TIIOROUGII-DRAINIXG. 101 



ing- g-rass and weeds to obstruct its course, tlie ends of the 

 drains were sanded up and rendered useless; it is much 

 safer to incur the expense of conveying- the water in a 

 covered drain till a clear outlet can be found for it. Another 

 thing- to be especially avoided, is the laying- of tile-drains 

 throug-h a hedg-e, that they may be emptied into a ditch on 

 the opposite side. The roots of trees have a g-reat tendency 

 to insinuate themselves into the cavity of drains, and to run 

 along- them to a great extent — the root of the ash is espe- 

 cially pernicious in this way. I have seen drains Avhich 

 had been run across a hedge-row with ash-trees in it, which 

 stopped running-, and on taking- up the tiles they were 

 found to be filled with the roots of the trees, which were 

 g-rown over with a hairy-looking- vegetable substance, re- 

 sembling- a badger's tail, and had entirely stopped the 

 circulation of water, and spoiled the drains for a consider- 

 able distance from the fence. But I Avould not only avoid 

 placing- drains in a hedg-e, I would also keep them in general, 

 and as much as possible, otf the headlands in tillage fields. 

 It is, I see, a common practice to run the carry-drain along- 

 the headland; my objection to that is, that the headland 

 is travelled upon by corn-carts and dung--carts, and is turned 

 upon in ploug-hing-, so that drains are in much g-reater dang-er 

 of being- broken in or disturbed, or so pressed into hollows 

 that sand may filter into them, than when 1-aid across the 

 ends of the ridges two or three yards above the headland 

 furrow. I would also recommend, in draining-, that the 

 drains of every field be laid down upon a plan when finished, 

 so that no diificulty may afterwards be found, in case of 

 stoppag-e or inefficiency, in g'oing- directly to the spot. Then, 

 with reg'ard to the depths of drains — a subject of much dis- 

 cussion and controversy — I am of opinion, and that opinion 

 has not been formed without much observation, thnt we 

 have wasted a g-ood deal of money and g-reat many tiles by 

 laying- them too near the surface. The tendency of water 

 is downward; and the nearer its downward course ap- 

 proaches to the perpendicular, the quicker will be its escape. 

 It follows, then, that it will find its way more cpiickly to a 

 drain of three or four feet deep than two. And, in fact, in 

 the case of drains only twenty inches or two feet deep and 

 twenty feet apart, the water from the middle of the interval 

 must have a course so nearly horizontal as to be very slow 

 in its prog-ress, and to expose the land to wetness for a con- 

 siderable time. The theory of deep drains is this, that by 



