524 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



good crop of mangels. Having the adjoining part manured 

 and ready for sowing, I put on to the three autumn- 

 ploughed lands (which I call No. 1) and the three adjoining 

 (No. 2) 2 cwt. of guano and 1 cwt. of salt per acre ; the three 

 next lands (No. 3) G cwt. of salt per acre ; and the remainder 

 (No. 4) had no artificial manure. The seed was sown dry 

 en all the lots the same day. The weather set in dry, but 

 No. 1 was up and iu rows before I could see any plants in 

 Nos. 2, 3, or 4. After flat hoeing I set two horses with 

 Read's subsoiler to subsoil between the rows 11 inches 

 deep over the whole piece. I have measured and weighed 

 two lines across the lands ; the result is as follows ; — 



First line. 



T. c. Q. P. 



No. 1....40 16 



2..., 36 16 18 



3.... 31 6 2 24 



4.... 32 8 



Second line. Average per acre. 

 T. c. Q. p. T. c. Q. p. 

 47 4 44 

 40 5 2 24 36 11 21 

 37 14 1 4 34 10 1 20 

 34 12 33 10 



Between Mr, Smith's system and the ordinary plan there 

 is a difference of 10 tons 10 cwt., which at 21s. per ton, the 

 present price delivered, is £11 Os. 6d. per acre; deduct the 

 value of guano and salt £1 lis., there remains £9 9s. 6d. 

 per acre in favour of the autumn cultivation, 



I remain, sir, your obedient servant, 



Friars-place, Acton, Nov. 5. Francis Hamilton 



DEEP AND SHALLOW DRAINING. 



At the Ticehurst Agricultural Society's dinner, towards 

 the close of the speeches the following practical observations 

 were made on draining the lands of Sussex and Surrey. 



W. C. Morel AND, Esq., said— He was sure the company 

 had listened with great interest to the remarks made by the 

 various speakers, and they had reminded him of a sug- 

 gestion that had been made by two members of the associa- 

 tion, which was worthy of their consideration, namely, whe. 

 ther it would not be well on those occasions that a committee 

 should select some topic connected with agriculture, which 

 might be considered as the topic for discussion during the 

 evening. It seemed to him that, although they had a stub- 

 born soil to deal with, yet it was one which he thought 

 might be greatly improved by good usage. They had much 

 to do, however, before they could get out of it the good that 

 was in it. It would be hard work to do it, especially when 

 to the stubborn soil they added the wetness of the English 

 climate— such days, for instance, as they had had that day. 

 Such weather produced on the Sussex clay an effect which 

 lasted a considerable time. One of the most important sub- 

 jects for discussion in that county was, no doubt, the ques- 

 tion relating to drainage. Lord Abergavenny, they had 

 heard from Mr. Delves, was going to alter the conditions of 

 his prize in regard to the depth of drainage ; some of the 

 company would think it a right step and some of them a 

 wrong one ; but for his own part he thought it was a right 

 one. Very likely he might be wrong and they right : they 

 had had more experience than he had; but at the same time 

 he had drained a large number of acres at a depth of four 

 feet, and he knew if he went to his outfalls a day like that 

 he sliould find them falling torrents of water, and they 

 Avould continue to pour out water for a considerable time. 

 He was aware that two or three of his tenants had held as 

 strong an opinion as any person present that thirty inches 

 was a good depth, but they now preferred four feet. That, 

 he thought, was an argument in favour of going to a greater 

 depth ; still he would not put his limited experience against 

 theirs. He invited any of them to go and look at his outfalls 

 and see if they did not work to satisfaction. Without deep 

 drainage it did not appear to him that they could cultivate 

 their land in a proper way ; the roots would go down and 

 choke the shallow drains. He could not say he had seen 

 anything of the sort himself, but he knew a close near 

 Reigate where there was a stiff, strong clay taken up, owing 

 to its being choked up by mangel wurzel root. That was 

 something like dry ground. He thought all these were ar- 

 guments in favour of deeper drainage, which he wished them 

 at any rate to consider and see whether there might not be 



j some little reason in it ; he thought it could not be wholly 

 without reason. The Government had fixed upon that depth, 

 and they had large experience ; but he did not mean to say 

 that Government was infallible in those matters, yet they 

 had great means of judging, for a great deal of drainage 

 j was carried on under their sanction. Upon all those grounds 

 he was inclined to thank Lord Abergavenny for the move 

 he had taken, and hoped they would be induced to follow 

 in that question. 



The Chairman (H. Dixon, Esq.) said— They had begun 

 a slight discussion about the drainage, which he should be 

 unwilling to continue except to state what occurred 

 to him when he drained, and he thought it would be no 

 I presumption to tell his failing, although it might have been 

 ! if he had spoken as to what he thought was best. What he 

 had done was shallow drainage at 2 ft. 6 in. The water 

 j could not get through the stiff clay. His bailiff did not 

 i take into consideration that there was a good deal more 

 water below than above, which had been ascending for a 

 long time. They thought but little of the water that came 

 up, and how quickly it came up ; a little deeper drain would 

 remedy the water at the bottom, which he believed was very 

 injurious to the land. It was not the water they wanted to 

 carry off so quickly as to nourish the crops and make them 

 grow. He hoped that many gentlemen present, if they saw 

 any pamphlet upon the subject, written by a practical man, 

 would look into it and see how water did rise, especially 

 after rain. Then he thought, with all due deference to those 

 who liked shallow drainage, that they would feel inclined 

 to a deeper system ; at least he trusted they would. 



Mr, Delves said he was very pleased to hear the pro- 

 position that in future at the annual meeting they should 

 select some topic of interest to discuss ; he was sure that 

 such a course would redound to the advantage of the asso- 

 ciation and the district generally. He was sure, if in a 

 small district as that there was such a diversity of opinion 

 upon the subject of drainage, about which he should not 

 have thought there could have been two opinions, it showed 

 that there was a field for discussion in which every 

 member could join. He hoped that in the meantime the 

 subject of drainage would occupy their study more than it 

 had hitherto done. He had himself been for some time a 

 drainer at 30 inches, and had drained fields during ten or 

 twelve years at a depth of 27 inches and 28 inches. He 

 had acted on the old principle of catching the top water as 

 soon as he could, and paid no attention to the bottom water, 

 and after a time he found that his drains were all stopped 

 up, but he had subsequently drained at 36 inches with great 



