OF DRAINING. 57 



nary course of things, he can always rely upon a crop; the soil 

 also being equalized, the crop is always equal. Mr Andrew 

 expresses his regret, at seeing the mischief that has bee'n 

 done, almost in every corner of Scotland, by the attempts 

 which have been made to level high ridges by the plough ; 

 and I certainly think, that before any proprietor or tenant 

 resolves to carry any plan of that sort into effect, he ought 

 to examine the result of the measures which have been 

 adopted on the farm of Tillylumb.* 



It is singular, that this plan, which Mr Andrew thought 

 was a new discovery, should be the common system of 

 Flanders, and should have been introduced into England 

 by John Arbuthnot, Esq. of Mitcham in Surrey, who is 

 considered by Mr Arthur Young as the best cultivator of 

 strong arable land, and, indeed, the best general farmer, 

 that he ever met with, in the course of his long experience. 

 Mr Arbuthnot was convinced of the necessity of complete 

 draining preparatory to every other exertion. After exa- 

 mining the Essex plan of three feet ridges, as a remedy 

 against wetness, which he found well enough adapted to 

 loams through which the water freely percolates, he was 

 convinced, that it was not at all adapted for soils so tenaci- 

 ous as to merit the appellation of Clay, and that broad 

 ridges, not exceeding two feet or two feet and a half in 

 height, was the preferable system. The breadth he most 

 approved ofi was that of two perches or thirty-three feet; 

 and in each furrow, he dug and filled a well-executed hol- 

 low drain, in the manner recommended by Mr Andrew. 

 Under this system, the cleanness and magnitude of his crops 

 formed a spectacle highly satisfactory to those who viewed 



* Straighling the rirfges, however, as will afterwards be explained^ 

 Sect. 1. Cliap. 2, is a most essential improvement, and can be done at a 

 small expence, in consequence of a plan invented by a gentleman iu 

 Yorkshire, which is described in the Appendix. 



