70 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



be excused for dwelling longer upon them, and for giving some 

 communications, with which my personal friend, Sir George 

 Cayley, who has been largely concerned, has been kind enough 

 to favor me. 



&quot; The general plan of the Muston drainage, intended to drain 

 about 10,000 acres, near Scarborough, might be thus stated. 

 The small rivers, Hartford and Derwent, with several brooks, 

 held their courses through an extensive marsh, and, in times of 

 heavy rain, they overflowed their banks, and flooded the land to 

 a great extent. No expense whatever was incurred for cutting 

 channels deep enough to convey away the flood-waters of these 

 rivers or brooks; but they were allowed to keep their ancient 

 levels, and embankments were made near them on each side, by 

 cutting deep back drains, for carrying the dead water from the 

 lands, and casting up the soil, excavated from them, on to the 

 sides next the rivers or brooks. By this process, all the great 

 body of water was conveyed in times of flood, within these 

 embankments, to the lowest outfall and the deep cutting which 

 was considered the sine qua non of an efficient drainage, and 

 the expensive part of it, was entirely confined to such moderate- 

 sized drains as were sufficient to convey the dead water from 

 the land. Another practical advantage of the deep back drains 

 being contiguous to the embankments, was that, when they 

 received any injury from cracking, after long droughts, or the 

 burrowing of moles and water-rats, and thus permitted the flood- 

 water to pass in some degree through them, the back drains 

 interrupted it, and preserved the land from injury.&quot; 



7. DRAINAGE AT SCAMPTON. In addition to the above, I will 

 give the account, with which he has also favored me, of the 

 draining of his own private estate at Scampton. 



: With respect to the leading features of drainage, on the great 

 scale of operations, I sent you some reports of the Society of 

 Civil Engineers, in which, near the end of the papers, you have a 

 short account (given above) of the principle I previously named 

 to you as having been applied in draining my own estate at 

 Scampton, of which place you had spoken in your first number, 

 with reference to other matters. As there is no plan or section 

 of these drains given, and as the subject is of first-rate agricul- 



