NOVEMBER. 



ELKINGTON'S DRAINING. 



A very necessary attention is to be paid by every 

 occupier of wt land, to the cause of the moisture 

 which injures him : if, as common in many parts of 

 Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, winch are, in general, 

 countries not marked by strong inequalities of sur- 

 face, the wetness proceeds from the texture of the 

 soil, especially the under-stratum, and not from 

 springs, the system of hollow-draining applied to 

 the whole surface, is the best cure the evil may 

 adinit ; but in many districts, the case is dif- 

 ferent ; one spring breaking out on the slope 

 of a hill, will damage much land below, and 

 appear in so many places irregularly, as to as- 

 sume the appearance of many distinct springs, or 

 a general wetness of surface. The common "sys- 

 tem of hollow work, in such cases, may fail en- 

 tirely, though the ex pence inay be greater than 

 that of another system discovered, or practised, 

 or published first by Mr. Elkington, under the 

 patronage of the Board of Agriculture. It would 

 be impossible, in the limits of a Calendar, fully to 

 explain this system^; but the principle of it is to 

 cliseover what may be called the mother-spring, 

 and to cut it off by one deep drain passing across, 

 but above the spot where it breaks out. The 

 boring at the bottom of this deep cut has, some- 

 times-, considerable effect, not only on the spring 

 immediately in contemplation, but on others also 

 that become visible at a distance, and has, in some 



