DRAINING. 



sion of these drains may be necessary; but in making 

 them it will be proper to wait until the effect of the first be 

 perceived before the others be opened. The principal case 

 in which such a succession is requisite, is when the sul>- 

 soil is sand, or a stratum through which the water |inniffl 

 with difficulty. In Mich cast's, ;t is also frequently ad- 

 visable to form a puddle wall across the subsoil, on the 

 lower side of the hollow drain, for the more effectual 

 rity of the lower part of the field. 



When the ditches in Hat countries stand full of water, 

 and gorge up the open subsoil, injurious effects are produ- 

 ced by the water lodging at the roots of the plants. The 

 obvious remedy is to clear and lower the outfall, as al- 

 ready described in Surface-draining: The rule is, that the 

 subsoil should be enabled to run completely dry, which 

 will be sufficiently effected, if the water be kept at least 

 two feet under the surface. 



If such a fall cannot be had naturally, artificial means 

 of drainage must be resorted to; and in these cases it 

 may sometimes be necessary to form n puddle wall along 

 the bounds through the subsoil, to keep off the influx of 

 foreign waters, by a kind of embankment under ground. 



Case 3d, The Soil close as before. 

 Bollom open. 



The Subsoil and 





In.ptrrious EXAMPLE. Deep loam or clay upon gravel, sand, or 

 toil, with open rock. This, if the soil is not only tenacious but 

 "I * deep, is a still more valuable kind than the last ; care 

 being taken to deepen the furrows so far as to communi- 

 cate with the open substratum. Deep strong limestone 

 lands are of tltis kind, and are of well known fertility. 



But if the soil be thin, though sufficiently tenacious, it 

 is apt to be parched, and to have its produce scorched 

 in dry seasons. 



The remedy is to deepen the soil, which, if no other 

 mode is accessible, may be effected by gathering into 

 high ridges or drills, or narrow beds, with alleys between, 

 increasing thereby its thickness, though apparently less- 

 ening its extent. 



Watering or irrigation is also found to be of peculiar 

 value in this kind of soil; the remedy required being in- 

 deed the reverse of draining: and in order to retain the 

 water in the subsoil, it might be advisable to form an 

 artificial adherent bottom, similar to the Norfolk " pan," 

 described below; or to introduce puddle walls of earth, at 

 t'cud levels across the slope, which obliging the waters to 

 descend lower before they could escape, might prolong 

 iheir stay in the neighbourhood of the vegetables. 



CLASS II. Open Soils. 

 Case 4th, The Subsoil and Base also open. 



Oi*n *i'l. Though the due correction of open soils require an ope- 

 ith cubtoil ration which is the reverse of drainage, it will not be ir- 

 wT bate relevant to our present subject to point out the most ad- 

 hle modes of effecting iu Where the materials of 

 these soils, though sufficiently open to prevent any sur- 

 charge of water, have yet such a due proportion of tena- 

 cious matter as to preserve the water from passing too ra- 

 pidly away from the roots of the vegetables, the land is 

 of a highly valuable kind. If this be not the case, and 

 the soil be so open as to permit the water to flow quick- 

 ly away through the porous substrata, the land is in a 

 great measure useless. A few plants are, however, fitted 

 to this kind of soil ; and by encouraging their growth 

 and decay, there will at length be formed from their 

 exuviic a vegetable soil, which will in a great measure 

 cure the defects of the original, and approximate it to 





Case 3d. In this way the Scot* fir has l>cfn often em- nrainin-. 

 ployed for the reclaim of a deep and stubborn sand. S """Y"" ' 

 The ariinilo nrcnaria, a bent grass, is nlso cultivated on 

 lex retaining them from lieing transport- 

 ed by the winds, forms l>\ device-, a soil over them fit 

 for other plants. One obvious corrective for deep po- 

 rous soils, is powerful and constant ii which, in- 

 dependent of the supply of moisture thereby afforded to 

 the vegetable, will also by degrees operate a change on 

 the soil itself; for the finer ]iarticles of mould brought 

 by the water, will enter a little way into the SU!JM 

 and fill up their pores, as happen. with a common li lur- 

 ing stone. 



Where light soils are in constant aration, the plough 

 wc-iks a certain proportion of the mould into the subsoil 

 immediately under the part which is constantly stirred, 

 and thus a thin water-tight partition is formed between 

 the soil and the subsoil, by winch the manure and mois- 

 ture are prevented from sinking too rapidly. The 

 folk " pan" is a stratum or partition of this kii.d, and in 

 without doubt the chief cause of the fertility of the light 

 sandy lands of that country. It has most probably been 

 formed, partly by the application of marl and clay, and 

 partly by the continued friction of the plough, regulated 

 by a wheel, so as at all times to run precisely at the same 

 depth, which may act in the same way as the polisher on 

 the gratuitous surface of sandstone or marble. It is ell 

 known, that whenever the " pan" happens to be broken 

 by the plough or otherwise, the soil is materially injured 

 for a length of yi 



To deepen the soil by Laying it up in drills, and to 

 compress the surface by the roller, are also at times ad- 

 visable, and are well known in the Norfolk turnip hus- 

 bandry, though frequently blindly copied upon soils which 

 have no need of such an operation. How far it might 

 not be advisable, in certain cases, to sink deep and nar- 

 row trenches at a dead level across the slope, filling them 

 up again with puddled stuff or adhesive loam, so as to 

 oblige the water to descend to great depths before it could 

 pass, and thus to retain a greater portion of it in the 

 neighbourhood of the soil, will more plainly appear in the 

 next case. It is evident, that where the ground is very 

 flat, a single ditch of this kind would command r. gn 

 extent, and therefore no great expcnce would be incurred 

 1 v sinking even to a very considerable depth; and there 

 is no doubt but a retentive stratum will be got some- 

 where, and probably at no great distance below the sur- 

 face. 



The consideration of this case will illustrate the pro- 

 priety of the old adage, 



He that mark sand, 

 Will buy land. 



Peat earth, after cultivation, comes also under this case ; 

 the soil being so loose and open, that water escapes more 

 lapidly than from any other soil. Hence, again, 



He that mark mom, 

 Will make no loss. 



But in the cultivation of mosses, the flatness of the land, 

 and retcntiveness of the bottom soil, always afford an 

 easy remedy against drought, unless we deprive ourselves 

 of it by mismanagement. 



Case 5th, An open Subsoil on a retentive Bottom. 



Open soil*, 



Though this kind of soil in its natural state resembles wit1 ' '.'I' 1 " 



. i -i- i mown! on 



the former, it is more capable of remedy. I reocDM, as ret aid 



above mentioned, must be cut across the fall of the bouum. 



