matters which it contains, then
to descend through a well-drained subsoil, to a free outlet.

From whatever source the water comes, it cannot remain stagnant in any
soil without permanent injury to its fertility.

*The Objection to too much Water in the Soil* will be understood from the
following explanation of the process of germination, (sprouting,) and
growth. Other grave reasons why it is injurious will be treated in their
proper order.

The first growth of the embryo plant, (in the seed,) is merely a change of
form and position of the material which the seed itself contains. It
requires none of the elements of the soil, and would, under the same
conditions, take place as well in moist saw-dust as in the richest mold.
The conditions required are, the exclusion of light; a certain degree of
heat; and the presence of atmospheric air, and moisture. Any material
which, without entirely excluding the air, will shade the seed from the
light, yield the necessary amount of moisture, and allow the accumulation
of the requisite heat, will favor the chemical changes which, under these
circumstances, take place in the living seed. In proportion as the heat is
reduced by the chilling effect of evaporation, and as atmospheric air is
excluded, will the germination of the seed be retarded; and, in case of
complete saturation for a long time, absolute decay will ensue, and the
germ will die.

The accompanying illustrations, (Figures 1, 2 and 3,) from the "Minutes of
Information" on Drainage, submitted by the General Board of Health to the
British Parliament in 1852, represent the different conditions of the soil
as to moisture, and the effect of these conditions on the germination of
seeds. The figures are thus explained by Dr. Madden, from whose lecture
they are taken:

"Soil, examined mechanically, is found to consist entirely of
particles of all shapes and sizes, from stones and pebbles down to
the finest powder; and, on account of their extreme irregularity
of shape, they cannot lie so close to one another as to prevent
there being passages between them, owing to which circumstance
soil in the mass is always more or less _porous_. If, however, we
proceed to examine one of the smallest particles of which soil is
made up, we shall find that even this is not always solid, but is
much more frequently porous, like soil in the mass. A considerable
proportion of this finely-divided part o