THE DRAINAGE OF FARMS. 79 



be held fast, and presently the whole surface become saturated 

 with wetness. In such cases, by piercing forcibly through this 

 stratum, or by digging wells in different parts of the field, which 

 would go through it, a more open stratum would be reached, arid, 

 in this way, the whole land be completely drained. This plan 

 would sometimes succeed, where the geological structure of the 

 land favored it, and obtained for him great celebrity and most 

 extensive patronage ; but, for obvious reasons, it must sometimes 

 fail, and large expenditures were occasionally followed by severe 

 disappointments. The discovery of this mode of drainage, which 

 excited great attention at first, seems, like many other important 

 inventions and discoveries, to have been the result of mere acci 

 dent ; the circumstance of a laborer having forced a crowbar, 

 through a solid stratum of earth, into an open, porous, and grav 

 elly subsoil, by which means a large quantity of water was made 

 to disappear, having induced to other experiments, which proved 

 successful. There can be no doubt that Elkington s practice 

 might still be adopted with success in many cases ; but it is not 

 now regarded, as at first, like the patent medicines which we see 

 every day advertised as certain to cure all diseases. 



4 DRAINING WITH FAGOTS AND STRAW. Various methods of 

 draining land had been practised for a great length of time before 

 this, and many of them are still continued; and, though they 

 may not come in competition with the most improved modern 

 methods, yet they frequently may furnish a useful substitute, 

 and in some circumstances, and in certain localities, may be most 

 eligible. In some cases, after the drain had been dug, it was 

 filled in with fagots, over which the soil was returned and 

 pressed down. In some cases, si rope of straw was placed in the 

 bottom of the drain, and the drain filled in over it, so that, when 

 it decayed, it left a passage for the water. These were, of course, 

 imperfect modes of draining, and the drains could not be con 

 sidered as very permanent. The filling up was merely intended 

 to remain until the earth had become consolidated, and an arch 

 was formed. 



-5. PLUG-DRAINING. In some places a mode of draining, 

 which is called plug-draining, is still in use in stiff clay soils ; is 

 executed at a comparatively small expense : and, though not so 



