462 The journal of Forestry. 



to floods." (Bagneris.) " Draining of young plantations is a course 

 of preparation that cannot safely be dispensed with." "Where the 

 ground is naturally dry, light, and friable, such preliminary operations 

 may be dispensed with ; and, indeed, farther loosening or draining 

 may, in certain circumstances, be detrimental rather than favourable 

 to the plants." (Lewis Bayne.) The apparent inconsistency of these 

 opinions is merely superficial. No one law can be laid down ; we 

 must consider the nature of the soil and situation, and the species to 

 be planted. Sloping plantations will seldom require artificial drainage, 

 as if the soil be light it will be sufficiently drained for conifers ; if 

 heavy, sufficiently for oak and the hardwoods mentioned by Professor 

 Bagneris. Even on what is apparently a dead level it will seldom be 

 necessary to drain a whole plantation. If the water is not stagnant 

 in the soil so as to produce sourness, as may be the case even in sand, 

 owing to a local stone or clay pan, draining will probably be un- 

 necessary even for conifers. The growth of rushes, the wood-rush, 

 {L'iLzvliC),\X\Q, bog asphodel {Narthecium) , a yellow star-like plant; 

 the tufted hair-grass {Aira cccspitosa), or of mosses on the surface, are 

 sure indications of the absolute necessity of drainage. 



The breadth of drains at the bottom should never be less than a 

 foot, to allow free spade-room, and across the top there should be one- 

 third as much again as their depth, to avoid any risk of the sides 

 falling in. Tor the same reason the fall ought never to exceed four in 

 the hundred, so that on a slope steeper than this the drains must run 

 diagonally, and not in the direction of the slope. Stiff soil will, of 

 course, bear a greater fall than light or sandy, and will require the 

 deepest drains and the greatest number of them. Three feet may be 

 taken as the maximum of original depth, two as the minimum, but 

 periodical clearings must deepen all drains as the roots grow deeper, 

 so that five feet may well be their depth after fifty years. The mini- 

 mum distance apart for drains is put at twenty-five feet, the maximum 

 at fifty. All drains ought to be examined and cleared every two 

 years, and the main drain yearly, so that the smaller ones may flush 

 themselves. To secure this, two drains meeting should form an acute 

 angle pointing in the direction of the flow ; three drains should never 

 meet in one point, and the bottom of the lower ends or outfalls of the 

 small drains should be a few inches above the bottom of the main 

 drain. 



Main drains must, of course, be made in the lowest part of the 

 ground, which it will be necessary to determine by the use of the 

 spirit level in draining ground which is apparently a dead level. 

 They must increase in size on receiving additional small drains, and 

 their general capacity must be regulated by the amount of water 

 likely to be poured into them in time of floods. 



