l often play sad havoc with the year's
accounts.

Land of this character is usually kept in grass, as long as it will bring
paying crops, and is, not unfrequently, only available for pasture; but,
both for hay and for pasture, it is still subject to the drawback of the
uncertainty of the seasons, and in the best seasons it produces far less
than it might if well drained.

The effect of this condition of the soil on the health of animals living
on it, and on the health of persons living near it, is extremely
unfavorable; the discussion of this branch of the question, however, is
postponed to a later chapter.

Thus far, there have been considered only the _effects_ of the undue
moisture in the soil. The manner in which these effects are produced will
be examined, in connection with the manner in which draining overcomes
them,--reducing to the lowest possible proportion, that uncertainty which
always attaches to human enterprises, and which is falsely supposed to
belong especially to the cultivation of the soil.

Why is it that the farmer believes, why should any one believe, in these
modern days, when the advancement of science has so simplified the
industrial processes of the world, and thrown its light into so many
corners, that the word "mystery" is hardly to be applied to any operation
of nature, save to that which depends on the always mysterious Principle
of Life,--when the effect of any combination of physical circumstances may
be foretold, with almost unerring certainty,--why should we believe that
the success of farming must, after all, depend mainly on chance? That an
intelligent man should submit the success of his own patient efforts to
the operation of "luck;" that he should deliberately _bet_ his capital,
his toil, and his experience on having a good season, or a bad one,--this
is not the least of the remaining mysteries. Some chance there must be in
all things,--more in farming than in mechanics, no doubt; but it should be
made to take the smallest possible place in our calculations, by a careful
avoidance of every condition which may place our crops at the mercy of
that most uncertain of all things--the weather; and especially should this
be the case, when the very means for lessening the element of chance in
our calculations are the best means for increasing our crops, even in the
most favorable weather.

CHAPTER II. - HOW DRAINS ACT, AND HOW THEY AFFECT THE SOIL

For reasons which will ap