TILE AND PIPE DRAINING. 101 



2. IMPORTANT POINTS IN DRAINING. Some most important 

 points in draining seem to have been but recently established. 

 The first is, that water enters the drain from the bottom, rather 

 than from the top; that is, its tendency is always to seek the 

 lowest level. The second point, which seems well determined, 

 is, that pipes of an inch bore are sufficient, when laid down at 

 proper distances, for the rapid and effectual removal of any 

 quantity of water from the land, which is the effect of rain upon 

 the land. The third point is, that deep draining, though the 

 drains be less frequent, is much more effectual than shallow 

 draining, and that where drains of two feet deep h&v.o failed to 

 run, or even drains of three feet have been ineffectual, drains of 

 four feet on the same land have shown the presence ot . larga 

 quantities of water in the land, which otherwise would not have 

 been removed. I have seen this completely demonstrated ; and 

 the testimonies on this subject are so multiplied within my own 

 knowledge, that it may almost be affirmed that a single drain of 

 four feet in depth will be more effectual in the drainage of a 

 soil, than two drains of the same size laid at any depth less than 

 three feet. The Duke of Portland, when I had the pleasure of 

 examining his magnificent improvements at Welbeck Abbey, 

 pointed out to me some land, which had been deemed suf 

 ficiently drained, and indeed much more deeply than was usual, 

 but which, notwithstanding, continued to occasion rot to the 

 sheep which were fed upon it ; and the evil was not effectually 

 removed until the drains were sunk to the depth of eight feet. 



u Several respectable and intelligent farmers in Kent, who 

 have laid drains very deeply in clays and stiff soils, assert that 

 the flow from the deepest drains invariably commences and 

 ceases sooner than from shallower drains after rain.&quot; This is a 

 curious fact. That it should flow more copiously in such deep 

 drains is to be expected, from the fact of a deep drain s affecting 

 a larger extent of land than a shallow drain ; but, as the gentle 

 man who states this fact suggests, it is not so easy to account 

 for the water falling upon the surface appearing in a drain four 

 feet deep sooner than in one two feet deep. The fact, how 

 ever, seems well established. 



3. RESULTS AND EXPERIENCE IN PIPE DRAINING. DEPTH OF 

 DRAINS. I shall now proceed to state some facts, both in 



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