On Draining. 183 



2. Grass Land. The beneficial effects of draining on 

 grass land are also very great. It is less liable to be poached ; 

 rushes and other aquatic plants soon disappear; the 

 finer grasses rise in abundance; the pastures maintain a 

 greater number of cattle and sheep ; the stock becomes 

 superior in size and quality, and less subject to disease ( M ^ ; 

 that destructive malady, the rot, so fatal to sheep, is pre- 

 vented ; and if the land be mown, the hay produced is 

 much improved in quality. 



3. Woods and Plantations. Draining is likewise an im- 

 provement of the most essential consequence to plantations, 

 when they do not consist of aquatic trees. Land on which it is 

 intended to plant the common forest trees, if wet, particularly 

 requires draining ; for as the roots of trees, penetrate deeper 

 than those of any other plants, the necessity of removing the 

 water in the subsoil, as well as that on the surface, is evident. 

 Where this has been attended to, the plantations thrive, and 

 the trees grow to a considerable size, much faster than can 

 otherwise be expected. 



4. Improvement of Wastes. The improvement of wet 

 moors must be preceded by draining, stagnant water being 

 injurious to all the valuable classes of plants. Care in par- 

 ticular should be taken, to render the land dry, before the 

 application of lime, dung, or compost, otherwise the attempt 

 will be ineffectual. At present, commons lying waste, are, 

 in respect of drainage, in a most wretched state. The soil, 

 in the first instance, absorbs as much water as it can con- 

 tain, and the surplus water remains on the surface, in a stag- 

 nant state, highly injurious to the healthiness of the neigh- 

 bourhood (" 7 ). 



5. Melioration of Climate. By the removal of stagnant 

 water, and the prevention of noxious exhalations, the climate 

 is rendered more healthy and genial, both to animal and ve- 

 getable life ( II8 ). Indeed, since the introduction of draining 

 into this country, agues, and other similar distempers, occa- 

 sioned by the humidity of the soil, and the consequent im- 

 purity of the atmosphere, have been, in a great measure, 

 prevented ; and the general health of the inhabitants has 

 been greatly improved. Much water is discharged in the 

 atmosphere, by spouty land, through the aquatic plants and 

 coarse herbage which it carries ; and it is a curious and im- 

 portant circumstance, in an experiment recorded, that while 

 the air immediately above a wet soil, was only 57 of Fahren- 

 heit, the dry part of the same field, and of a similar soil, was 

 considerably higher ( II9 ). 



