174 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 



way, the water would have been lowered more than ten 

 feet, and the lands above relieved from flooding. Those 

 interested in cases of this kind should therefore make up 

 their minds to sweeping measures, as there is but one 

 way of disposing of obstruction of this kind to river- 

 drainage. Bridges and bends ought to be so constructed 

 as not to increase the depth of rivers. In other words, 

 the inclination of the bottom, depth of v/ater, and velo- 

 city should be as uniform as possible. The modus 

 ope?rindi oi effecting this, will, of course, depend upon 

 the special data of every individual case. One thing 

 may safely be said by way of generalization — many a pet 

 corner of laud, and not a few favourite old bridges, will 

 have to disappear, before our large valleys are success- 

 fully drained, and landowhers allowed to drain each his 

 own lands into his own part of the river. 



We cannot close these cursory observations on so im- 

 portant a national subject without offering a word of 

 caution aga.mstjobbinff of ever;/ kind. To do the work 

 ten times, instead of only once, would no doubt afford 

 more pay to hydraulic engineers and navvies, to say no- 

 thing of lawyers', Jewa', and bankers' pockets. No 

 small amount of the opposition to railroads passing 

 through estates arose from the out-of-the-way hiding 

 places, in which title deeds were found ; and no doubt 

 it is possible for Jews and lawyers to play a crafty 

 game at " /i»Zi-a/ifZ-5ee/i; " before the rights of some 

 tail-back-water lairds make their appearance. But 



nothing cm be more objeclionable than patch-work 

 jobbing — works no sooner finished than requiring to be 

 done over and over again. Why should landowners be 

 called upon, in an age of free trade, to support mono- 

 polising statute companies, at an enormously extrrrae 

 expense, in draining their lands each through his neigh- 

 bour's properties, in order to find an outfall several miles, 

 it may be, lower down the river, when under a proper 

 system of drainage each could drain his lands into his 

 own portion of the river at a fraction of the expense ? 

 Why deny to them nature's rights, and the privilege of 

 exercising their professional functions as loyal subjects 

 — as honest industrious cltizsns of the realm, and as de- 

 manded of them by statute law, common sense, and the 

 progress of things ? Why subject them to all this, fcr 

 no other reason than to uphold a state of things never 

 contemplated by Parliament or statute law ? We repeat, 

 Parliament never authorised canal companies and tail- 

 back-water squires to flood our valkys as they now do. 

 By whose authority then do they enjoy this " right," 

 as they are pleased to call it ? Such a " light '' is more 

 than Queen, Lords, and Commons can grant, or even 

 uphold, much less justify — a right only upheld by per- 

 verted law, court intrigue, and a beaver system of en- 

 gineering more easily imagined than described. In 

 short, it is not a "right," but a national grievance 

 which Parliament is in duty bound to redress. 



Engineer. 



THE FARM AND THE RAIL. 



The blessings of railways are coming to be pretty 

 generally appreciated. Even the old-fashioned country 

 squires who swore terrible oaths never to travel in such 

 a way are now and then to bo discovered in snug 

 corners of first-class can-iages. Respectable, far- 

 seeing provincial towns, whose great boast it had been 

 to keep the nuisance at arm's length, have now strong 

 hopes that their little Bill for the Junction line will get 

 through; and sportsmen, once in absolute despair of 

 ever seeing another good thing with hounds, find the 

 monster the very ideal of a pleasant cover-hack. Of 

 course agriculture has not gone without a fair slice of 

 this common good. Indeed, if we recollect aright, a 

 smart gentleman wrote a book to show that farming 

 and farmers would have been little or nothing without 

 the railways. They did not think— they did not travel — ■ 

 they did notsee anything — they got nothing new — they 

 didn't progress as they should do, until they went "ex- 

 press" through the country. And then the guard's shrill 

 whistle acted in a moment like the crack of harle- 

 quin's wand ! They pulled off their top coats and their 

 top-boots. They threw ofl^ their old habits and their 

 prejudices; And lo ! they were good quick men of 

 business, who meant to have tho best of everything and 

 make the most of ever^ thing. 



That is, always assuming with the aid of the rail- 

 ways. It was soon proved, moreover, that any such 



understanding must conduce to a mutual benefit ; and 

 market-trains, and.cattle-trucks, and loads of corn, be- 

 came alike household words at the homestead and tho 

 station. If the farmer was only half the clever fellow 

 he should be, he at once turned his attention to that 

 ready transit the line offered; and if the diiectors 

 were worthy of their seats, they did as much to en- 

 courage the countenance of an agricultural district as 

 they would that of a manufacturer or a coal mine. 

 Wants like these grow by what they are fed upon ; 

 and if "the goods train" bring us cake, and seed 

 and manure, it is a palpable truism tliat the same 

 Company may take off the produce again in cattle and 

 butter and corn. Either are, thtn, alike to be 

 blamed, if they do not make the most of the 

 opportunities before them; and whether it be a 

 question of profits or dividends, it is one that " the 

 shareholders" should not hesitate to put. " Naturally 

 enough" one would take it to be all one way. If 

 there be any neglect, the farmer, in many parts, has 

 still scarcely got his eyes open; while "the Railway 

 ,\uthoritics," on the contrary, continually plume them- 

 selves on the energy with which they develop new 

 sources of traffic. 



Strange as it may sound, the actual position of parties 

 is coming to be reversed. It is not the agriculturist 

 that any longer requires to be drawn out, but it is 



