183S] 



F A R M K R S ■ K E (i I S T K R. 



717 



thod of findiiij; where the springs lie, peculiar to 

 himst'D; By theiir!i'of ihe horer, Mr. Asiley* iiad 

 a piece of land drained wilhoni <roin<r into It, by 

 the (Iillowini; cireiinisiance : iMr. Klkinijinn was 

 ern[)lnved in draining a piece of" land tu'ioniiinjT to 

 Mr. Riciiard Asiley, which was .separated irnin 

 hi? hroiher's by a Pinall river, -nv deep rivnict. 

 Mr. K. tiadinir tiie sprinir at abont sixteen feel 

 from tiie surface, (under the bed oftlie river,) com- 

 pletely drained hiiili pieces. I was informed, that 

 sometime since, Mr. Elkiiiijton was entiaged in 

 drainincf a piece of land near Lutlerworth; and 

 soon after he had found (some call it tappinor) the 

 sprin<^, the inhabitants, to their very great sur- 

 prise, tiiund their wells all drv! After investigat- 

 ing the cause, it was found that Mr. E. had been 

 the means of it, by drawing oH" the spring which 

 supplied the town with water. 



"I mention the above two instances, merely to 

 show what a wonderful effect the borer has, and 

 what a very capital instrument it is for drain- 

 ing, &c. 



"I do not mean to say that Mr. E. is the only 

 person that makes use of the liorer; for there is 

 such a very great spirit for this kind of improve- 

 ment, that there are very fpw of the best firmers 

 without this instrument. Mr. Elkington has so 

 much business, that it is with great ditficully he is 

 to be hail when wanted." 



0)unty nf Derby, by TViomas Brown. 



But every other method seem? 



to bend to that practised by Mr. Elkington, whose 

 practice is becoming every day more extetisive, 

 and seems to me the most effectual of all others 

 for carrying off" subterraneous waters. He lays a 

 etone drain, from three to six feet below the sur- 

 face, in such a direction as to cut the source of the 

 spring, and with such a declivity as to scour itself 

 Wherever he finds the source of the spring below 

 the level of his drain, he bores, and with such 

 judgment, that, to a stranger, his auger seems 

 possessed of the virtue of that rod with which Mo- 

 ses struck the rock; for the water immediately 

 gushes out, and perhaps lays land, that before was 

 too wet to carry a sheep, sufficiently dry to carry 

 the heaviest ox. This method certainly is effiec- 

 tual against springs." 



County of Suffolk, by Arthur Young, Esq. Sec- 

 retary to the Board of j^griculture, Sfc. 4*c. 



"It will not be improper to hint, that there are 

 two errors very common in the performance of 

 this improvement. The first is, making the drains 

 in, or nearly in, the direction of the declivity; 

 whereas they ought always to be made obliquely 

 across it: the other is, that of marking out, and 

 making numerous drains across the sides of springy 

 hills, which might, in many cases, be drained 

 completely with a single drain, judiciously dis- 

 pBsed, according to those obvious principles upon 

 which the celebrated drainer, Mr. Elkington of 

 Warwickshire, proceeds. No improvement can 

 have greater or more immediate effects than this 

 of draining; none that pays the farmer with more 

 certainty." 



County of Stafford, by William Pitt. 



Mr. Pitt, in speaking of the improvements in 

 •Of Odstone-Hall. 



Fisherwick Park says,- -"Here the genius of a 

 Brown, aided and seconded by the munificeiice of 

 ihe noble owner,* have conspired to renderadrea- 

 ry morass one of Ihe most dt'liirhtf"ul spots in nature, 

 and have in a great measure succeeded; which 

 siiccess is siill further hcightenitig by the improve- 

 u)ents of Mr. Elkingi'in, in the intrrce|)tion of 

 springs, and the discharging of stagnant water." 



Coaniy of Worcester, by W. J. Pomeroy. 



"In speaking ot"under-drains, it nn\y bethought 

 right to mrniinn, that varioua experiments have 

 tieen mmie at Ewell(Trange, the seat of" the Earl 

 of Piyn^ouih, and in thai neighborhood; but that 

 by boring after Mr. Elkington's methcd, deserves 

 to be most pariiculnrly noticed, which, indeed, in 

 such situations (viz. low, fi.'nny, or boggy lands), 

 seems to supercede the use of every other." 



County of Somerset, by Jr.hii Billingsley esq. 



"The great skill of" draining land consists in 

 cutting off" the water at its source. One deep 

 drain, judiciously placed, will frequently preclude 

 (he rieccssiiv of any other; in most instances, 

 such a drain shou'ld he near that part of the de- 

 clivity f"rom which the springs issue. This ae- 

 pends on the position of the clayey substratum, 

 and on the height of" the reservoir from whence 

 the springs are fed. A judicious survey of" the ad- 

 jacent land, and liberal use of the borer, are ne- 

 cessary preliminaries to a cheap and eff"ectual rem- 

 edy for wet lands; and there are ft^w men in the 

 kiniidom possessed of equal skill in this depart- 

 ment of agriculture with Mr. Elkington of War- 

 wickshire, whose f"ame is not confined to the coun- 

 ty in which he lives, but is known and acknowl- 

 edged in many parts of the kingdom." 



Extracts from the 'Annals of Agriculture,'' by A, 

 Young, esq. Sfc. 



"Aug. 5. — Rode to examine sonie works car- 

 rying on under the direction of Mr. Elkington, a 

 singularly able drainer, whom I shall have more 



occasions than one to mention." "The chief 



object of our ride was to view Mr. Elkington's 

 works, who, we were mlbrmed, was engaged by 

 some of the owners of these mills, f to bring them 

 more water, by draining some boggy spots from 

 which the springs arise. We viewed his trenches 

 for this purpose: it seems that this most ingenious 

 operator had contracted with the millers, to be 

 paid only in proportion to the additional quantity 

 of water he procured tor them. As we viewed 

 his drains, and the general declivities of the 

 wastes around, a question arose amongst us, upon 

 the poBsibdity of procuring more water by any 

 drains, or cuts, or boring, than flows already in a 

 morie diffusive manner through bogs; except by 

 bringing water to take a direction on one side of a 

 hill. Which in its natural course, flows out on an- 

 other side." "But Mr. Elkington's practice is 



remarkable in one circumstance, and differs from 

 any drainer I have yet known. From distance to 

 distance at the bottom of his surfs,! which are of 



*Marquis of Donne^ll. 

 t Near Sutton Colfield, in Staffordshire. 

 X Or sough, the conduit, or bottom part of the drain, 

 formed with brick or stones. 



