360 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 6 



of a separate section ; as will comparative value, 

 another. 



1. Draining. — This primary step towards im- 

 provement was so indispensable on the lands of 

 Ury, that oui of 52 fields, into which Mr. Barclay 

 divided his improved lands, there was only one in 

 which draining was not reqifired. The sub-soil of 

 nearly the whole was also of such an adhesive na- 

 ture, that the spring water could not filter through, 

 nor draw to any considerable distance. So much 

 was this the case, that it was frequently requisite to 

 form the ditches within a few yards of each other, 

 before the purpose of complete drainage could be 

 accomplished. One field, consisting of 25 Eng- 

 lish acres, is, in particular, still pointed out as a 

 remarkable instance of this. It cost £150 for 

 merely the opening of the ditches, though these 

 were contracted for at the low rate of three farth- 

 ings the ell. This gives 48,000 ells tor the field, 

 or 1920 for the acre. And if we suppose the 

 ditches to have been two and a half feet wide, 

 (and, in such a marshy soil, less would not have 

 kept them from falling in,) the ground thus cast \\\) 

 would amount to more than one-third part of the 

 whole mass ; and the drains mu:-t have been, at 

 the average, within less than five feet of each 

 other. To this expense of opening or casting the 

 drains, there falls to be added, the expense of fill- 

 ing with stones and covering again with earth. 

 The filling with stones, at the rate of one cart- 

 load to three ells, would require 16,000 such loads ; 

 a large part of which, if not the whole, must have 

 been brought from a considerable distance, as it is 

 more than probable the marsh could not, of itself, 

 furnish such a quantity. This labor, together with 

 the expense ol laying the stones in the ditches, 

 and covering them with earth, cannot, on the most 

 moderate estimate, be calculated at less than dou- 

 ble the first expense, or £450 for the whole ; thus 

 making more than at the rate of £20 the acre for 

 draining alone. The field itself, having been thus 

 so completely turned inside out, has altered its 

 aspect fi'om its originally mossy hue, to a pale 

 white, the color of the clayey sub-soil ; which, 

 having been thoroughly pulverized by trench- 

 ploughing, and a copious application of lime, is 

 now, not merely fully dry, but become considera- 

 bly fertile. The total expense laid out on this 

 field, vfould be little short of £40 the acre; for, 

 independent of drainage, Mr. Barclay's other 

 means of improvement generally cost him, per 

 acre, about £ 18. This expense, in the present 

 instance, would probably do more than purchase 

 the land after it has been improved, and would 

 certainly have deterred any common cultivator 

 from making the attempt. But Mr. Barclay was 

 not a man to be easily moved from his purpose; 

 and, having once resolved to bring his whole lands 

 into a full state of cultivation, this field, which 

 would otherwise have remained a blot on the sur- 

 face, would not have been left unimproved al- 

 though it should have cost ten times the sum. 



Mr. Barclay's drains were generally two feet 

 and a half wide at top, ten inches wide at bottom, 

 and about three {'c.ai deep. Less dimensions as *o 

 breadth might perhaps have served every purpose 

 of draining; but the expense of casting them 

 would have been very little, it at all, dinunished 

 by narrower ditches. For in a soil, of which one 

 half the substance consists of stones and gravel, 

 and the other half of an adhceive clay intermixed 



with these, it becomes impracticable to cast a very 

 narrow ditch. To this it may be added, that as 

 the lands of Ury had such a profusion of stones on 

 the surface, it became a relief, in the trouble of 

 clearing them away, to have large ditches into 

 which they might be put. 



2. Trench-pl')ughing. — The next operation was 

 trench-ploughing; and there were two objects in 

 view from this labor; 1. To acquire a depth of 

 soil ; and, next, to get rid of stones : and the work 

 was persevered in till both were accomplished. 

 Previous to Mr. Barclay's operations, the quantity 

 of stones upon the lands of Ury was, as has been 

 already stated, immense, both on the surf\ce and 

 through the whole depth which the plough had 

 ever reached. The tillage had been but superfi- 

 cially performed ; nor, indeed, had the tenants 

 either skill or ability to perfom it better. But Mr. 

 Barclay soon made his lands assume a different 

 appearance ; and li-om being the most incumber- 

 ed with stones, and from having the thinnest sta- 

 ple of soil, they became the least incumbered, and 

 of the deepest soil in the county. This was not, 

 however, an easy acquisition, nor was it accom- 

 plished at little cost. With a set of uncommonly 

 strong implements, and with six, and sometimes 

 eio'ht, heavy horses in the draught, he made the 

 plough to descend, in spite of every obstruction, 

 sixteen or eighteen inches at once ; and, alter car- 

 rying off the stones, as they were turned up, as 

 from a quarry, he repeated the operation, till, in 

 the end, he obtained a free soil of Iburtecn inches 

 deep, and of a mould fit lor every agricultural pur- 

 pose. The quantity of stones thus removed was 

 in general very great, and in some cases, almost 

 incredible — even to the amount of more than a 

 thousand cart-loads from an acre. And the sur- 

 face of the land itself was observed to have be- 

 come evidently ten or twelve inches lower by the 

 operation. 



3. Disposal of the Stones.— This would have 

 been ii work of weary labor, had not Mr. Barclay 

 found out beneficial purposes for almost the whole 

 The draining, already noticed, consumed them ii 

 myriads. Perhaps more than 100,000 cart-loads 

 or 100,000 tons weight, were thus disposed of. Oi 

 this point, however, one can speak only from pro 

 bable conjecture ; for, of such a multifarious dis 

 tribution, no account was ever attempted to bt 

 kept. But, judging merely from the vast exten 

 of drains that were made in progress of ihii 

 branch of improvement, over nearly 900 acres, 

 and which certaini}' amounted to several hundred 

 thousand ells, the quantity of stones requisite to 

 fill these could not be less than as now stated, but 

 was probably much greater. 



It has been already remarked, that when Mr. 

 Barclay succeeded to the estate, there was not a 

 road on it. But as he clearly perceived that well 

 made roads, so essential to all improvement, were 

 indispensably required at Ury, so he set about 

 the construction of them without delay, and was 

 assisted in this useful work by the statute-labor of 

 that district of the collnt3^ The length of road 

 altogether, that was thus made through his lands, 

 with all its ramification.^, extends to about eigh 

 miles, and consumed, to good purjiose, many thou- 

 sand cart-loads of stones. 



lie had another expedient still, namely, the fill 

 in/!f up of hollows and pools. This is a branch ( ■ 

 improvcmcul that docis not fall in the way of evei 



