American Pomology. ApplesWarder, J. A. (John Aston)
Science
American Pomology. Apples
Warder, J. A. (John Aston)
Apples
Mere surface drainage may be cheaply effected by the plow, and should
always be done in level lands, especially where the subsoil is compact
and tenacious. The expense of thorough drainage is so great, and the
success of our orchards, as commonly planted, even on ill-prepared
ground, is so generally good, that we can not expect the majority of
farmers to use drain tile at present. Still, the importance of
draining can not be doubted: the best results follow its use, and he
who would reap the best harvests, and attain the highest success, will
underdrain his land. For the most of us, surface drainage alone, is
all that we can do; this should never be neglected, for no crop can be
successful in land that is subject to an occasional drenching with a
surplus of water that stands for days, filling it to the surface,
causing the fermentation and souring of the organic matter it
contains. The fruit tree, certainly, will not thrive in such a
situation, and is as sure to fall into a decline, or consumption, if
condemned to wet feet, as would a delicate girl under similar
exposure.
The expense of under-draining is the only objection that can possibly
be urged against it; even this is no real objection, for it has been
repeatedly proved that the outlay, whatever it be, insures such
increase of crops as to pay a good interest upon the investment,
except where the natural under-drainage of the soil, by a porous
stratum of rock or gravel, already provides a ready discharge of the
superabundant water. It is thus only a question of the cash capital to
be invested in the business, for most of our orchard sites are of such
a character of soil as to be immensely benefited by the process. With
many of us, in this country, the capital is not to be had, or can not
be spared, to put underground; our means are limited, and we do not
drain our farms, as we should.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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