DRAINAGE NECESSARY IN CLAY LANDS. 45 



which I drained in 1857, to which I have referred, is a very- 

 fair specimen of the kind of land which is usually drained in 

 Scotland, and so, I have no doubt, is the land which Col. 

 Waring brags so much about in Newport, of which there is not 

 so much in this vicinity. Draining clay land with tiles is a good 

 investment. The best lands can only be drained with tiles, 

 because they usually lie so nearly level that the inclination of 

 a stone drain would be insufficient to keep the drain open, even 

 if there were no other reason for filling it up. So that I would 

 lay it down as a rule, that the best lands to be drained are soft 

 clay lands, and the best way to drain them is to drain them 

 with tiles. I have no doubt that is a good rule. And when I 

 say here, what I have often said before, that on five and a half 

 acres, drained with tiles fourteen years ago, I raised in one sea- 

 son, on 4:\ acres 18^ tons of hay, and on the remaining acre 

 and a quarter eighteen hundred bushels of mangold wurtzels, 

 you will see what a well-drained piece of land will produce, 

 when filled with manure. But there are warm, loamy lands, 

 naturally drained, within five miles of my farm, upon which I 

 could have raised exactly such crops, without either stone or 

 tile drains. 



So that it seems to me that it is clay land only into which 

 you can insert tiles with profit, and that is almost the only land 

 that can be drained with especial advantage in this country. 

 With regard to strong lands, they are clay lands, generally, 

 and they are usually filled with stones, larger or smaller, and in 

 that case, it would be advisable to displace the stones in the 

 best way possible, and take it for granted that when they are 

 gone, the water will go out also, and then they will be naturally 

 drained, too. 



I was very glad to hear the remarks of Col. Waring. I 

 have no doubt that there is a great deal of land, near the best 

 vegetable markets, that can be drained with tiles to a profit. 



Col. Waring. The remarks of Dr. Loring lead me to say one 

 word more, and that is, that I do not believe it will pay any 

 farmer to drain a single acre, if he does not need that acre ; 

 if he has another acre that he can make pay better than it now 

 does by spending the money on that. 



Dr. Loring. That is a good rule, which ought to be printed 

 in large capitals at the head of every agricultural paper in the 

 country. 



