land, the average crop,-of a series of years,-will not be less than 60 bushels.

The cost of extra harvesting will be more than repaid by the value of the extra fodder, and the increased cultivation and manuring are lasting benefits, which can be charged, only in small part, to the current crop. Therefore, if it will pay to plow, plant, hoe and harvest for 30 bushels of corn, it will surely pay much better to double the crop at a yearly extra cost of $5, and, practically, it amounts to this;—the extra crop is nearly all clear gain.

The quantity of Wheat required to repay the annual charge for drainage is so small, that no argument is needed to show that any process which will simply prevent "throwing out" in winter, and the failure of the plant in the wetter parts of the field, will increase the product more than that amount,—to say nothing of the general importance to this crop of having the land in the most perfect condition, (in winter as well as in summer.)

It is stated that, since the general introduction of drainage in England, (within the past 25 years,) the wheat crop of that country has been more than doubled. Of course, it does not necessarily follow that the amount per acre has been doubled, large areas which were originally unfit for the growth of this crop, having been, by draining, excellently fitted for its cultivation;-but there can be no doubt that its yield has been greatly increased on all drained lands, nor that large areas, which, before being drained, were able to produce fair crops only in the best seasons, are now made very nearly independent of the weather.

It is not susceptible of demonstration, but it is undoubtedly true, that those clay or other heavy soils, which are devoted to the growth of wheat in this country, would, if they were thoroughly under-drained, produce, on the average of years, at least double their present crop.

Mr. John Johnston, a venerable Scotch farmer, who has

long been a successful cultivator in the Wheat region of Western New York,-and who was almost the pioneer of tile-draining in America,-has laid over 50 miles of drains within the last 30 years. His practice is described in Klippart's Land Drainage, from which work we quote the following:

66

"Mr. Johnston says he never saw 100 acres in any on "farm, but a portion of it would pay for draining. Mr. "Johnston is no rich man who has carried a favorite hobby "without regard to cost or profit. He is a hardworking "Scotch farmer, who commenced a poor man, borrowed money to drain his land, has gradually extended his "operations, and is now reaping the benefits, in having 66 crops of 40 bushels of wheat to the acre. He is a gray"haired Nestor, who, after accumulating the experience "of a long life, is now, at 68 years of age, written to by "strangers in every State of the Union for information, "not only in drainage matters, but all cognate branches "of farming. He sits in his homestead, a veritable Hum"boldt in his way, dispensing information cheerfully "through our agricultural papers and to private corres'pondents, of whom he has recorded 164 who applied to “him last year. His opinions are, therefore, worth more "than those of a host of theoretical men, who write with"out practice."

66

* *

* * * * * * * * * *

"Although his farm is mainly devoted to wheat, yet a "considerable area of meadow and some pasture has been "retained. He now owns about 300 acres of land. The "yield of wheat has been 40 bushels this year, and in for"mer seasons, when his neighbors were reaping 8, 10, or "15 bushels, he has had 30 and 40."

66

66

66

* *

* * *

"Mr. Johnston says tile-draining pays for itself in two seasons, sometimes in one. Thus, in 1847, he bought a 'piece of 10 acres to get an outlet for his drains. It was

a perfect quagmire, covered with coarse aquatic grasses, "and so unfruitful that it would not give back the seed

66

sown upon it. In 1848 a crop of corn was taken from it, "which was measured and found to be eighty bushels per 66 acre, and as, because of the Irish famine, corn was worth "$1 per bushel that year, this crop paid not only all the ex"pense of drainage, but the first cost of the land as well.

66

66

66

"Another piece of 20 acres, adjoining the farm of the "late John Delafield, was wet, and would never bring more than 10 bushels of corn per acre. This was drained 66 at a great cost, nearly $30 per acre. The first crop after "this was 83 bushels and some odd pounds per acre. It "was weighed and measured by Mr. Delafield, and the "County Society awarded a premium to Mr. Johnston. Eight acres and some rods of this land, at one side, aver46 aged 94 bushels, or the trifling increase of 84 bushels per acre over what it would bear before those insignifi"cant clay tiles were buried in the ground. But this in"crease of crop is not the only profit of drainage; for Mr. 66 Johnston says that, on drained land, one half the usual "quantity of manure suffices to give maximum crops. It "is not difficult to find a reason for this. When the soil "is sodden with water, air can not enter to any extent, "and hence oxygen can not eat off the surfaces of soil"particles and prepare food for plants; thus the plant must in great measure depend on the manure for sustenance, and, of course, the more this is the case, the more manure must be applied to get good crops. This is one reason, but there are others which we might adduce if one good one were not sufficient.

