifit is mulch.
ed the frost cannot get hold it. Rails.
ed clover roots are numbed fingers rails,
ed in prayer for tile drainage.
There has been revolution in meth.
ods of cultivation. Formerly everybody
said, "Cnltivate deeply" butnow shal.
low culture is becoming the accepted
and proved method. All that is necess.
ary is mulch of soil of but very few
inches. Then when rain comes the
capillarity is restored.