344 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[October- 



In our -listrict lime is very dear ; it costs about XI per ton in tliesliell. 



The cost will be- ^, „ „ 



One ton of lime . . . il U u 

 Half ton of cinders . . 10 

 Four tons of sand . . 4 

 Two tons of gravel . . 5 6 

 Grinding . . , • 2 6 

 Workmanship . • • 10 P 

 £2 3 

 These quantities will make 2880 tiles, which will be about the rate of 15s. 

 per thousand. I would recommend in all cases that the gravel and the sand 

 should be ground together, as thereby the lime goes much farther. By 

 grinding them, also, in a wet state, they are better prepared to make the mi.^;- 

 ture which forms the concrete. 



A question has heen handed to me, as follows :-" What efiect have 

 thorough draining and subsoil ploughing on the habit of throwing out the 

 wheat plant by frost ?" There is no difficulty in answering this ; because it 

 is well known' to be owing to the moisture that the wheat plant is thrown 

 out, and whatever removes the moisture, will have the favourable tendency 

 required I have known manv places where almost every winter the greater 

 part of the plants were thrown out. Now. the result of thorough draining 

 and subsoil ploughing is, that they retain the plant perfectly well, and have 

 very abundant crops. 



The best of the t«o modes which 1 mentioned of forming the tiles, is to 

 make them just where the drain is wanted, and in a few days they will become 

 so dry that they can be placed in the drain. One disadvantage is, that these 

 tiles will not stand carting for a length of time. They requirerseveral months 

 before they will admit of being laid one over the other. But, in most in- 

 stances, the making of the tiles can be accomplished on the spot, and in the 

 course of a few days they may be put into the drain. It is, then, of great 

 importance to cover them immediately with some light soil, free from stones, 

 and to beat them down so as to preserve it from injury. If there are any 

 stones in the soil, they may get down to the tile and seriously injure it. 

 This is an instnimeut with which to form the tile in the drains. 

 [The lecturer then exhibited the method of forming the tiles in the drains, 

 which is done by p'acing the mould in the place in the drain to be occupied 

 by the tile, then laying upon it the concrete, and after pressure by an in- 

 strument similar to that used in the former process, drawing out the mould 

 by means of a long handle attached to it for that purpose.] 



Mr. Smith-With reference to the tiles, I would remark that it is better to 

 make them in moist weather than in dry. 



A gentleman inquired how long it would be before the drain could be 



filled in. , j • t 



Mr Smith-l consider it completed when the soil is put over the drain. In 

 an experiment which I made in Forfarshire, as soon as the core had been 

 withdrawn, when the soft soil had been beaten over the concrete, it was fia 

 to be walked over in two days after. Having no greater covering than that 

 on it, 1 jumped myself on the tile from the surface, without doing any in- 

 jury, so that I consider beating the earth over the tile perfectly secures it 

 from injury, and the moment it is completed it is beyond any danger-one 

 day, at least, after the core is withdrawn. 



A Gentleman-If I understood Lord James Hay right, he said it is better 

 not to let the water run through immediately. 



Mr. Smith— I should say that precaution was quite necessary ; there would 

 be some risk of the lower part being washed and injured. Mr. Littledale, of 

 Cheshire, has also made experiments on the system. I cannot catch his eye, 

 and therefore do not suppose he is here, or he would bear testimony to the 

 advantages of it. The old mode is to have narrow ridges not more than 

 three yanls broad, because otherwise there would be no crop at all. There is 

 generally a fringe like a bristle at the top of the ridge, and there is nothing 

 Tn the furrow below. There is a gentleman who has followed the plan of 

 thorough draining and subsoil ploughing, .and has laid down his land flat ; 

 and he\as succeeded in converting a very sterile clay into a clay which has 

 borne a very splendid crop of potatoes, which he has sold this season for 



40/. an acre. 



I have an interesting communication to day from Scotland, which, though 

 not immediately connected with the subject before us, bears intimately upon 

 it. There are great doubts respecting the propriety of putting seed deep into 

 the soil, or covering it very lightly. Experiments have been made on that 

 subject, but none so conclusively as that which I huve now before me, which 

 relates to the springing up of the more tender seeds, the grass seeds ; and it 

 shows the great importance of having a shallow covering over them. This 

 experiment was made by the Messrs. Drummond, of Stirling, the individuals 

 who first introduced the agricultural museums. 



This experiment tends to show the great importance of a light covering to 

 grass seeds. I have made a harrow of peculiar construction, which reduces 

 the surface soil very much without tearing up the ground. It has no teeth, 

 but acts by little sharp discs, closely set together, which curve very slightly 

 1 have found this instrument also very efficacious if used as a brush harrow. 

