92 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



it will be found that a much less space than this will be ample 

 for the discharge of all the water from the land under any cir 

 cumstances ; and where round tiles, of an inch bore, are used, 

 (which are getting to be decidedly preferred,) no more width at 

 bottom will be required than merely to place the tile. Where 

 broken stones are employed, no stone larger than, will pass 

 through a two and a half inch ring should be employed ; large 

 stones ought by no means to be used. 



Practical men advise that the length of a drain should never 

 exceed 300 yards : and, where it crosses springs of water, it should 

 not exceed 200 yards. The rule, in making drains, is, to begin 

 with the complete formation of the main drain, and then proceed 

 with the parallel drains, from the point where they enter the 

 main drain to their upper extremity. In filling up, the order is 

 to be reversed, and the completion of the drain is to commence 

 at the upper end, and proceed to its termination with the lower 

 end, or with its entrance into the main drain. It is extremely 

 desirable to have, if possible, all the drains opened before any 

 portion of them is filled in, that their partial working may be 

 watched, and a right inclination secured ; and a very eminent and 

 successful improver advises, where draining is attempted in a stiff 

 soil of clay, for example, after the tiles are laid, to fill in but par 

 tially at first, leaving the land to be swollen and cracked by the 

 winter frosts. for, such fissures being once opened, the water 

 will make for itself through them communications with the drain 

 which will become permanent. 



It is now an established point, and one of great importance, 

 that, with the exception of the main drain and the submains, 

 which must conform to the character of the land, and the point 

 where a discharge of the waters is to be sought, all drains 

 should be made as straight as possible ; and that, where they are 

 made on a side hill, they should proceed straight down the hill 

 in the direction of its inclination, and never be made round it, 

 or cut it diagonally, for the obvious reason that, although a 

 drain made round a hill, or cutting it diagonally, might take the 

 water from the land above it, or intercept any spring which 

 might be found higher up on the hill, yet it would do nothing 

 towards relieving the land below from any wetness which might 

 proceed from rain or from springs situated below it. It is 

 obvious, likewise, that a drain cut round a hill, or diagonally 



