THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 



171 



yVc will not say that p'ther Mr. Clarke or M. Trc- 

 honnais will meet with a similar reception; but \vu 

 have little doubt but that the character of the company 

 will, or would have bo:^n, very different had Mr. 

 Denton taken the firsst VVednesiday in February, Mr. 

 Clarke the first in Miuvh, and M.Trehontiais the first in 

 April. There is a wonderful want of method in all this. 

 Mr. Bailey Denton discoursed aj^ain on his pet theme, 

 and he argued on it as every sensible man now does. 

 We are the victims no longer to dogmatic assertion or 

 despotic sway. Tlio Professor, who harjis but on one 

 note, or, Paganini-like, plays on a single string, charms 

 us no longer. The rule of three, or of four feet has lost 

 its force. It is no further to be regarded as without an 

 exception. On the other hand, wo study the particular 

 nature of the soil, wo consider its situation as 

 liable to atmosphcrio influence, and sum up 

 a variety of similar causes, ere wo venture the applica- 

 tion of our remedy. Mr. Denton's paper had this direct 

 tendency. He spoke " on the advantages of a Daily 

 Register of the Rain-lall throughout the United Kiug- 

 -doni, and the best means of obtaining it" ; and every 

 word he said only went lo show how our practice must 

 v:iry according to the difterence of soil, climate, and loca- 

 lity. The unintentional moral, moreover, which he con- 

 veyed to his heai'ers was, that every-one must think and 

 act more or less for himself. Indeed, to be of any pecu- 

 liar value, each one of us should keep his own rain 

 register, as many even now do. If Mr. Denton's ad- 

 dress lead to any useful result, it must be to this. At 

 the same time we are bound to say that his paper of 

 AVednesday is by far the least practical of all his effu- 

 sions. It clearly put too much dependence on the rain 

 test — as manifestly under-rated what had ah'cady been 

 done iu this way — and advocated a system for doing- 

 something better, that not one of his auditory had the 

 slightest opinion of ever seeing- carried out. Mr. Den- 

 ton would map the kingdom out into ten, or oven five- 

 mile stations at a cost to Government of twenty- 

 six thousand, or on the other scale of about half as 

 much, per annum. The chairman of the evening, Mr. 

 Sopwith, "thought such a plan was not required." 

 Mr. Rawliuson said "a national system of rain- 

 gaugings must be very costly, and the results would 

 only be useful to a limited extent. No nation could do 

 tlie work of individuals, nor ever would do such 

 work." Mr. Tliomas Webster, F.R.S., "did not 

 regard it of so much importance to know pre- 

 cisely the quantity of rain that fell at each place ; and 

 the observations already made were very numerous, and 

 might, he thought, be considered sufficient." And Mr. 

 Greaves " thought Mr. Denton had over-rated the re- 

 quirements of the case, inasmuch as at the present time 

 a very large number of records of rainfall were kept." 

 There is, in short, no doubt but that Mr. Denton's 

 enthusiasm has carried him too far, and long beyond 

 the limit of any probable effect to be arrived at by 

 such a means. Still, injustice to him wo may quote a 

 fi)w sentences from his paper, on tho. actual necessity 

 for such a monitor as that he advocates the use of: — 

 " I am bound to record my own conviction, based on 

 an extensive practice in the drainage of land, that there 

 is no information more essential to successful treatment 

 than that which it is the object of this paper to promote, 

 and that it is the ignorance now prevailing with regard 

 to the influence of the rainfall, added to the common 

 belief that drainage is a mechanical operation which 

 a;i uneducated bailiff or woodman may carry out, that 

 has led to the discredit attached to the drainage executed 

 under Government auspices, and has fostered the 

 opposition of certain members of tho Central Farmers' 

 Club. As a proof of how little attention landowners have 

 hitherto jiaid to rainfall, I may mention that when I 

 undertook to read a pajjcr, three years back, before tho 



Centrul Farmers' Club, on the results of under-draining 

 in (Jreat Britain, I addressed more than 000 

 persons in various i)arts of Great Britain, who had 

 executed works of under-draining, and asked the 

 following question among several othei's : ' What is 

 the rainfall in tho locality of your works?' I was 

 gratified by receiving- 1G2 answers to my letters, but 

 out of 102 answers there were only six who were able 

 to give me any information as to the rainfall." 



As a king, who can do no wrong, does Mr. Denton dis- 

 parage the opposition of the Central Club. However, 

 let us pass on to more positive proof: — " In the west of 

 England, whei'e the annual fall of rain is 50 inches, 

 some drainage was effected by a parallel system 40 feet 

 apart. It was pronounced a failure. It has been com- 

 pared with other works of drainage which were satisfac- 

 tory in result, upon tho same geological formation (with 

 soils closely similar in character), drained in the same 

 way, on the east side of Scotland. The rainfall there was 

 25 inches, and the number of wet days considerably less 

 than in the West of England, and it is more than pro- 

 bable that these differences account for the results. An- 

 other instance will render the proposition even more clear. 

 The lias clay, as already stated, runs nearly the whole 

 length of England. It starts from Lyme Regis, where 

 the fall of rain is 37 inches, passes by Grantham, where 

 the fall is 24 inches, and runs out at the north-east corner 

 of Yorkshire, where the fall is 21 inches. Lands of this 

 clay (as similar as soils can be) have been drained in 

 the several localities in a precisely similar manner, with 

 different degrees of efiect. The difference in the rain- 

 fall can alone explain the difference of effect. Sixteen 

 inches of rain, which is the difference between the two 

 extremes, is equal to 302,000 gallons falling upon every 

 acre of land, and this excess is nearly equal to the 

 whole annual amount of rain falling on the surface of 

 Essex and Suffolk, in which counties many thousands 

 of acres of clay lands, no stronger than the lias, are 

 now being drained at a cost of from £5 to £6 per acre. 

 This is a strikmg fact ; but it will be rendered still 

 more stinking- by reference to the Registrar-General's 

 Tleturn fur the first three months of the year just 

 closed. There it will be seen that the rainfall, for that 

 period, at the three places named, was respectively 

 9 inches (Little Bridy), G inches (Grantham), and 3 

 inches (Scarborough). Hence it follows that the 

 drains in Dorset would be required to do three times 

 the work of drains in Yorkshire with the same means 

 of doing it." 



But still we must remember this average rainfall is 

 not everything. As M. Trehonnais suggested, " during 

 a storm an immense quantity of water might fall, and 

 that contingency must be kept in view in drainage, in 

 order to allow the superabundance of water to run out 

 of the land. In his own opinion the average of rainfall 

 had not so much to do in the way of drainage as some 

 ])eople seemed to imagine, because drains must be laid 

 in sucli a manner as to give an outlet for the immense 

 body of water that might come suddenly upon the 

 land." Mr. Rawlinson, again, maintained that " in all 

 cases the engineer must guard, above ground, against 

 maximums, and, as far as is possible, ascertain what 

 these were likely to be, and then work on the sa'o side. 

 In all cases the rain-gauge should be consulted for mi- 

 nutite and for details; but for maximums, such as 

 land-floods, valley outfalls of streams and rivers must 

 be gauged." 



In fact, the argument was altogether overstrained. 

 Although there were no farmers to meet what was ad- 

 vanced, fortunately a few scientific men took up the 

 discussion. These served at once to correct the some- 

 what too sanguine notions of Mr. Denton, and give to 

 the proceedings a more stable character. The meeting 

 docs nut promise to leave any very lasting impression. 



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