AGRICULTURAL DRAINAGE.* 



PINDAB bequeathed to us the maxim " "Aptcrrov p\v v$ug t " 

 to which the Portuguese have added the equally pithy pro- 

 verb, "Water is wealth." The present state, the early 

 history, and the ancient remains of eastern and southern 

 countries concur in informing us, that the first and most 

 successful efforts of agriculture were directed to an artifi- 

 cial supply of water to the various objects of cultivation. 

 The special promise made to the Israelites was, " The 

 land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land 

 of Egypt, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it 

 with thy foot, as a garden of herbs : but the land whither 

 thou goest is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh 

 water of the rain of heaven." And so our northern and 

 sea-girt isle drinketh the rain of heaven to repletion ; 

 " immensum ccelo ruit agmen aquarum" We do not span 

 our valleys with aqueducts, and rib the sides of our hills 

 with superficial courses, to convey adventitious water to 

 our agriculture. On the contrary, we invoke ingenuity to 

 devise, and science and labour to execute, subterranean 



* 1. " Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society." Vol. IX., Art. XL, 

 " On the Failure of Deep Draining," &c. By Wra. Bullock Webster. 

 London, 1848. 



2. " Mechi's Experience in Drainage," &c. Third Edition. London 

 1848. 



3. " Essays on the Philosophy and Art of Land Drainage." By Josiah 

 Parkes, C.E. London, 1848. Longman and Co. 



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