The Collaborative International Dictionary
Underdrain \Un"der*drain`\, n. An underground drain or trench with openings through which the water may percolate from the soil or ground above.
Underdrain \Un`der*drain"\, v. t. To drain by forming an underdrain or underdrains in; as, to underdrain land.
Wiktionary
n. An underground drain or trench with openings through which the water may percolate from the soil or ground above. vb. (context transitive English) To drain by forming an underdrain or underdrains in.
Usage examples of "underdrain".
During these three days, from three to five inches of rain fell, and for the first time in many years, at this season, my underdrains discharged water to their full capacity.
My underdrains usually do not commence to discharge water before the first of December, or continue later than the first of May.
The fact that Lawes and Gilbert in England find that, when land contains considerable nitric acid, the water which percolates through the soil to the underdrains beneath, contains more nitrate of lime when the land is not occupied by a crop, than when the roots of growing plants fill the soil, is deemed positive proof that summer-fallowing is a wasteful practice.
Set a gang of ditchers to work, and put in underdrains where most needed.
Should the soil be naturally very wet it should be underdrained, or stump foot will be very likely to appear, which is death to all success.
Tillage, underdraining, and thorough cultivation, are the means by which we develop and render this plant-food available.
But it is not underdraining alone that is the cause of his eminent success.