the soil lec ( 3 )

DRAINING THE SOIL

A wise man was once asked, "What is the most valuable improvement ever made in agriculture?" He answered, " Drainage." Often soils unfit for crop-production because
they contain too much water are by drainage rendered the most valuable of farming lands.
Drainage benefits land in the following ways :
1. It deepens the subsoil by removing unnecessary water from the spaces between the soil particles. This admits air. Then the oxygen which is in the air, by aiding decay, prepares plant food for vegetation.
2. It makes the surface soil, or topsoil, deeper. It stands to reason that the deeper the soil the more plant food becomes available for plant use.
3. It improves the texture of the soil. Wet soil is sticky. Drainage makes this sticky soil crumble and fall apart.
4. It prevents washing.
5. It increases the porosity of soils and permits roots to go deeper into the soil for food and moisture.
6. It increases the warmth of the soil.
7. It oermits earlier working in spring and after rains.
8. It favors the growth of germs which change the unavailable nitrogen of the soil into nitrates ; that is, into the form of nitrogen most useful to plants.
9. It enables plants to resist drought better because the roots go into the ground deeper early in the season. A soil that is hard and wet will not grow good crops. The nitrogen-gathering crops will store the greatest quantity of nitrogen in the soil when the soil is open to the free circulation of the air. These valuable crops cannot do this when the soil is wet and cold. Sandy soils vi"ith sand}' subsoils do not often need drainage ; such soils are natiu^ally drained. With claj' soils it is different. It is ven* important to remove the stagnant
water in them and to let the air in. \\'hen land has been properly drained the other steps in
improvement are easily taken. After soil has been dried and mellowed by proper drainage, then commercial fertilizers, barnyard manure, cowpeas, and clover can most readily do
their great work of impro\ing the texture of the soil and of making it fitter for plant growth.
Tile Drains. Tile drains are the best and cheapest that can be used. It would not be too strong to say that draining by tiles is the most perfect drainage. Thousands of practical tests in this countn,^ have proved the superiorit\- of tile draining for the foUovi-ing reasons :
1.Good tile drains properly laid last for years and do not fill up.
2. They furnish the cheapest possible means of removing too much water from the soil.
3. They are out of reach of all cultivating tools.
4. Surface water in filtering through the tiles leaves its nutritious elements for plant growth.

IMPROVING THE SOIL

We hear a great deal about the exhaustion or wearing out of the soil. Many uncomfortable people are always declaring that our lands will no longer produce profitable crops, and
hence that farming will no longer pav. Now it is true, unfortunately, that much land has been
robbed of its fertility, and, because this is true, we should be most deeply interested in ever)thing that leads to the improvement of our soils. When our countn,' was first discovered and trees were growing ever\where, we had virgin soils, or new soils that xeae rich and jHoductive because they were filled with vegetable matter and plant food. There are not many virgin soils now because the trees have been cut from the best lands, and these lands have been :^rmed so carelessly that the vegetable matter and available plant fc-.od have been laigeH" used up. Xow that fresh land is scarce it is ver\' oecessaiy to restore fertility' to these exhausted lands. \\'hat are some of the wa}-s in which this can be done ? There are several things to be done in tning to reclaim wMn-out land. One of the first of these is to till the land wdL Many of you may have heard the stor\' of the dying father who called his sons about him and whispered feebly, " Thoe is great treasure hidden in the garden." The sons could hardly wait to bun- their dead father before, thud, thud, thud, their picks were going in the garden. Day after day they dug ; they dug deep ; they dug wide. Not a foot of the crop-worn garden escaped the probing of the pick as the sons feverishly searched for the expected treasure. But no treasure was found. Their work seemed entirely useless.  Let US not lose ever\' whit of our labor ; let us plant diis pick-scarred garden," said the eldest. So the garden was planted. In the fall the hitherto neglected garden yielded a har\-est so bountiful, so unexpected, that the meaning of their father's words dawned upon them. " Truly," they said, " a treasure was hidden there. Let us seek it in all our fields."
The ston^ applies as well to-day as it did when it was first told. Thorough culture of the soil, frequent and intelligent tillage—these are the foundations of soil-restoration. Along with good tillage must go crop-rotation and good drainage. A supply of organic matter will prevent hea\y rains from washing the soil and carr}'ing away plant food. Drainage will aid good tillage in allowing air to circulate between the soil particles and in arranging plant food so that plants can use it. But we must add humus, or vegetable matter, to the soil. You remember that the virgin soils contained a great deal of vegetable matter and plant food, but by the continuous growing of crops like wheat, corn, and cotton, and by constant
shallow tillage, both humus and plant food ha\e been used up. Consequently much of our cultivated soil to-day is hard and dead. There are three ways of adding humus and plant food t this lifeless land : the first way is to appl}' barnyard manure (to adopt this method means that livestock raising must be a part of all farming) ; the second way is to adopt rotation of crops, and frequently to plow under crops like clover and cowpeas ; the third way is to apply commercial fertilizers. To summarize : if we want to make our soil better \ear
by year, we must cultivate well, drain well, and m the most economical way add humus and plant food.