■I(» 



PRACTICE or AGRICULTURE. 



Part JIT. 



■«*".. rim drix 



mi of turf arc lometiinci formed where the surface 



turves from such 



055 



soil is a strong clay, as it is only 

 a surface thai arc sufficiently 

 durable. A semicylindrical «pade [fig. 655. a) is 

 used to dig the turves, the ground-plan of which (6) 

 presents a series of semicircles <>r half pipes. The 

 drain [c) being dug out to the proper depth, one turf 

 is laid in tfae bottom it , and another being placed 

 over it (<■), completes the pipe. The fame sort of 

 pipe drain has been formed out of solid beds of clay, 

 and has served for a time to convey water. As col- 

 lecting drains, of course, they can be of little or no 

 use. Ilannay, an ingenious farmer in Wigtonshire, 

 adopted this mode for the purpose of conveying 

 water through running sand, in which only a pipe 

 drain will last for a moderate time. After a number 

 of years the clay turves were found effective in con- 

 veying away the water, and preventing the running 

 away of the sandy sides of the drain. 



42:i7. Pearson's method of pipe-draining will be 

 found described at length in the Transactions oj the 

 Society of Arts, vol. xlvii. for 182!). The ground is 

 first opened by a plough, with what is called a 

 \_ \— (& &.')— | horn-share. (Jig. 658.) With four horses and the 



horn-share (a), a furrow nine or ten inches deep 

 by ten inches is taken out. The horns are then 

 removed, the coulters (ft ft) added, and eight horses 

 attached. This cuts the soil to an additional depth 

 ol ten inches (cj, and it is immediately removed with narrow spades, and larger and smaller draining 



\^jfi 



scoops, [figs. 65.i. e, and 661. a, b.) A second pair of coulters cuts the soil to the depth required, which 

 is also taken out by the scoops. The total depth is now about twenty-six inches, the width at top 

 ten inches, and at bottom about one inch. A slide (fig. 657.a) is then dropped to the bottom of the drain, 



657 



commencing at its lowest level, so as to work up hill. A windlass (b) is next placed at the full length of 

 the rope, which is attached to the slide. Clay is next rammed firmly down on the slide with a heavy 

 rammer to the depth of three or four inches, and the slide is next pulled forward, leaving a Cylindrical 

 drain of three or four inches in diameter, according to the diameter of the slide. (Tra?is Sue 'Arts vol 

 xlvii. p. SO.] ' ' 



4298. A mode of turf-draining in use in Cheshire is as follows : —The surface of the ground where the 

 drain is Intended to he cut, is marked out in parallelograms about the size of bricks on one side 

 (Jig. 658. a), and that opposite is left of the width of a common sod; i.e. nine inches wide. These 

 sods are taken out at a spade's depth, and laid carefully bv the side of the drain for covers The sods 

 '".resembling bricks in their size and shape, are then dug, and laid carefullj on the same side as 

 the sods intended for covers. The drain is then sunk to its proper depth, and the stuff taken out is 

 thrown to the other side. The bottom is levelled w ith proper draught tor the water, and set with the 

 sods like bricks (a), two in height on each side (e) ; these are covered with the larger sods set ob- 

 liquely (ft), the grass side of each sod being turned downwards. (Agr. Rep. of Cheshire, 214.) 



4299. The mole drain (Jig. 659.) is formed by the draining-plough of that name already described (2643.) 

 with the manner of using it It is chiefly useful in pasture-lands, and especially in such as have some 

 declivity, or are formed into ridges 



1300. The wheel drain is a very ingenious invention, described in The Agricultural Report of the Count'/ 

 qf Essex. It consists ofa draining-wheel of cast-iron, that weighs about tewt. It is lour feet in diameter; 

 the cutting-edge or extremity of the circumference of the wheel is half an inch thick, and increase; in 



i 



