Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-09-10
gailu Yfnaebse aouraal.
Drain the Wet Places.

This is good time of year to drain
some place upon the farm where now
brakes and Improbable plant life grow.
some run" across which if dry the pillow
could be run, to be followed by the NOW
ing machine and the horse rake; where If
properly drained the rich soil, receiving
as it does, the cream" washing down
from the hillside, would yield in greater
abundance than surrounding land. A re-
cent number of a Massachusetts, bull
letin contains paper from the pen of
William Wheeler upon the subject of
drainage He cites the advantages as
follows:
flrst.-It increases with the aid of
the deeper cultivation permitted thereby
the amount of soil. space and material
ior the root-feeding of plants and for
bacterial action and other agencies in
vegetable nutrition.
'SecoDd.-A greater proportion of the
rain and snow water teaches through and
surrenders to well-drained soil the ele.
ments and agents of plant nutrition
which such waters transfer from the at
mosphere to the soil, and, as further
consequence, the washing away of the
soil by the flow over it's surface is reduced.
"Third.-It affords also a quicker es-
cape of the water falling thereon, thus
shortening the time during which the soil
Is saturated with moisture and increasing
the time during which it is aerated in
condition most favorable to plant growth
tn ta1 tn, \ AL
are better able to withstand drought,
chiefly by reason of the fact that beyond
certain depths the evaporative power of
sun and wind does not extend to an
effective degree, whereby drought that
may be ruinous where, for want of drain
age, the soil is shallow, may have little
effect upon deep, well-drained soil.
" Fifth.-The capillarity of clayey soils
that is, the quantity by which they alb
sorb and lift water from below and convey
it upwards to the roots of plants (as
wick lifts oil from the body of a lamp to
the flame at its upper end is increased
or quickened by deep cultivation and root
action therein.
Sixth. Considerations of color, tex
ture, material and exposure or direction
Of slope tend to modify somewhat through
evaporation the physical character of soils
as affected by drainage; yet as a rule
deeply drained soil is more uniform and
constant in it's moisture conditions or
humidity than Is shallow one and it
may be accepted as an axiom that varia
ton In humidity decreases as the depth
or thickness of the aerated soil increases. -
The degree of moisture has marked
influence upon the activity of the micro
organisms of the soil which aid in the nu-
triton of plants, especially the root
tubercle bacteria and bacteroids, through
which leguminous plants, such as lupines
beans clovers, alfalfa, etc, assimilate or
Fix free nitrogen from the air.
He regards tile drains as on the whole
better, as they cost less in labor and ma
teriai, can be laid at hatter grade, are
more easily examined and repaired and
are more durable.
In relation to the depth and distance of
tiles he says:
"In clayey soils, through which water
pereolates but slowly and with the great
est difficulty the drains should be placed
at distance of about six feet for every
foot Of their depth while for loamy soils.
underiaid by sand equally good drainage
may be secured if the drains are laid at
nearly double that distance apart or ten
to fifteen feet for each foot of depth, depend
ing upon the porosity of the underlying
material. Thus In clay or bard-pan
drains, three to four feet in depth should
be laid from twenty to thirty feet apart,
and for soils underlaid by sand the dis
lance (for the same depth) may be forty
or fifty and sometimes sixty feet while
ia material of intermediate character or
porosity distance of thirty to forty feet
you'd be suitable" Tile increases in
capacity according to the square of
diameter.