DRAINING. 



71 



Braining. As to the modes of correcting these soils, it may be 

 ^ 7X~~" / ,. observed, that the friability and dryness is greatly 

 promoted by liberal doses of lime, when it can be pro- 

 cured. Calcareous sand, which abounds on many of 

 the shores of these kingdoms, is also a most valuable 

 corrective for them ; as, indeed, would be sand of any 

 kind, and even dry peat mould or turf dust. Where 

 no foreign substance is accessible, pairing and burning 

 is still an excellent remedy, and should be resorted to 

 without dread ; though in many other soils it might be 

 attended with injurious consequences. The clay, by 

 this means, being baked, becomes a dry powder, per- 

 meable to water, which corrects the tenacity of the soil, 

 while the rushes and other aquatic weeds are not only 

 destroyed, but add a proportion of carbonaceous princi- 

 ple. 



Though the above processes will, in all cases, operate 

 n great improvement, yet it cannot be denied, that hol- 

 low draining may, at times, prove useful. The chief 

 cause is the improper direction of the ridges ; for if they 

 run immediately down the slope and the top be flat, it 

 is obvious, that whatever water falls upon the ridge, 

 will tend, after sinking through the mould, to pass for- 

 ward on the clay in a direction down the slope, and of 

 course parallel to the furrow without falling into it. 

 The consequence is, that the soil, especially in consider- 

 able declivities, may be as much drenched as if these 

 furrows had not been made. To intercept that water, 

 hollow drains are required, passing across the declivity; 

 and care should be taken in constructing them, that the 

 water may always have free admittance, while at the 

 same time the materials may not be stirred, and of course 

 die drain choked up by the plough : the best preven- 

 tative for which is, to have the under soil so well opened 

 tliat the water may pass into the drain laterally below 

 the reach of the plough ; for though the same end may 

 be obtained by filling up the drain with porous matter, 

 as gravel or turf dust, peat mould dried, yet it is dif- 

 ficult while the soil is under culture to prevent these 

 from " puddling" up, or if not carried to the surface, 

 to prevent the clay from caking over them ; besides, 

 such substances are not abundant in the clay countries. 

 If the furrows were to be laid in the same direction as 

 thoM 1 drains, they would doubtless produce nearly the 

 same benefit, and in many cases might be even more 

 effectual than the hollow drains, since they are always 

 open for the reception of the water. In other cases, 

 where it may be inconvenient to plough inthat direction, 

 and in flat lands of retentive soil, as in most of the cen- 

 tral counties of England and in Flanders, the general 

 mode of drying the land is to lay it up in high and 

 broad ridges of twenty to forty feet wide, with the 

 centre or crown three or four feet higher than the fur- 

 rows. The successful practice of the Flemings shows 

 how effective this method is when well executed ; for 

 by attentively keeping the furrows perfectly free from 

 water, the land is kept in a dry sound state, so that all 

 kinds of crops succeed well The frequent passage of 

 the plough at a regular depth, forms as it were a po- 

 lished surface under the stirred soil, parallel to the up- 

 per surface of the ridge. Upon that surface the water 

 passes laterally into the furrows on either side, soaking 

 through tho stirred upper stratum ; and by these fur- 

 n.w-i it is carried off the field This is the true way in 

 which the ridges and furrows act in the drainage of 

 land, but it is not often sufficiently attended to. In 

 many instances the furrows are not properly directed, 

 or deep enough, or the ridges are too flat, by which 

 means the water stagnates in the hollows, or lodges in 



the soil. This bad management has brought the me- Draining. 

 thod itself into discredit ; so that in many places they ' T~~ 

 have been levelling their ridges at great expence, with- 

 out considering th :t this may, op clay soils, be very 

 imprudent ; for when the ridges are well rounded, not 

 too high, with the furrows kept open and free from 

 stagnant water, by means of well-directed cross water 

 furrows, or gaas, as they are termed in the Carse of 

 Gowrie, no mode appears better or simpler for draining 

 land of a very retentive soil. 



And here it may be observed, that since the most ef- 

 fectual way of draining these soils is by keeping them 

 in constant cultivation, and to open and stir the subsoil, 

 nothing can be more absurd than the policy so com- 

 mon in England, of prohibiting grass lands from being 

 broken up by the plough. In soils of this kind, which 

 compose a very great proportion of the grass lands of 

 the kingdom, it is, in some measure, dooming them to 

 perpetual sterility. Such land produces next to nothing 

 in grass, while, by judicious culture properly perseve-' 

 red in, it becomes the most productive 'of all tillage. 

 The reader will, we doubt not, see from hence the ne- 

 cessity of fallows upon clayey and wet bottoms, which 

 have been so much descried by some agricultural wri- 

 ters. 



Peat bog or moss may be compared to the clays in its 

 raw state, or before cultivation, and should be drained 

 in the same manner. Before its texture is broken, it 

 will hold water like a dish. The facility of forming an 

 open subsoil in peat is, however, vastly greater than in 

 the clays ; all that is required being to dig it, keeping 

 the heath down : but on the other hand, the peat, when 

 once dried, becomes like a piece of cork, and if wished 

 to be productive, must be broken down and preserved 

 in a certain degree of moistness. This is to be done by 

 broad ridges and shallow furrows : the elevation of the 

 middle of the ridge should be about ten inches. The 

 drainage, however, though shallow, must be perfectly 

 free, so that constant scouring becomes necessary when 

 they are left open. The plants will thus be kept al- 

 ways within reach of a supply of moisture in dry wea- 

 ther, without which the crops might be blighted, and 

 the upper peat earth, by exposure to the weather, cul- 

 tivation, and manures, will be gradually converted into 

 the most fertile black mould. The benefit of clay and 

 earth mixed with peat, may easily be perceived from 

 the tenor of this Section. 



Deep drainage of mosses for agriculture, is therefore 

 not only useless, but would be pernicious if effectual. 



CASE 2d, The Soil and Base as before The Subsoil 

 open. 



EXAMPLE. Clay loam upon gravel, or sand and clay Draining of 

 bottom bog or moss trenched, and cultivated upon black impervious 

 bos bottom. The observations made on the last case, * oi ^ 1 * 

 will sufficiently inform the reader of the value of this P n s 

 kind of land, when the soil is of sufficient depth, and 

 the subsoil sufficiently open to free the soil from col- 

 lected moisture. Where the ground lies with a long 

 descent, the water may possibly collect in the subsoil, 

 towards the lower part, and pressing upwards against 

 the soil, may soak through and injure it, forming a 

 spongy clay soil. Whenever this appears, a drain must 

 be formed across the slope, with a moderate descent, 

 just above the part affected, by cutting down into the 

 retentive bottom a few inches, and forming a channel 

 there to receive the water as it collects, ahd convey it 

 off to the open drains. If the slope be long, a succes- 



