he roots of plants.

"Too much cannot be said in favor of pulverizing the soil; even
thorough-draining itself will not supersede the necessity of
performing this most necessary operation. The whole valuable
effects of plowing, harrowing, grubbing, &c., may be reduced to
this: and almost the whole superiority of _garden_ over _field_
produce is referable to the greater perfection to which this
pulverizing of the soil can be carried.

"The whole success of the drill husbandry is owing, in a great
measure, to its enabling you to stir up the soil well during the
progress of your crop; which stirring up is of no value beyond its
effects in more minutely pulverizing the soil, increasing, as far
as possible, the size and number of the interstitial canals.

"Lest any one should suppose that the contents of these
interstitial canals must be so minute that their whole amount can
be of but little consequence, I may here notice the fact, that, in
moderately well pulverized soil, they amount to no less than
one-fourth of the whole bulk of the soil itself; for example, 100
cubic inches of _moist_ soil (that is, of soil in which the pores
are filled with water while the canals are filled with air),
contain no less than 25 cubic inches of air. According to this
calculation, in a field pulverized to the depth of eight inches, a
depth perfectly attainable on most soils by careful tillage, every
imperial acre will retain beneath its surface no less than
12,545,280 cubic inches of air. And, to take one more element into
the calculation, supposing the soil were not properly drained, the
sufficient pulverizing of an additional inch in depth would
increase the escape of water from the surface by upwards of one
hundred gallons a day."

_Drainage improves the quality of crops._ In a dry season, we frequently
hear the farmer boast of the quality of his products. His hay-crop, he
says, is light, but will "spend" much better than the crop of a wet
season; his potatoes are not large, but they are sound and mealy.
Indeed, this topic need not be enlarged upon. Every farmer knows that
his wheat and corn are heavier and more sound when grown upon land
sufficiently drained.

_Drainage prevents drought._ This proposition is somewhat startling at
first view. How can draining land make it more moist? One would as