The Warwickshire Herald. — 1892-04-07 (Birmingham, West Midlands, England)

LAND DRAINAGE.  :No on, would in these days dispute the advantage of drainage; on the other hand, the merit of the prenent e..st; in of land drainage is so evident that attention is seldom called to it. However, it eften happens where a very confident impression prevails that every one must of necessity recognise such a plan as of undeniable importance, or of great merit, that through the absence of any referelite to the subject many persons give very little thought to it,and if called upon would by no means he able to explain the advantages which were generally imagined to be known and appreciated by everyone. The last generation as a rule drained the land,and the present generation of farrrers reap Site advantages which they cannot always estimate, because they never knew the want of them. One influence of 'drains is in warming the land at this time of the year. The large amount of water which now drains from the land through the pipes, instead of evaporating, represents an amount of heat equal to that which would have been consumed in effecting the evaporation. A scientific writer says that the moment an attempt is made to calculate the quantity of heat which would be required to evaporate the surplus water from an acre of land, figures are encountered which are simply enormous. Besides the immense amount of heat required for evaporating water, that is to say, for changing liquid water to the vapour of water, there is another reason why wet land must always he cold, viz., because the caloric capacity or specific heat of water itself is larger than that of any other solid or liquid substance. More he iat s required to warm up a given weight of water than would be needed to warm a similar weight of soil. An excess of water in the soil may hinder the absorption of heat in another way, as water is a very poor conductor of heat. When water is warmed at the surface, only very little, if any,of the heat can be transmitted downwards. The soaking of warm rain-water into a drained soil has, however, a marked effect in elevating the temperature of the soil. It is evident that in soils naturally ' so porous that rain cat readily soak into them, the warmth brought from tits air by this water, and that taken by it from the surface of the land,will be imparted to lower layers of the soil, often to the advantage of the the same .thing has lif-rll found to be true Crops, cridthat have been made MI ens by draining: In tilled and drained land it eas been found in one experiment that the soil which at a depth of 7in. stood at a temperature of 47 degrees was raised by a thunderstorm to 66 legrees. This fact will readily account for the extremely rapid growth of vegetation after a heavy thunderstorm. We should justly attach much importance to all modes of culture which tend to make smile warm and mellow. It is not alone the warmth of the air, it is seen but that of the soil she which promotes the growth of crops.  A itussaan Jew, whose name is unknown, committed suicide in the Jewish Synagogue at Bristol on Saturday. The deceased arrived in that town from London on Thursday, and though poor he was disinclined to beg, but said he would rather work than apply to the president of the Hebrew congregation. He attended the Synagogue on Saturday, but left about the middle of the service. Shortly after the r mod of firearms was heard, and the body of the deceased was subsequently found in one of the outbuildings.