"1838] 



[^ A RM i: RS' REGIST K K. 



72i 



counties, this nu'ilioii ol (li-;iiiiiii>j lias biH'ii iricil, 

 ami lomid entin'ly to tiiil. Tlie cau.V. of this: can 

 eaciily bo iU'comitiui l()r. Very siiH" clay will hulJ 

 water like a dish, (the expiossion ol'tlie liirmers in 

 those CDUiities, who luive uitempied to ilrain such 

 soil;) ami consequeuily the small poitii«u ofwater 

 which each drain will carry off, is only what falls 

 itnniediatoly above it, or what it can receiv-e at 

 top, when the ground on each side has a descent 

 towards it. 



The water beinir all on the surface, cannot find 

 its way into them. II' they are on a declivity, the 

 water will run over ihem, asit. does over anv other 

 part ofthe field, and ifthey are in a hollow, it vvdl 

 sta^ruate even above them, and will be niosily ex- 

 haled beli)re any (luanlity of it pubsides into them. 

 This is therefore a more expensive soil to drain, 

 requiriii«r a <rreater number of trenches, and these 

 very close toirether, than an_v other soil whatever. 

 Open trenches, with the ridores and water-furrows 

 properly tbrnied and directed, is the only me- 

 thod whereby its drainage can be elfectually ac- 

 complished. 



It is necessary to lay it up in ridges properly 

 placed, and to cut small open drains across the 

 ridires, where requisite, communicating with each 

 other, and with the furrows: and thus all the wa- 

 ter-furrows operate as drains. The water, as it 

 fulls upon the ridge, immediately makes its way 

 into the i'urrows, and runs along them, while there 

 is a descent; and if it is slopped in any of them, b}' 

 the ground rising, it is conveyed by the drains 

 across the ridges into some other furrow where 

 there is a descent; along which, it makes its way 

 into some ditch or water-course, at the extremity 

 of the field.* 



In Essex, and in Suffolk, where it has been 

 foiuid advantageous, the soil is a wet poachy loam, 

 mororor less mixed on the surface with veo-etable 

 mould; under that, in some places, a raw hungry 

 loam, and in others a clay marl. 



On these soils the effect is very great; for the 

 upper stratum, where the moisture is chiefiy lodg- 

 ed, being in some degree porous, the water is ea- 

 sily extracted Irom it, by means of the drains. 

 The under stratum being also of a retentive quali- 

 ty, their depth does not require to be great. 



When Mr. Vouno-, of Clare, who has had great 

 experience in this mode of hollow-draining, ob- 

 serves, that the im[)rovement by these drains is 

 great on clay soils, he certainly mertns soils of this 

 description: — '-I know from exi^erience, that in 

 clayey soils it will answer perfectly; thai it is the 

 least expensive and the most expeditious, as well 

 as most diirable improvement of any in the whole 

 system of agricultural econom}'." 



IV. Uy what rulcfj their direction is marked. 



For many yeai's, probably for more than half a 

 century, and possibly during a much longer period, 

 the fjirnii^r,; did not make a proper distinction in 

 fields tl'i.f h,.d a declivity, between tracing their 



*It is obvious, that layinff up such Ir-.n 'in liHgPs, 

 and cuttinp; drains in proper places, may h\i of great 

 use, but will not eflectually rcjnove the" wetness; as 

 the soil, from its nature, will always retain too threat a 

 proportion of moisture. It is necessary, therefore, to 

 change the nature of such sod by frequent culture, and 

 the application of manures, which will in a great de- 

 gree lessen its tenacity, or power of retaining water. 

 Vol. V— 91 



drains with the slope, or directing them obliquely 

 across it. Larye Iracishave been drained, or have 

 been meant to be drained, in the former way, and 

 m<my, even to this day, are guilty of ihe same er- 

 ror; but the best liirmers arc now alteiiiive to so 

 important a point, and studiously mark the direc- 

 tion of their drains obliquely. They are also care- 

 ful to give them just the fall sufficient to carry ofi 

 the water in a gentle, and not a rapid current; by 

 which means they are less apt to choke or blow vp, 

 (as it is semelimes called,) whtveby spots in the 

 field have, apparently, an artificial s[)ririg Ibrmed. 



Upon fields level, or nearly so, oreat iiumbera 

 of which are found in the eastern counties ol Eng- 

 land, it has been a common practice (although an 

 expensive one) if the wetness proceeds solely from 

 rain, to nuirk die drains regularly at a rod,* a rod 

 and a halfj or two rods asunder, across the land 

 from ditch to ditch; orifthe drains, from any small 

 inequality of surface, will iiow only at oiie end, 

 then to stop short or discontinue their lenjrlh on 

 one side of the field, as soon as the ditch operates 

 in laving it dry, 



VVhere the slopes of a field vary, and fldl in dif- 

 ferent directions, the farmer attends to such varia- 

 tions, and directs his drains so as to cross obli(]ue- 

 ly tlie upper side of each declivit)'. 



It is a general rule, not to conduct too many 

 drains to the same mouth or outlet; for if iriuch 

 water flows in any drain, from having thrown 

 many lateral branches into one main drain, the 

 latter must not only be made larger and deeper, 

 but will even then be liable to fail;'and a fiiilure in 

 that case ali'ects so much a larger space of ground, 

 by impeding the course of so many other drains. 

 On this account, it has been found better to make 

 the drains detached, rather than to connect too 

 many of them tocvcther, which occasions too much 

 water to be conducted to one mouth. 



Cases will however occur, in which, from the 

 position of the ground, it may be found necessary 

 to join several side branches into one main dram. 

 On this subject, Mr. Vancouver, in his 'Agricultu- 

 ral Report of Eissex,' has the following judicious 

 remark: 



"If the field proposed 1o be drained lies greatly 

 upon the descent, every care should be taken to' 

 make the drains bear sufficiently horizontally, in 

 tlie first place, to prevent a too'precipitate fall of 

 the water, by which the bottoms of the drains 

 would be worn uneven, and a temporary obstruc- 

 tion occasion them to blow, or burst up; and, se- 

 condly, because the more perfectly horizontal 

 is the field, so that it lies level free, and affords a 

 sufficient fall lor the water, the less occasion wil! 

 there be for the same number of drains as would 

 l>e required upon a soil of equal closeness upon 

 the side of a hill— the drains in afield that lies 

 nearly level, drawing equally well upon each side; 

 whereas those on the hang of a hill, drawin.q on- 

 ly from the higlier sides of the drains, and conse- 

 (juently requiring them to be made much nearer or 

 closer together," 



V. Seaso7i for exervting the work. 



On this point, opinious vary; some preferring 

 winter, and oihers summer. ° 



When a gnat quaniily of work is to be done 

 all seasons of the year, free from sharp frosts' 



* Sixteen and a half feet. 



