ggfj 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



521 



Drainmg bop:s accarding to 

 the old nieihvd. 



Platf. I. Fiq. \. 



AAA D''y Porous eroiind. 

 C C C Sloping dry ifroiind. 

 s s s Springs broakins; out ;it bot- 

 tom of sloping ground. 

 B B B liog!r> land. 

 d d d Drains. 

 D D D Brook or dilfh. 



^^f:'ijm 



Fig. 2. 



AAA High dry ground. 



C C C Sloping ground. 



s s s Line of upper sprinss. 



BBS Boggy land with .springs 

 breaking out in various 

 places and on different 

 levels. 



dd d Drains. 



D D D Brook or ditch. 



rrianner. Drains, in both these case.^, are often 

 left open for a length of time, to show their effect. 

 This, in one sense, is a wise plan, ibr it often saves 

 the labor of filling them, which would only increase 

 a useless expense. One drain, properly conducted, 

 has often effected a cure, where these numei'ous 

 cuts have failed ; and in many cases, where they 

 are imperfectly executed, they only puzzle the 

 person who is to lay out the work a second time, 

 by the artificial appearance of springs, which their 

 bursting out may exhibit. The |)riiiciple on which 

 their drainage is founded, with the practical direc- 

 tions applicable to it, will be fully explained in 

 Part II. of this treatise. 



SECTION V. 



Of under and surface draining clays, loams, peaty 

 and moorish soils, sand, and other porous soils, 

 on a retentive bottom. 



Clays. — In proceeding to the drainage of clay 

 eoils, it is first necessary to observe whether the 

 field is perfectly flat, or whether it has a declivity, 

 and in what direction ; for by this it may be ascer- 

 tained, whether the wetness proceeds from under, 

 or from surtace water, and consequently what 

 kind ol" drains to apply. If the surface be "flat aiid 

 almost level, the wetness may proceed only from 

 the stagnation of rain water ; but if it has a de- 

 scent, it is a sure indication that the wetness is 

 produced by the overflowing, or soaking of water, 

 from springs in the upper ground, or from subter- 

 raneous water in the field itself; for no water will 

 lie on a surface that has a descent. The not ai- 

 Vol. V-66 



tending to these circumstances is the reason why 

 so many failures happen in the draining of clay 

 soils, by a misapplication of the proper means. 

 Fewer errors can be committed in the direction of 

 surface drains, especially if they are open ; ibr 

 where there are hollows, and consequently sta'T- 

 nant water, it requires little nicety of judgment To 

 discriminate what is the proper line inWhich to 

 conduct them ; but much labor and money is olien 

 expended in applying an improper remedy, by 

 making deep covered drains, when small open 

 cuts, or a lew covered drains of no extra depth, 

 might efiectually succeed. When the wetness 

 that injures clay soils proceeds from the water of a 

 neighboring spring, it may be cut off by one drain 

 of proper depth ; but where there is a General 

 oozing out of water li'om a porous subsoil, and 

 where the field has little descent, several drains 

 may be necessary across it, three or four feet deep, 

 with two feet of stones at bottom. Where the 

 wetness is occasioned by fiatness of surface, and 

 no regular descent lor the water to pass from it, it 

 is often kept dry by a proper form and direction of 

 the ridges and furrows, with small cuts or water- 

 furrows, in the hollows that cannot be levelled or 

 filled up. In the carses* of Gowrie, Stirling, Fal- 



* There is no terra in England that corresponds 

 exactly with "carse." It is used to designate an exten- 

 sive stretch of flat or level land, on one or both sides of 

 a large river where the tide fiows, and which has, at 

 one time, been covered with the salt water. Its soil 

 consists chiefly of a strong clay loain, formed b)' allu- 

 vial deposite ; and the substrata is always found mixed, 

 more or less, with shells and other marine productions. 



