CHAPTER VI. 

 DRAINING. 



THE NECESSITY OF IT, AND THE RESULTS. 



In the coastal districts, where the rainfall is copious, it will be 

 found advisable to drain the clays and loams, and loams overlying 

 clays. The new settler should carefully note, during the first 

 winter, where the water lodges on his land, and mark these spots 

 for future draining. In districts where the rainfall is scanty, sur- 

 face drains, made in the winter with a plough, are generally 

 sufficient to carry off the surplus water, but even here deep drain- 

 age could be advantageously undertaken. Where the rainfall is 

 heavy and continuous a more elaborate scheme of under drainage 

 will have to be undertaken if the best results- are to be secured. In 

 laying our drains the first thing to be decided upon is the outfall. 

 This, I need hardly say, should be at the lowest point ; from this a 

 series of main and subsidiary drains should radiate, their depth and 

 proximity to each other being governed by the nature of the soil. 

 The following table from M'ConnelPs Agricultural Note Book (a 

 cheap and useful little book that every farmer should possess) gives 

 the width and depth of drainage according to the soil : 



The figures in the above table mean, for instance, that a drain 

 of 2 feet 6 inches deep in stiff clay will only take the surplus 

 water away from the soil for a distance of 7^ feet on each side of 

 it ; whereas in coarse gravelly sand the drain should, at a depth of 

 4 feet 6 inches, make itself apparent on the ground 30 feet away 

 from it. 



