a
cloud; and as a huge sponge pressed by an invisible hand, the cloud,
condensed still further by cold, sends down its water to the earth in
rain.

The heated air over our fields and streams, in Summer, is loaded with
moisture as the sun declines. The earth has been cooled by radiation of
its heat, and by constant evaporation through the day. By contact with
the cooler soil, the air, borne by its thousand currents gently along
its surface, is condensed, and yields its moisture to the thirsty earth
again, in the form of dew.

At a Legislative Agricultural Meeting, held in Albany, New York, January
25th, 1855, "the great drought of 1854" being the subject, the secretary
stated that "the experience of the past season has abundantly proved
that thorough-drainage upon soils requiring it, has proved a very great
relief to the farmer;" that "the crops upon such lands have been far
better, generally, than those upon undrained lands, in the same
locality;" and that, "in many instances, the increased crop has been
sufficient to defray the expenses of the improvement in a single year."

Mr. Joseph Harris, at the same meeting, said: "An underdrained soil will
be found damper in dry weather, than an undrained one, and the
thermometer shows a drained soil warmer in cold weather, and cooler in
hot weather, than one which is undrained."

The secretary of the New York State Agricultural Society, in his Report
for 1855, says: "The testimony of farmers, in different sections of the
State, is almost unanimous, that drained lands have suffered far less
from drought than undrained." Alleghany county reports that "drained
lands have been less affected by the drought than undrained;" Chatauque
county, that "the drained lands have stood the drought better than the
undrained." The report from Clinton county says: "Drained lands have
been less affected by the drought than undrained." Montgomery county
reports: "We find that drained lands have a better crop in either wet or
dry seasons than undrained."

B. F. Nourse, of Orrington, Maine, states that, on his drained land, in
that State, "during the drought of 1854, there was at all times
sufficient dampness apparent on scraping the surface of the ground with
his foot in passing, and a crop of beans was planted, grown and gathered
therefrom, without as much rain as will usually fall in a shower of
fifteen minutes' duration, while vegetation on the next field was
parching for lack of moisture."