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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[Jan. 13, 



AGRICULTURE AND ENGINEERING. 



It has been well observed, that it is difficult to limit the range of 

 professional studies, or the applications of professional knowledge. 

 The ancients admitted this truth in all their paedagogic treatises. If 

 Cicero and Quintilian laid down rules for the education of an orator, 

 they urged the necessity for universal attainments, or a never ending 

 pursuit of knowledge; if Vitruvius wished to produce a perfect archi- 

 tect, he laid down a category of studies and qualifications which men 

 in these degenerate days would look at and fear to recognise. With- 

 out, however, requiring that a pleader should be a perfect mathema- 

 tician, or an architect a good dancer and musician, we are not disin- 

 clined to recommend an ardent prosecution of study, and particularly 

 of those sciences accessory to the practice of a profession, which widen 

 the range of its application, and bring it in contact and- harmony with 

 other pursuits. We do not think the resident engineer of a railway 

 the worse for being a good geologist, or the superintendent of an iron 

 furnace for proficiency in chemisty ; we believe, on the contrary, that 

 thev may find many useful occasions for the applications of such know- 

 ledge. It is with these views that we have looked with interest on 

 the present position of agricultural science, the desire for a more 

 efficient system of drainage, and the strong recommendations of a pro- 

 per study of geology and chemistry ; and here we pause and ask 

 whether these are not circumstances which interest the engineer. 

 Employed in the survey of an extensive estate, who so naturally would 

 be the individual, not merely to ascertain its territorial limits but the 

 nature and capabilities of its soils, subsoils, and mineral productions ; to 

 suggest the best system of drainage, of the supply of water, and of 

 irrigation ; to point out the best position for farm-steads, the most 

 improved mode of construction, ventilation, and warming of the several 

 buildings, the best means of preparing chemical manures, and the 

 course to be adopted for the amelioration of the communications, 

 means of conveyance, and implements ; in fact, to make a report upon 

 an estate and its capabilities. 



When landowners come to consider what engineers have been al- 

 ready able to do for the improvement of estates, and of the country 

 generallv, we think there will be a natural disposition for their em- 

 ployment. All the great operations for the drainage of the country in 

 the fens of Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, &c., have been 

 executed under the direction of engineers, through whose means 

 hundreds of thousands of acres have been rescued from the waste, and 

 converted into corn-fields and pasture. Immense districts, moreover, 

 have been reclaimed from the domains of the sea, or of rivers, by 

 which the productive power of the country has been greatly increased. 

 Such works as the embankment of the Nene, and others in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Wash, show what can be effected by well-conducted 

 operations, and there are numbers and numbers of places on our coasts 

 and on our river shores, where large additions might be made to the 

 productive soil. Look at the estuaries on the Essex coast, the lagoons 

 in the neighbourhood of Portsmouth, and on the Dorsetshire coast, the 

 estuaries of the Dee, the Mersey, the Ribble, the Duddon, Morecambe 

 Bay, and the Solway, not to speak of many equally favourable localities, 

 but less known, and many of minor importance, but affording oppor- 

 tunities for profitable enterprise. All operations for the recovery of 

 land, moreover must necessarily be attended with improvements of the 

 drainage, of the water-courses, water communications, and places of 

 shipment. The Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle embankments, now 

 near complete, are very favourable examples of what may be done in 

 the way of land recovery, and it is to be observed that in most cases 

 land so recovered from the sea or from rivers is extremely produc- 

 tive, not being, as is vulgarly imagined, so much sand, but a fine allu- 

 vion. Partial engineering surveys of estates aie common for mining 

 purposes, but the greatest benefit would accrue from a general 

 examination by well-informed engineers. The Dukes of Buccleuch 

 and Sutherland, the Marquis of Bute, Eurl of Burlington, and many 

 other large proprietors avail themselves extensively of engineering 

 science for thedovelopmeut of the capabilities of their estates, therein 

 worthily following the example of the Great Duke of Bridgewatcr, for 

 it is clear that the money spent under Brindley's direction in the 

 improvement of the water communication, had of itself, at the 

 same time, largely increased the mineral and agricultural value of the 

 estates. The Duke of Buccleuch has laid out large sums on the im- 

 provement of the quarries and harbours on his estates, of which 

 Granton pier is a splendid example. The Duke of Sutherland has for 

 years been occupied in the systematic exploitation of his estates by 

 the formation of adequate roads and harbours. The Marquis of Bute 

 by his improvements at Cardiff, created a fine harbour, and immensely 

 improved the value of his Welsh estates. In Inverness, the Earl of 



Burlington has for some years employed a gentleman of high scientific 

 attainments, Mr. Jopling, the author of "Isometrical Perspective," as 

 the superintendent of his slate and mineral works, who has greatly 

 improved the roads and increased the produce of the property. 



