TilE FARMliR'S MAGAZINE. 



385 



upon arable or pasture laud. The arable becomes, under a 

 sound system of continuously eiFeetive drainage, totally 

 changed in character and fertility ; double the amount ol' 

 produce may be produced, while the previously wet pasture 

 is equally beneliteJ, and changes its herbage. Remember 

 in Job it occurs, " Can the rush grow without mire? can 

 the ilag grow without water ?" Thus the water-grasses — 

 fro:n the lack of food, stagnant water, to sustain them — die 

 out, and are succeeded by clovers and other nutritious 

 grasses. Upon one pasture in Colonel Bence'a possession 

 and occupation there is an extraordinary instance of change. 

 It was four years since an uudrained pasture, presenting 

 that blue poverty-stricken appearance peculiar to wet grass 

 lands. The herbage, if it deserved the name, was a short, 

 thick, broad, rush-shaped, sharp-edged grass, which the 

 stock neither liked nor thrived upon ; but now', since drain- 

 age, a change has gradually taken place, and it produces an 

 excellent crop of succulent grasses. At the present, I had 

 rather pay a rental of thirty shillings per acre for it than 

 fifteen shillings previously (Hear). Since drainage, the sur- 

 face has been continually covered with the old-sered plants, 

 which have died off, and I believe at one time many might 

 have presumed that the pasture was even injured by over- 

 drainage ; this would have been a great mistake, and it is cer- 

 tainly improved fifty per cent. Allowing, then, that drain- 

 age is desirable, and that it will pay, still the question natu- 

 rally arises — Which is the most efficient and the most eco- 

 nomical method .'' (Hear, hear.) 



I have drained with pipes at the depth of three, four, and 

 five feet, at various distances; I have also drained with whins 

 and bushes ; and I have used the mole-plough. With 

 your permission, I will now give you the conclusions at 

 which I have arrived (Hear). I am decidedly in favour of 

 tile-draining ; but, as it is an expensive operation, and a 

 permanent improvement to the soil, it is essential that a 

 part of the expense be borne by the landlord in connexion 

 with the tenant ; and the proportion of the outlay must be 

 governed by the length of lease granted. I believe, as a 

 general rule, where no lease exists, nor an agreement for 

 the payment of unexhausted improvements upon quitting — 

 1 believe, if the tenant's outlay is governed by the cost of 

 bush-draining, and the landlord pays the surplus for sub- 

 stituting pipes, it is a safe rule, and mutually advantageous. 

 In such cases, those gentlemen under whom I have the 

 pleasure to act, have adopted the safer course of arranging 

 that their own pipe-layer shall place the pipes in the drain, 

 quite irrespective of the men executing the digging (Hear, 

 hear). In everj' case it is desirable that the men contract- 

 ing for the draining should have nothing to do with placing 

 the pipe, as it prevents that hurried and imperfect work- 

 manship which has repeatedly brought pipe-drainage into 

 disrepute. What does a man care, who is only interested 

 in executing the work as quickly as possible ? He knows 

 well he can bury the defects; and we have known instances 

 in which the low spade has never been dug, and the pipes, 

 consequently, not placed. Presuming, then, that landlord 

 and tenant have made an equitable and fair arrangement, 

 which is the best, the cheapest, the most efficient, and 

 most judicious system of draining for our neighbourhood .'^ 

 what the depth and distance ? which the best direction ? 

 what materials to use ? the size of the pipe ? the cost, dura- 

 tion, and return ? Upon our clays, I do not approve of 

 five-feet drains at intervals of forty feet, as depth, I find, 

 does not compensate for the distance apart ; the land is not 

 thoroughly drained ; the crop is best nearest the drain ; and 

 wetness is plainly perceptible in the intermediate space 



midway between the drains. Five feet, too, into hard, dry, 

 blue, tenacious chay, is no joke; and the expense of the 

 inaimal labour is very considerable : but, as such drainage 

 is not sufficient, we must discard it as unworthy of our 

 adoption, as ours is not a subsoil of gaults and gravels, 

 where, I believe, such drainage answers well. I have drained 

 at four feet deep, and twenty-seven apart, in stiff, chalky clay. 

 I am satisfied it has answered, but yet not perfectly : the 

 extra depth has not compensated for the additional distance. 

 I would mention a fact in connexion with one field of fifteen 

 acres I drained in this manner. I attempted to dispense with 

 the water-furrows ; but it would not do. The field, after a 

 heavy fall of rain, was quite flooded, the furrows standing 

 full ; even the stetches themselves were partially under 

 water. The water- furrows were, of course, again resorted 

 to as a necessity. Upon this same field, the tenant who 

 succeeded me, not being satisfied that the drainage acted 

 quickly enough, cut drains of whin transversely above the 

 pipe-drains ; but, to his astonishment, they have never 

 acted, the pipe-drains carrying the entire quantity of water, 

 thus most plainly proving that water enters the drain from 

 the bottom, and not at the top and sides, as many have 

 supposed. It is clear to reason that water gradually rises 

 in the subsoil, with the fall of rain, till it reaches the level 

 of the drain, when it naturally runs off in the aperture to 

 the adjacent outlet. To return. I consider three-feet-pipe 

 draining, at sixteen feet apart, the cheapest and most 

 elTective. It has always answered my purpose best. The 

 land has thus been more fully drained. There has been a 

 freedom from wetness, also from too great a dampness, even 

 at the extreme points from the drains ; the crop has been 

 even in result; the pipes have been fully protected from in- 

 jury, either by treading, or by the roots of our cultivated 

 crops: and I pronounce- it the most economical and the 

 most efficient system of drainage for this neighbourhood. 

 Three feet has proved efficient depth to prevent the slight- 

 est injurj' from capillary attraction : it has also allowed of 

 ample depth for the roots of plants to work in. And it is sin- 

 gular that, whilst in agriculture some are advocating an 

 extreme depth of subsoil, in which the plant can search for 

 food, as if a mine of immense wealth existed there, often in 

 the culture of fruit-trees, even after deep drainage, the de- 

 scent of the root is prevented, because adverse to produc- 

 tiveness. I know objections have been raised to the use of 

 pipes, especially on lands with but a slight fall. I have 

 ixsed them where comparatively flat, with perfect safety ; 

 but in such cases I prefer the two-inch-diameter pipe, in 

 preference to the inch-and-half : and I strongly recommend 

 the use of the theodolite, or spirit-level, to secure the best 

 fall. I believe it is often impossible to discover the best 

 direction for the drain without an instrument of the 

 kind; and I have often been surprised to find so great an 

 inclination on such an apparently flat surface (Hear). 



As to the course of the drains generally, if the angle of de- 

 scent is not too great, I drain with the best natural inclina- 

 tion, much preferring that principle of action to crossing it 

 diagonally. I object that the drain should be in precisely the 

 same direction or parallel with the furrow; consequently if the 

 greatest gradation is in the line in which the field is generally 

 ploughed, I afterwards alter the direction of the ploughing as 

 I find desirable. I observe we frequently neglect to clear the 

 eyes of our drains, and to scour the watercourses, as necessary. 

 I believe it deiirable we should not only carefully attend to 

 these essential points, but it is also requisite that we frequently 

 send round, at suitable times, to examine each outlet, that we 

 may assure ourselves the drains work freely (Hear, hear). 



