364 HIGH FARMING, 1837-1874 



ploughing he converted a rush-grown marsh into a garden. His 

 drains were trenches 2 ft. deep, filled with stones and covered over, 

 cut in parallel lines from 16 to 21 ft. apart. Agriculturists flocked 

 to Perthshire to see with their own eyes the transformation and its 

 causes. Smith's Remarks on Thorough Draining and Deep Ploughing 

 (1831) were widely read, and in 1834 he was examined as a witness 

 by the Committee which was then enquiring into the condition of 

 agriculture. The value of his experience was recognised ; enquiry 

 and discussion were excited. In 1843 Josiah Parkes, profiting by 

 the knowledge which he had acquired in draining Chat Moss, laid 

 down his principles of drainage. Thinking that Smith's trenches 

 were too shallow, he advocated a depth of four feet, which would 

 give a sufficient layer of warm mellow surface earth. On these 

 principles millions of acres were drained, and thousands of pounds 

 wasted where drains were laid too deep. The necessary implements 

 were quickly perfected. But for some little time a cheap conduit 

 remained a difficulty. Stones were not everywhere available, and, 

 if carted and broken, their use was expensive. In 1843 John Reade, 1 

 a gardener by trade and a self- taught mechanic, produced a cylin- 

 drical clay-pipe. Two years later (1845) Thomas Scragg patented 

 a pipe-making machine which enabled the kilns to work cheaply 

 and expeditiously. The capital and the soil of the country became 

 acquainted on an extensive scale. Within the next few years, two 

 large public loans for drainage, repaid by annual instalments, were 

 taken up, and treble the amount was spent by private owners or 

 advanced by private companies. Drainage became the popular 

 improvement by which landlords endeavoured to encourage tenants 

 who were dismayed by the repeal of the Corn Laws. It gave clay 

 farmers longer seasons and added to the number of the days on 

 which they could work their land ; it increased the ease of their 

 operations and the efficacy of their manures ; it secured an earlier 

 seedtime and an earlier harvest, raised the average produce, and 

 lowered the cost of working ; it enabled the occupiers of hundreds 

 of thousands of acres to profit by past as well as future discoveries. 

 Drainage was a necessary preliminary to profitable manuring. On 

 undrained land farmers could not use to full advantage the new 



1 In the Weekly Miscellany for the Improvement of Husbandry, etc., for 

 August 22, 1727, Stephen Switzer had recommended the use of pipes made 

 of " potter's clay " for the conveyance of water, and advertised that the pipes 

 were made by pipe-making machines which enabled the kilns to work cheaply 

 and expeditiously. 



