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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



impossible that our beautiful valleys and our richest 

 alluvial lands can much longer remain under an imper- 

 fect system of drainage, or rather no drainage at all ; 

 nay, what is worse, the obstruction of such drainage as 

 they have — their natural drainage — in so many ways ; 

 i. e., by useless bends in the rivers, by mills, weirs, 

 staunches, bridges, &c. Only permit a free course for 

 all our streams and rivers down to the grand receptable 

 — the sea — and a fig for all floodings and waste. Why, 

 our lowest fens are better drained at the present time 

 than almost any other part of the kingdom. I had a 

 letter only this morning from a friend who farms in one 

 of the lowest parts of the Cambridgeshire fens, stating 

 that he should finish his wheat-seeding this day (5th of 

 December), and he puts in about 260 acres annually. 

 Can other parts of the country exceed this? The 

 ditches, too, are so well drained, that the sheep on cole- 

 seed are in no danger of drowning. Hurrah ! for good 

 drainage ! 



It does appear to me that very much has yet to be 

 done. We have no reliable report of the actual state of 

 our rivers and outfalls — no "Blue Book." This is 

 another important subject for discussion at the meeting. 

 I am no great advocate for the establishment of Boards 

 of Commissioners; but I think the Government ought 

 to engage a few competent men to report upon these 

 matters. We hear of floods here, and floods there, doing 

 immense damage ; but no one interests himself to 

 prevent a recurrence of similar disasters in future. We 

 want to know the state and condition of all our rivers 

 and their feeders, the streams and brooks throughout 

 the country, from actual inspection, if not actual 

 survey. The latter would incur much additional ex- 

 pense. Therefore, upon ascertaining a case of gross 

 obstruction or a bad state of the river, a point is at once 

 made out for the establishment of a commission, or the 

 application of the powers of a Commission of Sewers 

 already in being, with a view to its removal. However, 

 the information is the great thing required, and then 



follows the action consequent thereupon. I must think 

 that without this requisite knowledge we cannot clearly 

 and satisfactorily proceed. I can imagine the task of 

 getting up this knowledge to be no sinecure. We shall 

 require to know the length and capacity and probable 

 utterance of water; the number of feeders, and their 

 courses and condition ; the number of mills, bridges, 

 weirs, staunches, and other obstructions ; the various 

 rights of corporations, navigations, landed proprietors, 

 and the various winding courses it takes, and sug- 

 gestions for straightening the fall from source to outfall, 

 and suggestions for improving it. Such authorised re- 

 porters should be empowered to call upon parties compe- 

 tent, and compel them to give information — I mean pub- 

 lic officers, surveyors, &c. I think in this way much" 

 valuable and reliable information could be obtained, and 

 upon which the Legislature might fairly be called upon 

 to pass an Act of Parliament for remedying existing 

 evils. These inspectors might also offer acceptable 

 advice and suggestions as to the division of the rivers 

 into districts ; for I imagine that ultimately such would 

 necessarily be the case, for the working out of these 

 improvements must be through a suitable organization, 

 say a board ;of commissioners — the Enclosure Com- 

 missioners, for instance ; for if they are not extinct they 

 cannot have much to do. From them must emanate 

 directions as to what it is desirable to undertake and 

 do, and they should direct the surveys and engineering 

 works. Under them should be a class of owners and 

 occupiers, who might be the conservators of these dis- 

 tricts, with power to levy rates and apportion them ac- 

 cording to benefits received. In fact, there should be 

 an organization something analogous to the Poor-law 

 Board and its ramifications, which may readily be 

 defined to each officer or class of officers, when the 

 course of action opens out, and this, I take, it will 

 depend much upon the valuable information gained in 

 the way I have mentioned. 



ON REMOVING FLOODS OF WATER FROM LOW-LYING LANDS. 



Sir,— I have seen several articles in your jourual deploring 

 the mischief done by the flooding of meadow lands, owing to 

 the crooked courses of rivers, and to the obatructions, natural 

 and artificial, which prevent a quicker passage of the water. 

 I beg to offer a few remarks upon the subject, if you think 

 them worthy of insertion. 



I am the occupier of twenty acres of meadow land, which ia 

 liable to flood, and which, in consequence, had become nearly 

 coveted with the coarae rough herbage so common in such 

 locahties. It is a rich loamy soil, and the river (a sluggish 

 stream) flows round nearly three sides of it. In several places 

 near the centre the land is from six to twelve inches lower 

 than on the river's brink, and in these of course grow the 

 coarsest herbage. Three years ago I drained it with two-inch 

 round pipes, putting the outlets just above the surface of the 

 water in the river when at its lowest point, and obtained a 

 very slight fall for the drains by making them fleeter in the 

 centre (where the ground is low) than at the outlets. Since 

 then it has often been flooded, and this year was covered with 

 water three times between May-day tind Midsummer-day; 

 notwithstanding, so soon as the water was off, the drains ran 

 freely, the ground in a day or two was solid enough to bear 

 oxen, the coarse herbage has nearly disappeared, so that it 

 has this year carried more " stock" than I ever knew it do be- 

 fore. I noio consider every flood does it good, whereas before 



the drainage it did harm. I am therefore inclined to think 

 that if others adopt my plan, instead of complaining of the 

 ohstriictions to the water, they will be wishing they were more 

 numerous, that their meadows might be o/tener flooded. 



You also speak of the land which is damaged by being 

 flooded from the heading-up of water for the use of mills. To 

 this I would say that the remedy is precisely the same as in 

 the other case. All wafer-mills have the water at a low level 

 at the tail of the wheel ; let a main drain be carried to this 

 point, and the land which is flooded by the mill-head drained 

 into this main drain, the same as I have drained mine into the 

 river, and then the oftcner it is flooded the more grass it will 

 grow. The miller's object in keeping his head of water very 

 high is that he may obtain a greater fall, and so increase his 

 motive power. If the land is drained as I propose, he will 

 lose more by the water which will escape through the drains 

 than he will gain by the increased height of his mill-head, so 

 that if he has been in the practice of doing so, he will then 

 desist for his own sake, and only flow the land occasionally, 

 which will he much to its benefit. 



With regard to making hay in such meadows, I can only 



say I think it should not be attempted. With such a demand 



for meat as there is in this country, surely we can make it as 



profitable to graze the margins of our streams as to mow them. 



I am, sir, your constant reader, S. H. S. 



