DOOB-GRASS. 



and continues multiplying downwards. The 

 only method of preserving the crop is to top 

 the plants, and to burn the tops. 



DOOB-GRASS. See DOG'S TOOTH GRASS. 



DOSS (a corruption of toss). A provincial 

 word signifying to strike with the horn or gore 

 slightly, as cattle frequently do each other. 



DOVE. A species of pigeon, of which the 

 principal varieties are the ring-dove or wood 

 pigeon, the stock-dove, the rock-dove, and the 

 turtle-dove. See PIGEOIC. 



DOVE-COTE. A structure usually erected 

 of wood for the accommodation and rearing 

 of tame pigeons ; the only essential difference 

 between which and a common poultry house 

 is, that the entrance for the birds must be 

 raised to a considerable height from the ground, 

 because pigeons fly higher in the atmosphere 

 than most other birds. 



The utmost cleanliness ought to prevail in 

 pigeon houses, hence the holes should be care- 

 fully examined before the breeding season 

 arrives. They should be frequently well 

 washed out, and the dung and other impurities 

 removed ; but this should be done early in the 

 day, when the birds are out, so that they may 

 not be disturbed. Some old dove-cotes are 

 circular buildings, of considerable size, with 

 ranges of square holes formed in the anterior 

 wall, in which the birds make their nests. 

 From this feature in old dove-cotes, the term 

 pigeon-holes in desks is arrived. These dove- 

 cotes are entered by a door below; and by 

 means of a ladder the young pigeons are easily 

 taken from the nests. Many dove-cotes of this 

 kind exist in Scotland. (Brande's Diet, of 

 Sdcnce, &c. ; Willich's Dom. Encyc.) 



DOWNS (Sax.t>un; Erse, dune, a hill). In 

 European agricultural parlance, large, open, 

 elevated, unenclosed tracts of land, generally 

 reserved for grazing purposes. 



DOWNY LIME TREE (Tilia pubescent). A 

 tree belonging to the southern United States. 

 See LTXDEX, and LIME TREE. 



DOWNY OAT GRASS. See AVEXA. 



DRAG. An implement of the harrow kind 

 used in breaking down and reducing land into 

 a fine state. Also an iron catch to fix on the 

 wheels of heavily laden carls or carriages 

 when descending steep hills or declivities. 



DRAGON-FLY. A common name for the 

 Neuropterous insects belonging to the genus 

 Jlgrion or Lobellula. 



DRAINING. The very first care of the 

 farmer, that on which the success of his future 

 crops almost entirely depends, is the removal 

 of unnecessary supplies of water whether 

 arising from the tenacity of the surface retain- 

 ing too much water, or from springs exuding 

 to the surface. For it is evident that as dif- 

 ferent crops require very varying quantities, 

 so the cultivator must adapt the moisture of 

 the soil to the crops he purposes to produce ; 

 the supply which is necessary, for instance, 

 for the profitable growth of the rice plant 

 would destroy the meadow grasses of Eng- 

 land : and again the damp soils, of which 

 many of the richest meadows of England are 

 formed, would be much too moist for the cereal 

 crops. The nature of the climate, the soil, and 

 the subsoil must all be taken into account. 

 412 



DRAINING. 



The plants growing on sandy soils, of course, 

 will bear a much larger proportion of water 

 than those vegetating on clay soils : and thus 

 the very soil which, in the dry eastern side of 

 England, grows excellent crops of corn, would, 

 in the western counties, where twice the 

 amount of rain falls, on an average, than in 

 the east, be found materially to injure the 

 plants. (See WATER, its Uses to Vegetation.) 

 Placed as the farmer is under such a variety 

 of circumstances, cultivating lands of all kinds, 

 it is useless, in this article, to attempt to assist 

 him with more than general directions. 



The water carried off the soil by artificial 

 drainage is either by boring, by open or by 

 under-ground drainage, or by both. Boring 

 was first recommended by Elkington. It is 

 chiefly adapted for low situations, surrounded 

 by high lands, and merely consists in boring 

 with an auger, or digging a well in the land 

 intended to be drained, until a spring of water 

 is pierced, whose head is lower than that of the 

 surface of the field; and hence it follows that 

 when the water is suffered to drain into the 

 hole made by the auger, or the well, it of ne- 

 cessity drains from the land out of the bottom 

 of the well, as fast as it flows into it at the top. 

 This plan might be profitably employed to a 

 much greater extent than at present. When 

 combined with surface draining, it saves, by 

 shortening the water channels, a considerable 

 portion of the expense. 



In open surface drains, the nature of the 

 soil, its declinations, and its chemical compo- 

 sition can alone guide the farmer. In either 

 case too much care can hardly be bestowed 

 upon it; it is a question that the legislature 

 has deemed to be of even national importance; 

 for by the 3 & 4 Viet. c. 55, landowners pos- 

 sessing only limited interests in estates are 

 empowered to raise money, by way of mort- 

 gage, on such property, to be employed for the 

 purposes of improving them by drainage; and 

 the government has promoted the use of drain 

 tiles by exempting them from duty. I shall 

 confine my observations, therefore, chiefly to 

 the formation of under-drains. These common- 

 ly vary in depth from 2 to 4 feet; and, in peat 

 soils, on account of the very material settling 

 which takes place, as they are brought into 

 cultivation, from this to 6 or 7 feet. The first 

 operation necessary upon a field intended to 

 be drained, is the examination of the strata, 

 or veins of earth of which it is composed; 

 and this is commonly effected with the boring 

 auger, or by digging small pits, or open drains, 

 as by this means the oozings or weepings will 

 speedily display themselves, and indicate pretty 

 correctly the source whence the superabun- 

 dant water proceeds. This being ascertained, 

 the direction of the under-drains will be the 

 more easily decided. If the soil is of such a 

 description that the subsoil plough can be use 

 with advantage, then the top of the stones, 

 bricks, or tiles by which the drain is formed 

 and preserved, should not be less than 2J feet 

 from the surface of the soil. In the formation 

 of these drains the workman always com 

 mences on the lowest extremity; by this means 

 j besides other advantages, the water, as he ar- 

 ; rives at it, drains away from him, and shows 



