84 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



with haulm over it, the water finding its way through the 

 wood;&quot; but this mode is deemed expensive. &quot;But, better 

 than all, peat cut for the purpose in the fens, in length fifteen 

 inches, and three inches square, is pressed gently into the top of 

 the narrow drain, and the earth thrown in upon it. The peat 

 swells speedily, and becomes firmly fixed, and is very durable ; 

 and has this advantage over the methods already specified, and 

 also over tile-draining, that a fold-stake driven into it commits 

 no damage. In peat-draining, when we come to stony or grav 

 elly spots, two pieces of peat instead of one, or one and a half, 

 are placed side by side, or, in bad cases, the sides of the drain are 

 built with turf, as well as the top. Stubble, heath, hop-binds, 

 straw, are quickly decomposed and washed away; peat remains. 

 Sir Humphry Davy says, &quot; Inert peaty matter remains for years 

 exposed to water and air, without undergoing change.&quot; * 



9. DRAINING IN BERKSHIRE. Mr. Pusey, whose operations I 

 had the pleasure of witnessing, is now draining extensively after 

 the method which I have described the plug method. The 

 field in which this process was going on was a stiff, adhesive 

 clay. I do not understand him to prefer it to tile-draining, 

 excepting on the ground of cost. The objection want of per 

 manence is met by the small comparative expense. &quot; Where 

 the whole of a large farm requires to be drained, and the means 

 both of landlord and tenant are limited, there can scarcely be a 

 doubt which is best for both of them, to drain 100 acres for 

 forty years, or 300 acres for twenty years.&quot; All this must be 

 matter of personal calculation, which is likely to be affected by 

 a great variety of circumstances. The farmer must calculate 

 the length of his lease, and the landlord the length of his life. 

 I cannot most certainly commend the selfishness of the man who 

 said &quot;he should do nothing for posterity because posterity had 

 done nothing for him ; &quot; but improvements are sometimes made 

 so unnecessarily substantial and expensive, that the mere interest 

 of the sum expended would build them in a way to be effective, 

 and rebuild them as often as might be necessary to do so. Mr. 

 Pusey refers to one fact well worthy of remark : His drainer, an 

 experienced man, traced out the drain with a plough, and the 



* Journal of Royal Agricultural Society, vol. iv. part 1, p. 29. 



