514 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[Na. 9 



found, or at least not to so great extent, in the northern 

 states. It depends on the geological structure of a 

 country, in the nature and the inclination of its strata, 

 whether Elkington's plan of draining, by boring, will 

 be found fiequently or generally applicable and profit- 

 able, or otherwise. But it is not only to arable and mea- 

 dow lands that this plan is applicable. Under suitable 

 circumstances, it is also used to sink the overflowing 

 water in mines, which otherwise must be drawn up- 

 ward at great expense, and by never-ending labor. 

 The reader who may require further inducement to study 

 a subject which may be at first difficult and repulsive, 

 will do well to turn first to the end of Part III, which 

 contains concise statements of some of the most re- 

 markable effects produced by Elkington's operations. 

 In offering this work to the farmers of America, we 

 have scrupulously a\oided using a liberty very com- 

 monly taken by those who republish expensive English 

 works, in a cheaper form, in this country — that is, of 

 omitting portions of the matter, or the illustrations, of 

 the original, and that without warning the reader that 

 he is furnished with an imperfect work. Every word 

 and e\ery plate of the last edition will be here correctly 

 copied, with no other changes than those in regard to 

 references to the figures and plans — made necessary by 

 the change of the form of publication. 



Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



ADVERTISEMENT 



BY THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, PREFIXED 

 TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



The Board of Agriculture had hardly been es- 

 tablished, belbre it received intelligence, from vari- 

 ous parts of England, of" the singular success with 

 which Mr. Joseph Elkington, a Warwickshire 

 farmer, practised the art of draining land ; the 

 publication or discovery of which was represented 

 to be one of the greatest means of promoting the 

 improvement of this country that could be sug- 

 gested. It is unnecessary to trace the various 

 steps taken by the Board for attaining so miportant 

 an object. It may be sufficient to mention, that 

 in consequence of a motion made by itsPresident, 

 on the 10th of June, 1795, the House of Commons 

 voted an address, "That His Majesty would be 

 graciously pleased to give directions for issuing to 

 Mr. Joseph Elkington, as an inducement to dis- 

 cover his mode of draining, such sum as his Ma- 

 jesty in his wisdom shall think proper, not exceed- 

 ing the sum of £ 1000 sterling ; and to assure his 

 Majesty that this House will make good the same 

 to his Majesty." 



Mr. Elkington's health being extremely precari- 

 ous, there was a risk that the public might lose 

 the benefit of the knowledge he had acquired, by 

 the experience of above thirty years, in a species 

 of improvement, which, in these kingdoms, ought 

 to be considered as the basis of every other. To 

 prevent so unfortunate a circumstance, the Board 

 resolved to send Mr. John Johnstone to visit, in 



company with Mr. Elkington, the principal drain- 

 ages he was executing, and to take drawings 

 thereof. It is to be hoped that the following 

 report, the result of that journey, with the annexed 

 views and sections, will furnish the reader with 

 very satisfactory information upon the subject of 

 this art, and will sufficiently explain the various 

 modes of draining land, whether practised by Mr. 

 Elkington or others, 

 London, May, 1797. 



PREFACE. 



Though the value and rent of land has decreas- 

 ed very considerably since the publication of former 

 editions of this treatise, and, on that account, both 

 landlords and tenants have less inducement to lay 

 out money on draining, and otherwise improving 

 land that is at present wet and unproductive; yet 

 such outlay will at all times be a safer speculation 

 than any other in which money may be risked. 



A rapidly increasing population must require an 

 increased supply ; and money expended in adding 

 to the productiveness of the soil, can never be said 

 to be thrown away, when judiciously laid out ; 

 which is not the case with many mercantile and 

 other adventures, where capital is often lost. Since 

 the publication of former editions, the author's 

 practice and experience have been much extended; 

 and those editions being now out of print, he has 

 been solicited to publish the present, to which 

 many additions have been made, to render it more- 

 full, accurate, and generally useful. The subject 

 must always be an interesting one to every agri- 

 culturist, and the knowledge of it productive of 

 the greatest advantage to every practical farmer, 

 whether landlord or tenant. The nature and ob- 

 ject of the work are further explained in the Intro- 

 duction. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Of all the arts that have excited the attention, 

 or called tbrih the exertions of man, none have 

 been discovered so valuable, or so generally useful 

 as agriculture ; not only by rewarding the skill 

 and industry of individuals, but by exalting the 

 prosperity of a nation. It is, undoubtedly, the 

 most ancient, and the Ibundation on which all other 

 arts depend ; a Ibundation every day becoming 

 stronger and more respectable, by acquiring the 

 support and encouragement of the highest person- 

 ages in the United Kingdom. 



Having now attained that degree of superiority 

 which its utility as a great national object deserves, 

 it can never li:iil of exciting a very general atten- 

 tion to its practical application, as the means by 

 which the permanent interests of the country may 

 be so much advanced. Agricultural pursuits, are, 

 of all others, the most conductive to health and 

 vigor. The study of its theory, and principles on 

 which it is (bunded, enlariie the intellectual, and 

 its practice employs, in useful exercise, the acnve 

 powers of man. By much the greatest part of 