How many proprietors possess large estates, the resources of which 

 are either unknown, or not adequately developed, where an improved 

 road would bring a stone or slate quarry into work, where the finest 

 brick or porcelain earth might be made available, where attention to 

 the water courses would afford good mill sites, increase the produce 

 of the estate by irrigation, improve its drainage, or perhaps, by very 

 simple arrangements, convert a turbulent stream into anavigable river, 

 enabling produce to be conveyed cheaply, and timber, materials, and 

 manures to be introduced, and improving the access to markets. A 

 simple bridge in a convenient place, may greatly facilitate communica- 

 tion between one farm and another, save time and labour of men and 

 horses, and give better means for removing the produce. The devia- 

 tion of roads, to avoid a hill or a vale, the most economical modes of 

 constructing them all devolve on the engineer. In many cases the 

 surface water is unfavourable to human or animal health, or insufficient 

 for the uses of an establishment where the boring of an artesian-well 

 may render the greatest benefit, and be the means of much pecuniary 

 advantage. In fact, the opportunities are numerous in which a good 

 engineering adviser can render important service to landed proprietors, 

 and be the means of permanently improving his estates, and affording 

 employment to the large numbers of the working classes dependent 

 upon them, and for whom they may be unable to provide. In many 

 Ciises where the means of improvement do not exist on the spot, the 

 engineer will be able to find out in the neighbourhood, the course to be 

 followed for adequate drainage, for improving the roads, or where the 

 necessary mineral manures are to be found essential for the due deve- 

 lopment of an imperfect soil. 



We believe, that in this respect, great scope exists, and it only 

 wants the exertions of intelligent individuals to make this sphere of 

 employment extensively available. While recommending this field of 

 exertion, we must, at the same time observe, that a practical difficulty 

 exists with regard to the uncertain nature of professional remuneration. 

 It is too frequently the case that young members of the profession 

 being called in, make charges after the rate of three, five, and seven 

 guineas per day, being the charge of men in first-rate practice, a cir- 

 cumstance which has a material influence in deterring persons from 

 calling in professional aid, or in inducing them, if they are to pay first 

 rate fees, to make up their minds to have first-rate men, by which the 

 junior practitioner is excluded. We would not in any way derogate 

 from the dignity or adequate remuneration of the profession, but on 

 every ground of propriety and policy we advocate moderate charges 

 on the part of junior members. If experience be sought on the subject 

 — what is the case with the bar and the medical profession? — the junior 

 barrister gets a junior's fee, and works his way up to an independent 

 practice. In the medical profession, however, there is a dignified scale 

 of professional charges, on the guinea and half-guinea system, and 

 every one who from professional standing cannot exact these charges, 

 must submit to the derogatory and mischievous practice of sending in 

 and charging medicines, or he must starve, or become an assistant for 

 some years, which is much about the same thing ; indeed, such is the 

 mischievous system of remuneration in the medical profession, in con- 

 sequence of young men not being allowed by etiquette to make mode- 

 rate charges for visits, that a large part of the population are converted 

 into medical paupers, as dispensary patients, &c., whereby we may 

 fairly calculate that not less than a million a year is lost to the medical 

 profession, being the sum which might be received from one million 

 beads of families, small tradesmen, mechanics, and labourers. This 

 sum would be adequate for the independent maintenance of five thou- 

 sand junior medical men, and an efficient system would greatly raise 

 the moral standard of the working classes, and get rid of the stain of 

 medical pauperism, frequently the incipient stage of a demoralized 

 career. Portrait painters have a wholesome system of political eco- 

 nomy forced upon them, they know that it is of no use for John 

 Scratchley to ask the terms of Sir Thomas Lawrence, but he must get 

 up gradually as Sir Thomas Lawrence did. Lawrence, we believe, 

 began at a shilling or half a crown ; then his practice increased so 

 much he was obliged to raise it to a crown, then half a guinea, a guinea, 

 five guineas, till at last he did nothing under 250 guineas, and had 

 more commissions than he could execute. People pay Sir William 

 FoUett a hundred guinea fee to induce him to give up a fifty guinea 

 brief in their favour and such is the natural process, if a man be rising 

 the public will raise his fees in the competition to ensure his assistance. 

 We say again, then, let junior engineers, be moderate in their expecta- 

 tions, let them cultivate agricultural chemistry, geology of soils, and 

 the practice of drainage, and there is a wide field open for their em- 

 ployment and exertion. At any rate we think we shall do good in 



