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M E A 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



M E A 



that is the best material for under-ground drains; for when 

 these are properly made, they will never want repairing. 

 The best time for making these drains is about Michaelmas, 

 before the heavy rains of autumn fall; because the land being 

 then dry, the drains rrfty be dug to a proper depth. When 

 the drains are finished, and the water carried off the land, 

 pare off the rushes, flags, &c. lay them in heaps to rot, and 

 they will afford manure. Plough the ground to destroy the 

 roots of noxious weeds; and if it be laid fallow for one sea- 

 son, and ploughed two or three times, it will greatly mend 

 the land. Spread the rotten rushes and flags over it, and 

 sow grass seeds. Some persons burn the rubbish that is 

 pared off the land, and spread the ashes. When bricks are 

 used for drains, if the ground be soft and spungy, the bottom 

 of the drain is laid with the bricks placed across; tiles or 

 slates will answer the purpose. Over these, on each side, 

 two bricks are laid flat, one upon the other : this is covered 

 with bricks laid flat. The bricks should be ten inches long, 

 four broad, and three thick; but this work is too expensive, 

 unless a drawback might be allowed from the heavy tax 

 upon the material. When the bottom of the trench is firm 

 and solid in clay or marl, no bricks need be laid in the bot- 

 tom : the sides are then formed by placing one brick edge- 

 wise, instead of two laid Hat. This is much cheaper, and 

 in such land equally durable. Double bricks, with a hollow 

 drain through the middle, form a good drain, which is laid 

 very expeditiously. Where stone is plentiful and near at 

 hand, no material is superior to it for this purpose. These 

 drains are in general made larger than those with brick, the 

 bottom being at least eight inches wide. In Wiltshire their 

 stone drains are in general ten or twelve inches in width, 

 with perpendicular sides. Sometimes the stones are so placed 

 as to leave a water-course at bottom, by setting two flat 

 stones triangularly, lo meet at the points; but it is a better 

 way to cover the bottom with a flat stone, and then to put 

 three other flat stones, upright, leaving the water to find its 

 way between them; in both cases filling up the residue of the 

 drain to the top, or near it, with loose stones. Where only 

 small round stones can be got, the drain may be made taper, 

 from nine inches at top to nothing at bottom, and about three 

 feet deep; filling it up with the small stones first, and finish- 

 ing with a thin turf at top. Where gravel is more plentiful, 

 it is found to answer the purpose very well, if screened or 

 washed. In all cases, the general opinion is, that those 

 drains last longest, which have the least or narrowest water- 

 way left at bottom; the force of the water being then suffi- 

 cient to clear away any little obstacles. Where none of the 

 above materials are to be had, there is still another sort of 

 covered drain, which may be adopted in a stiff tenacious soil. 

 This is made with turfs or sods, and, besides being the cheap- 

 est, is as lasting as any, where the land is sufficiently cohe- 

 sive. The inverted turf is either put upon a shoulder, leaving 

 a hollow part under it, and the remainder of the drain is 

 filled up with the earth that came out of it; or the drain is 

 cut out in a wedge, or the form of the letter V, and when the 

 earth is taken out, six or eight inches of the bottom part of the 

 wedge are cut off, and the remainder is filled up. If a few 

 rushes were put round the bottom of this wedge, so as to 

 keep the lower part from dropping, and the ends of the 

 rushes were drawn upwards, between the sides of the drain 

 and the wedge, it would be an improvement. Care must be 

 taken to keep off all cattle till these drains have had time to 

 settle. The entrances should have a fence of brick or stone 

 to secure them. Their aperture at top should be eighteen 

 inches, their depths thirty inches. The strength with 

 wmch the sods are supported, and their depth in the 



ground being at least twelve inches, will effectually prevent 

 their removal by any weight on the surface ; and secure them 

 from all effects of the weather. When a bog or morass is to 

 be drained, the direction in which the trench is to be dug is 

 first to be ascertained. This is the most difficult part of the 

 whole business, and cannot be fully understood but from 

 much practice. The following rules, however, may be of 

 service: 1. The whole depending upon the nature of the 

 bog to be drained, and the state of he adjacent country, 

 the neighbouring strata must be ascertained as far as possible 

 whether they be of stone, gravel, sand, or marl; for the 

 water must be lodged in one of these, and it is necessary to 

 ascertain in which. 2. The trench must be directed so as 

 to fall in with the bottom of the bed which occasions the 

 mischief, and the particular spot where the main spring lies. 

 One spring may probably occasion the whole bog, which, 

 having no proper vent, forces the water through many sma+1 

 veins, even to a great distance, making the whole a swamp. 

 By draining the main spring, the others follow of course. 

 3. If there are various beds through which water issues, stone 

 is to be preferred for draining the whole; the water being 

 much more easily drawn through that, than through gravel, 

 sand, and marl; consequently by draining the spring there, 

 the whole water which communicates therewith flows to it, 

 water always preferring a straight or clear to a crooked chan- 

 nel. But in stone beds, the trench ought to be made from 

 six or eight yards from the tail of the bed, or the place 

 where the rock ends, because in limestone, and other rocks, 

 the tail is harder than any other part of the rock, and there 

 are few, if any, fissures in it; but by going a few yards 

 above, you get into a softer part of the bed, and the water is 

 more accessible. The tail of these beds may often be found 

 at a point or promontory jutting out from the adjacent 

 heights. 4. The trench in general should be directed in a 

 line with the bottom of the hill, because it makes the best 

 separation between the upland and the meadow inclosures, 

 and the spring can best be intercepted. The trench, how- 

 ever, must be carried in the line of the spring, or near it; 

 for if it diverges from it any distance, all prospect of reach- 

 ing the spring, by tapping or otherwise, is lost. 5. It is bet- 

 ter to make a new trench, than to tap the spring in any old 

 brook or run of water, where that may be practicable; for 

 though the spring, when once it bursts out, has force enough 

 to throw up any stones, sand, &c. that may accidentally fall 

 into it, yet brooks in a flood may bring down such immense 

 quantities as completely to choak up the spring ; and so 

 much caution is necessary to prevent any risk of such a cir- 

 cumstance, that when the trench crosses any runlet of water 

 proceeding from a small brook, or from a collection of surface 

 water, the trench is puddled so as to receive it, lest it should 

 blow up, and destroy the works. Lastly, the general line 

 of direction being fixed on, and the trench marked out, 

 begin at the bottom, or lowest level, carrying the trench 

 gradually up, under the guidance of the spirit level: a few 

 inches fall in a hundred yards will be sufficient. In digging 

 the trench, no tools but those of the common sort are made 

 use of; and common labourers can carry it on, under an expe- 

 rienced foreman or overseer. The auger, which must often 

 be used for tapping the spring, may be from an inch and 

 half to two inches diameter, and is applied in the ordinary 

 manner: if, in boring, a stone be met with, the auger must 

 be taken off, and a chisel or punch screwed on, to penetrate 

 so hard a substance. Sometimes the spring is cut off by the 

 trench alone; but in many cases k lies greatly below the 

 level of the trench, and then it is necessary to use the auger 

 for tapping the spring. The trench being made, and th 



