384 Improvement of Grass-land on the 



with advantage — that there are soils so impervious that the 

 water-table, if one existed, would be on, or only a few inches 

 beneath, the surface. We agree, however, with those who believe 

 that there is no soil so absolutely impervious but that by proper 

 methods of cultivation it may become an absorbent. At Braydon 

 it was quite evident that the only water-table on the undrained 

 land was close to the surface. Consequently, every shower of 

 rain made the land very wet ; and the surface lying flat, in many 

 instances, water remains on during winter, destroying every good 

 grass, and leaving the weeds we have noticed masters of the 

 field. 



Drainage was, of course, the first step towards improvement — 

 there was abundance of pipe-clay on the spot, and draining ma- 

 terials might have been made for a comparatively trifling cost ; 

 but our enterprising friend determined to drain by steam and 

 discard pipes altogether, trusting to the permanency of the 

 opening made by the mole of the plough. 



Some ten or eleven years before this time, and soon after the 

 Exhibition of 1851, when Mr. Fowler's invention was first 

 exhibited, a drainage-plough had found its way into Braydon, 

 and one occupier inore intelligent than his neighbours had a 

 good deal done with manifest advantage, inasmuch as the drains 

 being placed at short intervals well dried the land, and most, 

 if not all, were in good working order at the time when Mr. 

 Ruck entered on his occupation. We much question the wisdom 

 of this proceeding. It is true that the cost was small, not 

 exceeding 11. an acre, and that where the fall is sharp and the 

 outfall frequent, the land appears fairly dry, perhaps sufficiently 

 so for pasture ; but, inasmuch as Braydon subsoils contain a good 

 deal of sand mixed with the clay, it follows that there will 

 always be a risk of sand being washed in and choking up the 

 drains. In flat land the mole-plough would not do at all, as 

 it would be impossible to secure a regular fall. The drains 

 must not have a long draught ; and if from this cause the 

 drains thus made are not doing their work in a satisfactory 

 manner, it will often be found beneficial to cut them in half by 

 taking a main across the middle of the field, and thus giving an 

 easier and more rapid vent to the upper half of a field. These 

 mains should be carefully dug and provided with pipes of a good 

 size, so laid in that each mole-drain is properly let into the main. 



Messrs. Eddington, of Chelmsford, the present proprietors of 

 tne Steam Drainage Plough, have kindly sent us plans of their 

 machinery, and we can readily believe that in a homogeneous soil, 

 and on grass-land where great depth is not desirable, their pipe- 

 laying machine will prove of great service, and cause a considerable 

 saving over manual labour. One great advantage in the use of 

 the mole-draining apparatus consists in the upheaval and opening 



