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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



but, from the vast benefit which has resulted where it 

 has been applied, an enormous increase will undoubt- 

 edly take place ; but this on its present scale, in ad- 

 dition to the field-drains and ditches being better 

 cleared out, has already created 'a large addition to tlie 

 water flowing down rivers, brooks, and minor streams, 

 and the effect is that the water is discharged in a 

 shorter time than formerly, and causes more frequent 

 floods, the bi'ooks and minor streams in numei'ous 

 instances being now insufficient to convey away the 

 larger quantities of water, which so suddenly flow 

 down; and at other times the rivers and streams con- 

 tain less water than formerly, in many cases not suffi- 

 cient for the ordinary supply of the country, or of the 

 towns which may be dependent upon them for supply. 



To give some idea of the vast increased discharge of 

 underground water of late years, the following par- 

 ticulars were stated by Mr. Grantham. About ten 

 years ugo povper was given by Parliament to the 

 Government to lend j^4,000,000, under the sanction 

 and control of the Inclosure Commissioner's of Eng- 

 land, for the purpose of the drainage of land, and 

 erecting and repairing farm-buildings j and f subse- 

 quently private drainage-companies have obtained 

 powers to perform the same work, under the control of 

 the same Commissioners. Up to this time there have 

 been expended in subterranean-drainage alone, by this 

 means, about £4,000,000, extending over 80b,0C0 

 acres ; and probably twice this amount has been laid 

 out by the Crown, by corporate bodies, and by private 

 individuals. There still remain large tracts of land 

 that require to be drained; and from the beneficial 

 effects produced hitherto, an annually-increasing extent 

 •will undergo the same treatment. 



It muy well be conceived that from the above num- 

 ber of acres alone the water that falls upon the surface 

 can now be run off in the course of a few days to the 

 arterial drains and outfalls, as compared with the 

 slow trickling operation through the soil before the 

 system of drainage was applied. How absolutely im- 

 perative it is that there should be ample provision 

 made to carry off that water in the most direct and 

 efficient manner ; and in any works executed for that 

 purpose, that there should be ample allowance given to 

 meet a very much larger flow of water ! 



Another cause of the difficulty of draining land is 

 the existence of mills, weirs, dams, and other obstruc- 

 tions in rivers, as well as their crooked and confined 

 channels, all of which impound the waters upon the 

 uplands, to the injury in some cases to twenty and 

 even fifty-fold of the value of the mill or property 

 maintained by the dams. Another question to be 

 dealt with is, that the public roads cannot in all cases 

 be interfered with, to admit of better outfalls; the 

 existing culverts, or bridges, being rarely either suffi- 

 ciently deep or capacious to admit of an arterial system 

 of drainage being applied. 



The other part of the subject, namely, the injury 

 which lands suffer by being inundated by the drainage 

 of the uplands, is as extensive as that alluded to in the 

 former case, and is attributable to nearly the same 

 causes — the want of combination among the possessors 

 of property in executing land-drainage works, the vast 

 expenses of which would otherwise be entailed upon 

 single individuals so circumstanced ; and in some cases 

 the impossibility of forming sufficiently capacious 

 channels and outfalls to carry off the surplus water ; 

 not to mention the hardship of one person improving 

 his position at the expense and annoyance of another. 

 This is strongly exemplified by the experience of the 

 drainage of towns under the Public Health Act, where 

 at the commencement no provision was made at the 

 outfall for the disposal of the sewage ; showing a want 

 of forethought which should in future be avoided, 

 before any general and complete system of land- 

 drainage is undertaken. 



The impediments which at present exist to prevent 

 arterial drainage being carried out on a combined sys- 

 tem, were attributed by Mr. Grantham mainly to the 

 state of the law, which requires to be modified and 

 changed, and its powers enlarged and liberalised. The 

 law, as it at present stands, is totally unsuited to the 

 existing and advancing state of society, and to the in- 

 terests of the holders of property ; for while it keeps 

 one eye open, to jealously watch many unprofitable and 

 useless rights and forms connected with property, it 

 closely shuts the other against the wants and necessities 

 ic ought to assist and modify. The powers of the Legis- 

 lature should aid the skill of the engineer ; but the 

 plans of the engineer are easy of execution, compared 

 with the removal of the complications which are thrown 

 over the whole question by the law ; and these must be 

 removed before any real good can be obtained. There 

 have been a few attempts at legislating upon the sub- 

 ject, but most of them have been ill-designed and too 

 feeble and timid to grasp at the whole question in an 

 effectual manner. The best measure proposed was that 

 of Lord Carlisle, in 1852, which, it is to be hoped, with 

 additional powers, may yet be made to accomplish the 

 great objects of improved drainage and outfalls; 



The law at present stands in the way of arterial 

 drainage being carried out in a combined and compre- 

 hensive system, by its not allowing a person to deal with 

 his own property in this respect as he best can ; nor is 

 it sufficient to allow of certain things being done to facili- 

 tate such objects as would enable individuals or asso- 

 ciated bodies to actforthegood of all concerned. In fact, 

 nothing can nor will be done effectually until this law 

 is not merely modified and changed, but its powers en- 

 larged and liberalised. The valuable paper of Mr. 

 Grantham, and the subsequent discussions among the 

 members of the Institution of Civil Engineers on seve- 

 ral nights, open up a "very wide field for inquiry and 

 investigation. 



A FEW WORDS UPON ARTERIAL DRAINAGE. 



This subject is one of such great importance to every 

 improver of British agriculture, that it cannot be too 

 often brought before the agricultural public. It does 

 seem very strange that a little island like Great Britain, 

 with its innumerable bays, inlets and rivers, should be 

 permitted to suffer so enormoiisly from the overflowing 

 of its rivers, its streams, and its brooks. It is very try- 

 ing to the farmer who has spent a considerable sum in 

 underdraining his farm, to find that, owing to various 

 obstructions to the neighbouring brook, his lo] 



i 



lands are not benefited by his outlay ; he proceeds to 

 enquire the cause of this, and is told that the mill weir 

 is so high, that the stream cannot pass off fast enough 

 to take the water from the brook. He goes a little far- 

 ther, and soon ascertains that the river by which his 

 drainage works are impeded is so dammed by mills, 

 mill-weirs, and bad bridges that his waters have no 

 chance of passing away between one heavy rain-fall 

 and another — that they are thus most abominably 

 hindered in their passage to that great receptacle of all 