66

66

66

66

66

"Mr. Johnston says he never made money until he "drained, and so convinced is he of the benefits accruing "from the practice, that he would not hesitate,—as he did "not when the result was much more uncertain than at Drains well laid,

"present, to borrow money to drain.

"endure, but unless a farmer intends doing the job well, "he had best leave it alone and grow poor, and move out "West, and all that sort of thing. Occupiers of appar

"ently dry land are not safe in concluding that they need "not go to the expense of draining, for if they will but 66 dig a three-foot ditch in even the driest soil, water will "be found in the bottom at the end of eight hours, and "if it does come, then draining will pay for itself "speedily."

Some years ago, the Rural New Yorker published a letter from one of its correspondents from which the following is extracted:

:1

"I recollect calling upon a gentleman in the harvest field, when something like the following conversation occurred:

'Your wheat, sir, looks very fine; how many acres have you in this field?'

'In the neighborhood of eight, I judge.'

'Did you sow upon fallow?'

No sir. We turned over green sward-sowed immediately upon the sod, and dragged it thoroughly—and you see the yield will probably be 25 bushels to the acre, where it is not too wet.'

'Yes sir, it is mostly very fine. I observed a thin strip through it, but did not notice that it was wet.'

'Well, it is not very wet. Sometimes after a rain, the water runs across it, and in spring and fall it is just wet enough to heave the wheat and kill it.'

I inquired whether a couple of good drains across the lot would not render it dry.

'Perhaps so-but there is not over an acre that is killed out.'

'Have you made an estimate of the loss you annually sustain from this wet place?'

'No, I had not thought much about it.'

'Would $30 be too high?'

'O yes, double.'

'Well, let's see; it cost you $3 to turn over the sward? Two bush. els of seed, $2; harrowing in, 75 cents; interest, taxes, and fences, $5.25; 25 bushels of wheat lost, $25.'

'Deduct for harvesting

'No; the straw would pay for that.'

'Very well, all footed $36.'

'What will the wheat and straw on this acre be worth this year?'

'Nothing, as I shall not cut the ground over.'

'Then it appears that you have lost, in what you have actually expended, and the wheat you would have harvested, had the ground been dry, $36, a pretty large sum for one acre.'

'Yes I see,' said the farmer."

While Rye may be grown, with tolerable advantage, on lands which are less perfectly drained than is necessary for Wheat, there can be no doubt that an increase of more than the six and two-thirds bushels needed to make up the drainage charge will be the result of the improvement.

While Oats will thrive in soils which are too wet for many other crops, the ability to plant early, which is secured by an early removal from the soil of its surplus water, will ensure, one year with another, more than twelve and a half bushels of increased product.

In the case of Potatoes, also, the early planting will be a great advantage; and, while the cause of the potato-rot is not yet clearly discovered, it is generally conceded. that, even if it does not result directly from too great wetness of the soil, its development is favored by this condition, either from a direct action on the tubers, or from the effect in the air immediately about the plants, of the exhalations of a humid soil.

An increase of from five to ten per cent. on a very ordinary crop of potatoes, will cover the drainage charge, and, with facilities for marketing, the higher price of the earlier yield is of much greater consequence.

Barley will not thrive in wet soil, and there is no question that drainage would give it much more than the increased yield prescribed above.

As to hay, there are many wet, rich soils which produce very large crops of grass, and it is possible that drainage might not always cause them to yield a thousand pounds more of hay to the acre, but the quality of the hay from the drained soil, would, of itself, more than compensate for the drainage charge. The great benefit of the improvement, with reference to this crop, however, lies in the fact that, although wet, grass lands, and by "wet" is meant the condition of undrained, retentive clays, and heavy loams, or other soils requiring drainage,—in a very few years "run out," or become occupied by semi-aquatic