122 AGRICULTURE. 



liked by the workmen ; a set for from fifteen to twenty 

 men costs five guineas. Mr. Parkes calculated the number 

 and sizes of the pipes which would be required, and then 

 made the contract for them certainly 10 per cent, lower 

 than we should have procured them, simply because the 

 makers knew that Mr. Parkes was well aware at what price 

 they could be afforded, and was prepared, in case of neces- 

 sity, to establish a tilery, as he had previously done on 

 estates in several counties. Pipes, tools, and spademen 

 being at length provided, Mr. Parkes brought a foreman, 

 with whom he set out drains, and left the work under his 

 superintendence. To this man we paid 20s. per week. 

 He understood pretty accurately the prices of work, and 

 dealt fairly between the employer and the labourers. He 

 instructed them in the use of the new tools. He measured 

 up the work, kept the accounts, paid the men, and laid 

 every pipe and collar with his own hands. It would be 

 scarcely more absurd to set a common blacksmith to eye 

 needles, than to employ a common labourer to lay pipes 

 and collars. For these services we paid to Mr. Parkes 6s. 

 per acre drained, and some travelling expenses. In each 

 of the two years preceding that on which we had Mr. 

 Parkes's assistance, we drained similar and adjoining land. 

 We do not believe that Mr. Parkes would have varied 

 either the direction or the depth of any of our drains. He 

 would have made them less frequent intervals of 12 yards 

 instead of 10, and 10 instead of 8. Allowing for this, we 

 find that the saving on Mr. Parkes's draining, after it is 

 debited with every charge, is more than 10s. per acre. We 

 verily believe that, in the case of a totally-inexperienced 

 land-owner or bailiff, the saving would be reckoned by 

 pounds, not by shillings. Our readers will expect that we 

 should say something about cost. We do not think that 

 we ever saw so favourable a combination of circumstances, 

 that efficient thorough-draining of retentive land could be 

 executed at from 4 to 5 feet deep, under 4Z. per acre. We 

 have seen few or no cases in which it might not be executed 



