ts to more than 150 inches.

With a desire to contribute as much as possible to the stock of accurate
knowledge on this subject, we availed ourselves of the kindly offered
services of our friends, Shedd and Edson, in preparing a carefully
considered article upon a part of our general subject, which has much
engaged their attention. Neither the article itself, nor the
observations of Dr. Hobbs, which form a part of its basis, has ever
before been published, and we believe our pages cannot be better
occupied than by giving them in the language of our friends:

"All vegetables, in the various stages of growth, require warmth, air,
and moisture, to support life and health.

Below the surface of the ground there is a body of stagnant water,
sometimes at a great depth, but in retentive soils usually within a foot
or two of the surface. This stagnant water not only excludes the air,
but renders the soil much colder, and, being in itself of no benefit,
without warmth and air, its removal to a greater depth is very
desirable.

A knowledge of the depth to which this water-table should be removed,
and of the means of removing it, constitutes the science of draining,
and in its discussion, a knowledge of the rain-fall, humidity of the
atmosphere, and amount of evaporation, is very important.

The amount of rain-fall, as shown by the hyetal, or rain-chart, of North
America, by Lorin Blodget, is thirty inches vertical depth in the basin
of the great lakes; thirty-two inches on Lake Erie and Lake Champlain;
thirty-six inches in the valley of the Hudson, on the head waters of the
Ohio, through the middle portions of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and
western portion of North Carolina; forty inches in the extreme eastern
and the northern portion of Maine, northern portions of New Hampshire
and Vermont, south-eastern counties of Massachusetts, Central New York,
north-east portion of Pennsylvania, south-east portion of New Jersey and
Delaware; also, on a narrow belt running down from the western portion
of Maryland, through Virginia and North Carolina, to the north-western
portion of South Carolina; thence, up through the western portion of
Virginia, north-east portion of Ohio, Northern Indiana and Illinois, to
Prairie du Chien; forty-two inches on the east coast of Maine, Eastern
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and middle portion of
Maryland; thence, on a narrow belt to South Carolina; thence, up through
Eastern Tennessee,