194 On Draining. 



fluity to run off, where there is a descent ; but that opera- 

 tion is facilitated by hollow-drains, water-furrows, and 

 ditches, which, collecting the water, operate like veins, and 

 convey it to a large drain made for carrying it off. u 



3. Meadow Land. Along the sides of rivers or smaller 

 streams, much valuable land injured by water is met with. 

 Sometimes land in this situation, is protected from the over- 

 flowings of the river by embankments, as ought to be done 

 with respect to the fine meadows in Derbyshire and Staf- 

 fordshire, on the banks of the Dove ( lSz ) ; but it frequently 

 happens, that by deepening the river or stream, or, in other 

 cases, by making a new, straight or deeper channel, a con- 

 siderable addition may be made to the land, and the object 

 of drainage effected. Sometimes the wetness arises from 

 springs, which issue from the bottom of an adjoining high 

 ground. With much ingenuity, Mr Edward Webbs, of 

 Stow, in Gloucestershire, has employed water collected by 

 the upper drains, to drive a wheel, by which the water is 

 pumped from the lower parts and carried off( 153 ). 



4. Upland Pastures. The draining of upland pastures is 

 an important branch of the subject. From the unwhole- 

 some quality of the plants produced on such pastures, where 

 there is a superabundance of moisture, whether stagnant on 

 the surface, or confined under it, proceed that most de- 

 structive malady, the rot, and other diseases, to which many 

 thousands of valuable animals fall a sacrifice every year. In 

 the sheep farms of the Cheviot hills, the object has in a great 

 measure been obtained, by cutting surface-drains, about one 

 foot wide, and as much deep, in an oblique direction to the 

 declivity of the ground ( l54 ). The water collected from 

 these drains, is sometimes employed in running over such 

 parts of the ground below, as are dry and covered with 

 heath, where it has the effect of killing that plant, and en- 

 couraging luxuriant grass ( l55 ). No mode of improvement is 

 attended with more benefit, or occasions less expense ( l56 ). 



5. Bogs. The successful mode of draining bogs, as prac- 

 tised by Elkington, and so ably described by Johnstone, can- 

 not be minutely detailed in this place ; it may be sufficient 

 to state the general principles upon which it depends. These 

 are, 1. discovering the main spring or source of the evil ; 

 2. taking the levels, and ascertaining their subterraneous 

 bearings ; and, 3. making use of the auger when neces- 

 sary, if the depth of the drain is not sufficient for that pur- 

 pose, to reach and tap the springs. As an example of 

 this, it may be mentioned, that in a field near Tamworth 



