274 ^^ Draining, Aug. 



low lying lands, particularly of that defcriptlon, when efFe<n:ual- 

 3y drained, are a great acquifition, the greateft part of them be- 

 ing of the bed quality, or capable of being made fo. I fee, 

 however, by your lad Nnnibery, that the matter Hill remains in 

 a great meafure a defideratum. I fhall therefore trouble yuu with 

 a few thoughts upon the fubje6h 



The general method hitherto pratlifed in the cutting of drains, 

 is, to throw up the earth on one or both lides of the drain ; 

 vhich, in my opinion, is a great midake. In this method, the 

 weight of the fuperincumbeat earth renders the fubilratum 

 more folid, and confequently more impervious than it was be- 

 fore, and therefore water collected on the back of it, after a 

 fall of rain, or the overflowing of a brook, is much longer in 

 running otf than it would otherwife have been. I once obferv- 

 cd a drain cut alongd. the lowcft fkirt of a meadow, to contain 

 the waters of a fmall burn or brock, that had formerly run in a 

 r^itural courfe, much in the fame line. In forming this cjrain, 

 all the earth was thrown upon the meadow fide. The confe- 

 quencewas, that the meadow was nearly rendered ufelefs, by the 

 water, after heavy falls of rain and the overflowing of the brook, 

 ilagnating upon it almoft the whole year round, it remained fo 

 for upwards of twenty years, until the courfe of the burn was 

 turned another way. 



What IVIr Elkington^s method of draining is, I have never 

 heard nor feen defcribed ; nor does the perfon, who gives an 

 account in ypur Magazine, of his draining a large morafs, 

 mention his method j if he had done this, it might have beta 

 of great advantage, as operations of that kind can only be car- 

 ried on with fuccefs during the fummer feafon. 



The befl method I have feen, and which I obferve pra£lifed 

 pn the farm of Aiuherureathy a little north of this place, on a 

 piece of wet level ground, fubjeft to be overfiowed, is, by 

 cleaning all the furrows, after fowing, into the furrow of the 

 head-ridge, which runs parallel with the ditch. The head- ridge 

 furrow is well cleaned up \ and feveral cuttings are made from 

 it through the ridge and bank into the drain. This mode, how- 

 ever, has its inconveniences. Clods of earfh are continually 

 falling into the furrows, waOjeci down by heavy rains, or the 

 acflion of the water by the wind, if it is in the leall overflowed. 

 The water, thus prevented from running ofT, llagnates in the 

 furrows, and keeps the ridges wet ; for the water, in mofl foils, 

 is apt to rife even higher in the ridge as in a fpring, than its 

 furface in the furrow, to the great detriment of the plants, e- 

 ipecially in cold froQy weather ; and, from the multiplicity of 

 concerns relating to a farm, the clearing of the furrows is mcfk 

 iV?qucntjy overlooked until irrpp^rable injury is done. 



