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V. — On the Stoppac/e of Drains by a Stony Deposit. 

 From Lord Portman. 



To Mr. Pusey. 

 Dear Pusey, — I wish to call the attention of those persons 

 who are engaged in draining land, to the accompanying state- 

 ment of facts tending to show the importance of ascertaining the 

 quality of the water which is to pass through the drains, before 

 selecting the material of which they are to be formed. I have 

 seen many cases where drains built with stones — made with 

 broken stones — filled with boughs of trees or with poles of alder 

 or larch — made with tiles and soles (as each person has thought 

 best), have been stopped, adjacent to turf-wedge drains made 

 from 20 to 40 years before, which were running perfectly. I 

 have in some cases satisfied myself that a deposit has attached 

 itself to these materials, and has more or less impeded the 

 drainage, and that no deposit has been made in the turf-drains 

 by the same water ; but I have not hitherto ascertained with 

 sufficient accuracy the real cause of the stoppage, though I have 

 little doubt, from what I now know, that a chemical analysis of 

 the water would explain it. In tile-pipes I have not yet seen 

 any similar stoppage, but my experience of pipes is not yet suf- 

 ficient to justify me in saying that they would not be liable to 

 similar obstructions. I believe that the aid of the chemist and 

 of the geologist are essential to the permanent success of the 

 drainer. T now give you one case in full detail, sent to me, at my 

 request, by my friend Mr. Goodden of Compton House, near 

 Sherborne, from whom I received the water and the deposit, 

 whereof I send you a copy of the analysis made by Professor 

 Way. Yours truly, 



Bryanston, April 28, 1849. Portman. 



" Although I have been doing a great deal of draining of late, 

 I have been a good deal staggered as to its being an improvement of 

 long continuance. Twenty years ago a large pasture field of mine 

 was drained under the old and exploded system of Turf-draining. 

 There is a carrier of stone of large dimensions in the field ; this 

 was choked some weeks since, and I had it opened a long dis- 

 tance up, and, to my surprise, I found the whole drain comjjletely 

 closed with the incrustation from the water ; the substance is pre- 

 cisely the same as that we find in our boilers. The field in 

 question is 29 acres of old pasture ; the soil of which is a loam 

 with a clay subsoil. It was drained in the year 1829, it being 

 then in a wet state. The drainage was effected partly by what 

 is called turf or wedge-draining, and partly by stone. There 

 was a stone drain straight down the field, into which some of 

 the side drains emptied themselves ; it was a good sized drain, 



