5*4 THE DEANSTONE SYSTEM 



cliieflv for carrying* off luider-water. Furrow-draining* with 

 turf had been introduced into the flat clay lands of Stirling*- 

 shire and the west of Perthshire, about the year 1806 or 

 1807, and Mr. Smith had, after he went to reside in Perth- 

 shire, opportunities of studying- its effect, and the mode of 

 action in draining oif the water. He perceived that it was 

 the water that fell upon the surface in the shape of rain which 

 •was carried oif by these drains ; and it then occurred to him 

 that the same system of draining- applied to the lands of the 

 up-country would have the eifect of carrying- off the surface 

 water, which so g-enerally stagnates, especially in cold clay 

 soils, and which is, in fact, the cause of their being cold and 

 tenacious in wet weather, and hard and imworkuble in sea- 

 sons of drought. Not having any land in his possession at 

 this period (after ineffectual efforts to prevail upon others 

 fully to carry out his views), in the year 1823, he was 

 enabled to test their soundness on his own farm of Dean- 

 stone, consisting- of 189 acres; to which he afterwards 

 added about 25 acres more, and upon this he proceeded to 

 realize his plans of thorough-draining and deep working", 

 desiring- to attain a system of garden-culture over the whole 

 farm. The land consisted chiefly of the drifted debris of 

 the old red sandstone, and of various texture ; some parts of 

 the subsoil consisting of hard compact soil with stones, 

 and some, in the hollows, of sandy clay composed of the 

 soil which had been washed for ages from the hig-her parts 

 of the ground ; the whole was very much interspersed with 

 large boulder-stones, some of them very near the surface. 

 The active soil was in general very thin, in many places 

 not exceeding- four inches. Much of the surface was 

 studded with rushes and other water plants, whilst the 

 drier knolls were covered with furze, heath, and broom. 

 After much consideration, he resolved to carry one uniform 

 mode of drainage over the whole surface of the farm. He 

 fixed upon thirty inches as the best depth to ensure at once 

 efficiency and economy. He Jaid parallel lines of drains at 

 twenty-one feet apart over the whole surface of each field, 

 without regard to the apparent wet or dry condition of the 

 soil ; and he carried those parallel drains as near as possible 

 in the direction of the steepest descent, as being best fitted 

 for carrying ofF the water quickly. Of com\se he provided 

 proper out-falls for the main receiving- drains. Having* 

 abundance of stones — partly on the surface, partly in the 

 subsoil, and partly in old s"tone fences — which he resolved 