 A great many questions have been put to me in the course of the lecture, 

 which I have endeavoured to answer as satisfactorily as I could. I now take 

 the liberty of referring to two gentleman, who have had opportunities of 

 seeing what has been done by the application of thorough draining and sub- 

 soil ploughing. One of these gentlemen is well known as an eminently 

 scientific man, who has visited my farm, and has obtained information as to 

 what it was in its original state, and to what it has attained by cultivation ; 

 I mean Dr. Buckland. 



Dr. BucKL..\Nn— Gentlemen, I am one, I believe, of the few individuals 

 present who have had the opportunity of visiting the scene of these most 

 interesting experiments. I believe the term Dean-stoning has been applied 

 to the process, but "thorough draining" is the designation given to it by 

 Mr. Smith. Every word uttered by Mr. Smith I can verify from my own 

 personal inspection of his farm. I went there disposed to criticise, and there 

 is but one attempt at criticism that I can offer on all I have heard or seen of 

 Mr. Smith; and that is, that he talked just now of making straight lines 

 round the hill. There may be a rule for doing that in Scotland, but it is at 

 present unknown in this part of the empire. I can find no other fault, and I 

 think that what I have said is the greatest compliment 1 can pay Mr. Smith. 

 I examined the pond which has been spoken of, and I could find nothing 

 there which indicated the presence of earth. Tlierefore it is quite clear that 

 there is no tendency by any natural process to fill up those drains. A most 

 important point is the total absence of furrows-an advantage which was not 

 so fully pointed out as it might have been. The wetting which you have m 

 the gutter, and the too great dryness which you have on the upper part of 

 the furrow which you have in an ordinarv field are avoided, and a healthy 

 condition is assumed over the whole field, whether one or one hundred acres. 

 One fact is better than any criticism which 1 can ofler. On my return I 

 visited Sir Robert Peel, and was conducted by him to see the worst farm on 

 his estate. One of the fields which should have had grass upon it consisted 

 in three-fourths of it of burnt clay, and one half was full of little plashes, 

 which the tenant had covered with rotten dung. It was impossible that the 

 mnisture flowing from this could go down ; it therefore began to dry, and its 

 whole virtue was going to the wind. Sir Robert admitted the badness of the 

 tenant, and promised to adopt the system I had recommended in one of my 

 pamphlets. I heard no more of the matter till about the end of last autumn, 

 and then I received a letter, which stated that Sir Robert bad obtained pos- 

 session of the farm, and was proceeding to drain it in the manner recom- 

 mended by Mr. Smith. I hold it very important to get another experiment 

 made in the west of England. I saw— and this shows the connexion of 

 <»eolo>^y with agriculture— what the original condition of the soil was, as 

 There "is a small fragment of it over the hedge. Mr. Smith's soil is more 

 than a foot deep, while over the hedge it is not more than three or four 

 inches of the coarsest soil, not worth more than half-a-crown an acre ; the 

 value of Mr. Smith's I will not mention, but perhaps 3;. or 4;. an acre would 

 be a fair guess. Now, Sir Robert Peel has in one year wholly changed this 

 by improving the subsoil ; and you shall hear the result sent to Sir Robert by 

 his bailiff, to be transmitted to Mr. Smith. After the land had been drained 

 on Mr Smith's plan, it was limed with four tons of good lime per acre ; it 

 was then ridged up. the ridges afterwards split, and rotten dimg put between. 

 It was immediately moulded up. and the seed drilled on the ridge over the 

 dung, so that the seed had the benefit of the dung at the first stage of vege- 

 tation The first crop of turnips produced was four times greater than any 

 crop produced on the same field at any previous time. The manure was 

 ^ood farm-made stable manure and farm-yard dung mixed ; the proportion 

 was 12 tons an acre ; the best crop was 27 tons an acre ; the seed (the Here- 

 fordshire white) was sown the 21st of June. The second best (26 tons) was 

 red "iant, sown the 23rd of June ; the next was red top, sown the 24th ot 

 June" and the next the white globe, sown the 25th of June. The whole of 

 the seed was from Skirviug's, of Liverpool, and 2*lb. per acre was sown ; the 

 ridges were 24 inches distant from each other. That document was signed 

 by Thomas Hill, Sir Robert Peel's bailiff. This is the result of twelve months 

 experience only, for Sir Robert Peel wrote to me, and said he sowed under 

 unfavourable circumstances, and his neighbours were laughing him to scorn. 

 Whether or not 26 or 27 tons of turnips an acre is a failure, on land winch 

 never before produced tons an acre, it is for you to judge. Here is the 

 whole expense repaid in the first year, and the land for ever worth forty 



shillings an acre. r d i * 



A gentleman from Berkshire, who had cultivated a portion of Bagsliot 

 Heath, spoke highly in favour of Mr. Smith's system, and alluded to that 

 .gentleman as having al nosl taught him the rudiments of agriculture. 



