322 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 9 



loose stones, which 1 allowed to remain, or remov- 

 ed at pleasure, as the weather proved more or less 

 wet. In the sprint following, I had the pleasure 

 to find my waste land was in a condition to sow, 

 0.S early almost as any other part of my farm : the 

 winter rains falling through the soil upon the ridges, 

 into the bosom of the slaty substance, which was 

 laid bare in many places in the hollow of the 

 ridges, it was gently drawn off, and glided regularly 

 into the holes or canals which I had made." 



In the Agricultural Report ofHertfbrdshire, it is 

 also stated, that land has been drained, by perfo- 

 rating the retentive stratum in the manner that 

 has just been described ; but the detail is too long 

 to be inserted here. 



SECTION X. 



Drainage of low flat ground, without any practica- 

 ble fall or outlet. 

 The most expensive of all modes of draining is, 

 (where no natural fall or outlet can be found,) by 

 superinduction or compression ; as has been done 

 on the ground that was formerly the site of the 

 North Loch, between the old and new towns of 

 Edinburgh. The situation and substrata of this 

 ground being different from that treated of in the 

 last section, another mode must be adopted. The 

 first thing to look to in this case is, to the nearest 

 place where material may be got to fill up. to the 

 required height, the surface of this low ground, 

 which it is wished to raise above the influence of 

 the water. Indeed, the whole depends on this, 

 and whether the expense of transporting it to the 

 place where it is to be deposited, will be repaid by 

 the value of the ground when thus raised above 

 the wet level. The operation itself is simple. 

 The first layer or artificial stratum should be stones 

 or any loose matter, gravel, or sand, as a reservoir 

 to retain the moisture so far below the surface as 

 to prevent any injury from it to the crops, or to the 

 pasture, that may be produced on it. It will also 

 be necessary to make a drain of outlet from the 

 surface to the lowest practicable level, in case of 

 injury from rain-water, which it may be apt other- 

 wise to retain. In short, no further specific direc- 

 tions need be given ; only, in depositing the dif- 

 ferent layers of stuff, to raise it to the proper height, 

 the best must be reserved for laying on the sur- 

 face. 



Such draining, or rather Buperinduction, can 

 only be useful in cases like that of the North Loch 

 just mentioned ; where the object is something 

 more than that of making it dry for the sake of a 

 money profit; and where it may be injurious to 

 the health of those living near it, by the noxious 

 vapor and miasma which arise from such stag- 

 nant wetness, particularly in closely inhabited lo- 

 calities, and in the vicinity of towns, &c. 



SECTION XI. 



On draining by the plough, and the proper forma- 

 tion of ridge and furrow. 



The invention of any means by which labor may 

 be diminished and expense lessened, is an object 

 desirable in every mechanical process, and has 

 always been liberally rewarded when found to be 

 useful. In the various branches of manufacture, 

 piachinery has been invented to facilitate the 

 operations, and to lessen the necessity of manual 

 labor; and the thrashing machine has been found 



successfully introduced into every part of the king- 

 dom. It is imprudent, too hastily to prescribe a 

 limit to human invention ; but the probability of 

 an effective hollow draining plough, to work so 

 much cheaper than the spade, as to render it an 

 object of economy, is not very flattering. There 

 can be no difficulty of making one to prepare lor 

 the narrow draining spade, where surface drains 

 of no great depth are required ; but beyond that 

 the attempt would be fruitless. Various ploughs, 

 indeed, have been invented, and premiums given 

 to the inventors ; but all, or most of them, have 

 been found deficient, and have been therefore laid 

 aside. From the number of horses or oxen re- 

 quired to work them, ploughs calculated lor this 

 purpose are more expensive than the spade, and 

 never can come into general use, In lawns and 

 smooth pastures, where only grips or small sur- 

 face-drains are useful, the common draining 

 plough may be employed with advantage ; but in 

 soils that are strong, and where a greater depth 

 is necessary, the interruptions that would be met 

 with are insurmountable. The method followed 

 by some good farmers, who do not possess ploughs 

 constructed on purpose for such work, is this : 

 With theircommon plough drawn by four horses, 

 they turn a double furrow, about six inches deep, 

 throwing the earth on each side, and leaving a 

 baulk, or space untouched, in the middle. This 

 baulk they remove by a second bout or turn, in 

 the same manner ; they then go in the wide fur- 

 row or space thus opened, twice with their com- 

 mon double-breast plouirh, getting what additional 

 depth they can. After tliis, they remove, with a 

 spade or shovel, all the loose mould, so as to 

 smooth and form the bottom to about a foot in 

 breadth ; and thus having gained more than a 

 foot in depth, according to the soil, and strength of 

 the plough, they dig one portion with the draining 

 spade, sixteen inches deep, and after that another 

 of twelve inches, making in the whole a drain 

 forty inches in depth, two feet wide at top, and 

 very narrow at bottom. This is filled with stone 

 or brush-wood, as comes most readily to hand, 

 aud forms a cheap and useful drain in certain soils 

 and situations. 



The ploughs called the miner and mole-plough, 

 as also a machine of cast-iron, in form of a wheel, 

 are used in several parts of England, and said to 

 answer well ; but as they have not been intro- 

 duced into general practice, drawings or descrip- 

 rions of them, are here unnecessary. 



It has been already observed, that on some 

 soils, where the surface is flat and very retentive, 

 no number of covered drains can operate efl^ectu- 

 ally in keeping it dry. In such land, therefore, 

 much may be effected by a proper formation and 

 direction of the ridges and furrows. JMuch has 

 been written against high ridges, without consi- 

 deration of their propriety ; and because they 

 have been applied on dry soils absurdly, and being 

 the custom in some pans of the country, no dis- 

 crimination has been made ; but their being im- 

 proper in some cases, and ill managed in others, 

 afllbrds no just argument against them, when 

 adapted to the soil and wetness of the climate. 

 One objection, indeed, and that not a slight one, 

 against raising ridges too high, is, that the rain 

 falling, washes off more easily the finer particles 

 of the soil and manure from the sides into the fur- 



eo useful in that department of husbandry, as to be | rows, in which it is carried off the field ; and that 



