272 Management and hnprovementj hy Tillage f 



aod only two inches and a half wide at the top, and one at tlic 

 bottom, open a drain fixteen inches deep ; fill this with the 

 Avhcat haulm, raniniing it down as hard aspoffihle; the 

 price two fliillings and fixpcnce per fcore rods, to dig ancj 

 ■fill up. It is, I prefunie, unneceflary to obferve that thefe 

 and all other drains {l)ould not be cut in a line with the na- 

 .tural ifill of the land, but in an oblique dircAion. Nq 

 buflies Ibonld be ufed, :m, when th.efe begin to decay, pieces 

 of theui will fall acrofs tl^cfc very narrow drains, and obftru6t 

 the courfc of the ^vater. The ftraw or haulm, when it- de- 

 cays, floiighs oiF, and ihc water iJafling through the clay fornis 

 an arch, which wiil Lift; many years. There arp drains of 

 this fort ftill open in FJitchaqi parifl), which have been cut 

 more than twenty years. Having thus freed the land fron| 

 the uoxipus jnoiilure arifing from ftagnant water, with one 

 bout of the plough throw the land on to thiec-feet ridges^ 

 and before January rcveife tliefe. In the fpriiig, whcfi per- 

 fectly dry, harrow down the ridges with the fi.xed harrowj 

 fo as to m^ke a complete fallow ; then drcfs with lime or 

 .'conipolt, and baulk the land, vi;s. give it half a pl.oiighing, 

 Ji-'avlng it in narrow ridges, fp as it will harrow down quite 

 jpvel and fine without any furrows appearing. In the be- 

 ginning of Auguft fow thirty- two bufliels per acre of the 

 I'weepings of hav- chambers, where only good old m.eadow 

 hay has been ufed witjhoqt any broad clover and rye-grafs, 

 five pounfls of Dutch clover, and five pounds of tref9il ; 

 harrow the feeds three or f(>ur times over, and you may ex- 

 pect two tons or two tons .and a half of hay per aicre the firft 

 ye^r ; which will pay alj the expenfes, a^d leave the land ini- 

 pfoved from five {hillings or feyen (liillings and fix-pence per 

 acre, its original value, to fourteen |(J?i!lings or fixteen fliil- 

 Jiijgs per acre. 



And now, ge^leyiep, as you feem particularly defirous of 

 obtaining information froin actual experiment, peri^iit me to 

 sflure you, tliat though I have not given you, neither is it in 

 jny power, an exatl detailed account of an experiment I 

 «iade o,n fifty acres of land in the wijds of Surrey, yet thi? 

 .g^eat oy,t,liqes of the plan, and the genera! refult, correfpond 

 j^j.ih my afitual prafticc. Tpurcbafcd nearly 6oo ;icres of 

 land in that courty for three thouf^n'd fix hundred pounds; 

 l^e ftock and crops were ya,lued to me at about five hun- 

 ikcd pounds, and the rcntof t^ie ,i;p^ior,p3rt of the land elti- 

 jnated at five fliillings per acre. After farming it fome yearsj 



* The fcarifiers would lis dangerous inftrumcnts to ufe after the drains 

 3kre cut. a? they, by pciuir.itiiig too de,ep, mi^lit pull down the Iries of 

 ^e drains, and bring tlie haulm to tiic furfage.- b'otc by Mr, Clofc 



