204 AN AMERICAN FARMER IN ENGLAND. 



The mains were laid one foot deeper than the collecting drains, 

 and the pipes in them were from two to six inches bore. No 

 series of drains were run more than seventy yards in length 

 without a main, and all the mains emptied into an open ditch 

 at the lowest side of the field, which was made deep enough 

 to allow of a drop of one foot from the mouths of the pipes. 

 Where such a ditch was likely to gully, the sides were sloped 

 and turfed. 



I will hereafter give a chapter on the process of thorough 

 draining in its most approved British methods, with estimates 

 of cost, and a discussion of ho\v far it may be profitably em 

 ployed in the United States. For Great Britain, it is the 

 most important agricultural improvement ever made, and it 

 is hardly absurd to assert that its general introduction during 

 the last ten years has saved England from a revolution ; cer 

 tainly it is of the greatest political and social consequence to 

 her ; I trust, therefore, even my non-agricultural readers will 

 have some interest in the subject. 



The wages of the men employed at this w r ork averaged 

 $2.25 a week ; boys, 16 cents a day. 



Mr. Green sent a lad to guide me across the park to the 

 road I wished to take a remarkably bright, amiable boy, 

 with whom I had a pleasant talk as he led me on by the most 

 charming way, among the old oaks, and through herds of 

 deer. He could read and write, and knew something of ge 

 ography and arithmetic, having been instructed by the curate 

 of Ruabon, whom he seemed to have much loved. (I think he 

 had died lately.) He also spoke kindly of Sir Watkins and 

 his lady, to whom his father was shepherd, and said that all 

 their servants and poor people were much attached to them. 

 Passing near the hall, I asked for some water, and he took 

 me into one of the servants cottages to get it. There was an 

 old woman rocking a cradle, and a young woman ironing 



