643 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



and the opposite is left of the width of a common sod ; i. e. nine inches wide. 

 These sods are taken out at a spade's depth, and laid carefully by the side of the drain 

 for covers. The sods (a), resembling bricks in their size and shape, are then dug, 

 and laid carefully on the same side as the sods intended for covers. The drain is then 

 sunk to its proper depth, and the stuff taken out is thrown to the other side. The 

 bottom is levelled with proper draught for the water, and set with the sods like bricks (a), 

 two in height on each side (c) ; these are covered with the larger sods set obliquely [b) ; 

 the grass side of each sod being turned downwards, (^g. Rep. of Cheshire, 214.) 



'l^^^.^...n,rrniniWIIJIlIfl 3977. The mole drain {Jig. 509. ) is formed by the draining- 

 plough of that name, already described (2522.) , with the man- 

 ner of using it. It is chiefly useful in pasture-lands,and espe- 

 ^^^^^^^^^ cially in such as have some declivity, or are formed into ridges, 

 3978. The wheel drain is a very ingenious invention, de- 

 scribed in The Agricultural Report of the County of Essex. It consists of a draining- 

 wheel of cast-iron, that weighs about 4 cwt. It is four feet in diameter; the cutting- 

 edge or extremity of the circiimference of the wheel is half an inch thick, and increases 

 in thickness towards the centre. At fifteen inches deep it will cut a drain half an inch 

 wide at the bottom, and four inches wide at the top. The wheel is so placed in a frame,, 

 that it may be loaded at pleasure, and made to operate to a greater or less depth, accord- 

 ing to the resistance made by the ground. It is used in winter when the soil is soft ; 

 and the wheel tracks are either immediately filled with straw ropes, and lightly covered 

 over with earth, or they are left to crack wider and deeper till the ensuing summer ; 

 after which the fissures are filled with ropes of straw or of twisted twigs, and lightly 

 covered with the most porous earth that is at hand. Thus, upon grass or ley lands, hollow 

 drains, which answer extremely well, are formed at a trifling expense. It is said, that 

 twelve acres may be fully gone over with this draining- wheel in one day, so as to make 

 cuts at all necessary distances. 



3979. Surface-gutters made by cart-wheels have been used by Middleton, on meadows 

 in Surrey. To the felly of a common cart-wheel {Jig. 510 a), is added a piece of wood, 

 the section of which is a truncated triangle (6), and on this is fixed a piece of 510 

 iron completing the triangle (c). The cart is loaded and driven so as the pre- 

 pared wheel may run in the furrow ; or, if there are no furrows, both wheels 

 may be prepared, apd the loaded cart drawn by two horses, may be led over 

 the whole field, forming parallel gutters, at four or five feet distance. The 

 advantage of this mode of surface draining is, that the herbage is only pressed 

 down, not destroyed, and rises up again in spring. The operation, for that 

 reason, requires to be renewed every winter. 



3980. The best season for marking out arid forming drains, is the spring or 

 beginning of summer ; because then, the land springs being still in vigor, are 

 more easily discovered ilnd traced than at a later period. When the ground is 

 soft on the surface, it is a useful precaution, after the line of drain is indicated, to cart on 

 the materials for filling before digging the drain, as the weight of the carriages and horses 

 are apt to press in the sides of the drain. In the case of straw, turf, or earth drains, 

 where the ground is of a firm texture, this precaution does not apply. In filling 

 drains, the earth should always be raised somewhat above the general surface, to make 

 allowance for sinking. 



3981. Informing small drains, chiefly for retentive soils, the common plough has been 

 used in many places, and with some advantage. The method practised by Young, 

 of Clare, and which he has himself described in The Annals of Agriculture, from very 

 ample practice, is this : he says, when he has marked the drains in a field usually a rod 

 asunder, he draws two furrows with a common plough, leaving a baulk betwixt them 

 about fifteen inches wide ; then with a strong double-breasted plough, made on purpose, 

 he splits that baulk, and leaves a clean furrow fourteen or fifteen inches below the sur., 

 face ; but where the depth of soil requires it, by a second ploughing he sinks it to eight-, 

 een or twenty inches : it is then ready for the land-ditching-spade, with which he digs, 

 fifteen inches deep, a drain as narrow as possible. But the method followed by some 

 farmers, who do not possess ploughs made on purpose for the work, is this : With their 

 common plough, drawn by four or five horses, and usually stirring about four or five 

 inches deep, they turn a double furrow, throwing the earth on each side, and leaving a 

 baulk in the middle. This baulk tliey raise by a second bout, in the same manner : then 

 they go in the open furrow twice, with their common double-breast plough, getting what 

 depth they can. After this they shovel out all the loose mould and inequalities to the 

 breadth of about a foot ; and thus having gained a clear open furrow, the depth varying 

 according to the soil and ploughs, but usually about eight or nine inches, they dig one 

 spit with a draining spade sixteen inches deep, thus gaining in the whole twenty-four or 

 twenty-six inches. But as this depth is seldom sufficient, when necessary they throw 



