members on the steady advance of the Society in 

 the accomplishment oV its various practical ob- 

 jects, and the gradual development of its pros- 

 pects and resources : among whicli the Council 

 cannot help alluding to the establishment of lo- 

 cal societies for tlie discussion of agricultural 

 subjects, which they feel have mainly origina- 



ted from the attention v^'hich the exertions of 

 this Society have attracted to Uie improvement 

 of agriculture, and which the Council are confi- 

 dent wUl lead to the most beneficial results." 



We will see in the September number what 

 is doing, in the same spirit, m Scotland. 



DRAINING TILE. 



With commendable vigilance and attention 

 to the wants of A griculture, and the various ex- 

 pedients and inventions to supply them, the 

 New- York State Agricultural Society has ofl'er- 

 ed a medal for the " Best sample of drain-tile." 

 This justifies the presumption, that under cer- 

 tain circumstances, that article may be profita- 

 bly employed in our country, and thus the 

 whole economy of the question is opened for the 

 consideration of those who may desire to avail 

 themselves of it, in conducting one of the most 

 important processes to which a farmer can have 

 recourse, for augmenting tlie productiveness of 

 his estate. The more important and worthy of 

 being employed, when the farmer cMn possibly 

 command the labor and the means of carrying 

 it out, because, generally, it would be made in- 

 strumental in giving activity to the very por- 

 tions of his farm, which, but for their superflu- 

 ous moisture, would be the most productive — 

 not only the most productive, as respects actual 

 fertility, but profitable, as it prepares such por- 

 tions to yield crops of a kind that demai>d the 

 least amount of labor to husband them. 



As in some measure illustrating a subject 

 which seems thus to have attracted the coun- 

 tenance of the best organized and efficient soci- 

 ety in the Union, we have chosen the following 

 from the last number received of the Journal of 

 the Royal Agricultural Society of England. 



This is one of these cases not to be much, 

 if at all, affected by obvious and admitted 

 ditference of climate ; the propriety of the 

 measure depending rather on general princi- 

 ples : in a word, to be regarded merely as a 

 question of means and end — of profit and loss. 

 We give a cut of the machine, such as we find 

 it in a late number of the London Agricultural 

 Gazette, where the advertiser refers to the com- 

 munication here inserted. It will take an eye 

 of quicker perception of the principles of ma- 

 chinery than ours, to understand the construc- 

 tion of this one ; but it was deemed best to give 

 it such as it is, along v^'ith what follows : 

 ON THE CHEAPEST METHOD OF MAKING 



AND BURNING DRAINING TILES. 

 To the Earl Spencer: 



My Lord, — The active interest you have so 

 long taken in every thing connected with British 

 (207, 



Agriculture, induces me to address to you the 

 following communication on the subject of 

 making and burning draining tiles, of whatever 

 form, in the readiest and cheapest manner. 



My attention has been very forcibly draviii to 

 this subject by the liigh prices demanded by 

 the manufacturers of these indispensable instru- 

 ments of agricultural improvement, prices in- 

 deed so high, that even without the expense of 

 carriage, they must have the eftect of confining 

 within comparatively very uan-ow limits their 

 adoption. 



It is true that the application of macliinery to 

 the producing of draining tiles, promised, and in 

 some degree eti'ected a reduction in the price of 

 tiles previously made by hand, Jjut owing to the 

 mistaken views of those who worked these in- 

 ventions, in fancying they could secure a monop- 

 oly of machine-made tiles, in requiring a seig- 

 norage on tiles made by their machines, and in 

 the high cost of those machines, they ofi'ered the 

 tiles to the public at so high a price that it soon 

 became evident, if draining tiles were to be 

 used to the extent required throughout the Uni- 

 ted Kingdom, that some other machinery of a less 

 costly description, with equal, if not gi-eater 

 powers of production, and with unfettered liber- 

 ty of using it, would be discovered — and this re- 

 sult has accordingly taken place. Two ma- 

 chines, worked by hand, have been discovered 

 in the course of this year, viz. " Clayton's Ma- 

 chine," which is a fixture wherever set up, and 

 for wliich a patent has been taken out ; the other 

 called " Hatcher's Machine," easily moveable, 

 and manufactured and sold by Messrs. Cottam 

 and Hallen, Winsley-street, London. The lat- 

 ter machine is the mvention of Mr. Jolm Hatch- 

 er, brick and tile maker and potter, living in the 

 parish of Benenden, in Kent, where I reside, 

 and is the one I have adopted : and all the sub- 

 .sequent calculations and quantities are made in 

 reference to the producing power of that ma- 

 chine. I beg to assure you that, as my sole 

 object is to put the pubHc in pos.sessiou of the 

 readiest and cheapest way of obtaining these 

 tiles, if any other machine as yet discovered 

 could make them better and cheaper. I should 

 instantly adopt it, as I certainly shall if any such 

 be hereafter invented ; and it is quite certain 

 tliat the public will apply the only real test of 

 merit to these machines in determining their 

 choice of one, viz., the cheapest rate at which 

 tiles can be produced by them, taking into ac- 

 count the price of the machine, the amount of 

 labor necessary to wo)'k it, the goodness and the 

 quantity of tiles it can produce in the day, and 

 the simplicity of its con.struction. 



Being fully aware that Hatcher's machine 

 was not excelled by any other yet discovered in 

 all these essential points, and therefore assum- 

 ing that machinery had accomplished much, if 



