116 AGRICULTURE. 



avoid the expense of very close draining at the additional 

 depth. . . . If I had a field in my own occupation, of 

 stiff clay, I should place close drains 21 or perhaps 18 feet 

 apart; but I should prefer 4 feet, notwithstanding the 

 additional expense, to 3." 



After a caution against dogmatizing and presuming 

 " that a rule good in their own case must necessarily be 

 good in every other," he thus proceeds : 



" I can conceive a case in which, if you had a limited 

 sum to expend say 4. an acre the nature of the ground 

 might be such that the increased closeness might com- 

 pensate for diminished depth I mean, for instance, that 

 drains 18 feet apart and 3 feet deep might be more 

 effectual than drains 25 feet apart and 4 feet deep." 



Sir Robert then touches on the importance of " breaking 

 up that indurated mass which the trampling of many 

 successive years has formed," to which, as he says, sufficient 

 attention is seldom paid. Probably the words " in my 

 own occupation," quoted above, have reference to the 

 consciousness of the writer that stiff clays are frequently 

 so occupied after drainage as to render the operation of 

 little or no value. The whole letter shows a complete 

 acquaintance with the subject of thorough-draining. 



Perhaps the Earl of Lonsdale was the first large land- 

 owner who, by personal observation, became convinced of the 

 agricultural advantages of deep draining. He picked up 

 this knowledge during his able superintendence of the 

 metropolitan roads, and has applied it very diligently on 

 his extensive estates, and is, we believe, applying it still. 

 But he must speak for himself. On the 22nd Sept., 1 849, 

 at an agricultural gathering in Carlisle, he made the fol- 

 lowing very decisive observations : 



" My noble friend has alluded to my draining. I will 



tell you frankly where I learnt the art. My noble friend 



has spoken of my management of the metropolitan roads. 



That was a little plaything compared to what I have since 



xperienced. It is a fact, however, that I learned draining 



