OF DRAINING. 53 



in need of draining, than of manuring ; and that there are 

 very few districts in either kingdom, where a perfect know- 

 ledge of this essential source of improvement, is at all gene- 

 ral. The difference it would make, were draining in Scot- 

 land carried to the extent it might be, is beyond all calcu- 

 lation. 



In discussing this important subject, it is proposed briefly 

 to touch upon the following points: 1. The nature of the 

 open drains made in Scotland ; 2. Of under-drains ; 3. Of 

 Elkington's mode of draining, as practised in Scotland ; 

 4. Of ponds made from drains ; 5. Of the obstacles to 

 drainage in Scotland ; and, 6. Of the advantages which 

 have been derived from it, at least in so far as these parti-- 

 culars have been explained in the course of my recent cor- 

 respondence. 



1. It rarely happens, that any clay district can be culti- 

 vated to advantage, without open drains, of various descrip- 

 tions. In the Carse of Gowrie, the large drains, near the 

 river, are from fifteen to twenty feet deep, and that valuable 

 district has thus been rendered completely dry. In the 

 summer season, it is necessary to clear all these large drains 

 every year, so that the passage of the water may meet with 

 no resistance; for there are miles of drains so connected, 

 that an obstruction of six inches above the level, will impede 

 the whole. It is necessary also to employ spademen every 

 day the ploughs are in the field, to clear out the small drains 

 as soon as the ridge is ploughed ; for in that flat country. 



damage to the fields in which they take place. With uncommon sagaci- 

 ty, Elkington discovered, by the herbage and other outward appearances, 

 where these pots or strata lay ; and by making ditches from one to another, 

 so as to connect them together, he drained the nek! at a trifling expence, 

 as effectually as it was done by the laborious and expensive method adopt- 

 ed in Essex. 



