Page:Agricultural Progress - Drainage.djvu/11

 also one of the most profitable investments. It generally yields from 12 to 20 per cent. In not a few instances I have known the total cost repaid by the first crop, and I do not know of a single case of efficiently-executed drainage, under proper subsequent management, having proved unsuccessful.

I have said, under proper subsequent management, as it must be admitted, that there are farmers, who, by supposing that drained land can be tilled at all times, plough it into a sort of mortar, and continue the absurd practice of ploughing with four horses "a-head," and thus, by making them all tread over the same furrow bed, form a puddled stratum, impervious to roots, air, or water, which neutralises the effects of drainage. Happily the steam cultivator will remedy this evil, and, so far from being a barrier, will prove a powerful auxiliary to drainage.

As a rule, drainage executed by farmers is unsuccessful; and in nine cases out of ten, where landowners contribute pipes, and tenants labour, both labour and material are thrown away. I do not advance this as disparaging to farmers, as they have not time to give drainage that supervision which the securing of proper outfalls and levels, as well as the necessary depths and distances apart of drains, require. I may add, that, from a mistaken economy in placing drains too widely apart, a large breadth of land, that was drained several years ago, requires to be partially re-drained. These instances, however, of unsuccessful results