NOTES. 



31 



104 See Blaikie's Tract on the Management of Hedges, &c. p. 8, where 

 there are a number of useful hints on the management of hedge-rows. 



105 Observation by Mr Middleton. 



106 Derbyshire Report, vol. ii. p. 92. 



107 Husbandry of Scotland, vol. i. p. 51. 



108 Remark by Isaac Leatham, Esq. in his Survey of the East Riding, p. 27. 

 There is the plan of a new gate in the Farmer's Magazine, for May 1 820, 

 well adapted to straw yards, if not for fields. 



109 Mr Fane of Oxfordshire finds the split oak superior to any other in 

 point of duration, and not expensive. 



1 10 General Report of Scotland, vol. i. p. 299, and 328. 



111 Cheshire Report, p. 122. 



112 Shropshire Report, p. 150. 



113 Cheshire Report, p. 122. 



114 Middlesex Report, p. 137. 



115 In the year 1764, Elkington began to drain some fields on his farm of 

 Princethorpe, which were so extremely wet, that it occasioned the rotting seve- 

 ral hundreds of his sheep. He had dug a trench for that purpose about four or 

 five feet deep, which did not however reach the principal body of subjacent water, 

 from which the evil arose. By accident, while he was deliberating what was to 

 be done, a servant was passing with an iron crow, or bar, for fixing sheep hur- 

 dles in an adjoining part of the farm. Having a suspicion that his drain wa* 

 not deep enough, and desirous to know what sort of strata lay under it, be took 

 the iron bar, and forced it down about four feet below the bottom of the trench. 

 On pulling it out, to his astonishment, a great quantity of water burst up through 

 the hole thus made, and ran along the drain. This led him to the knowledge, that 

 wetness may often be produced by water, confined farther below the surface of 

 the ground, than it was possible for the usual depth of drains to reach, and that 

 an auger would be an useful instrument to apply in such cases. From his suc- 

 cess in this, as well as other modes of draining, and the readiness with which he 

 communicated the principles on which his operations were conducted, to the 

 Board of Agriculture, the British Parliament granted him a reward of one thou- 

 sand pounds. He taught his art to Mr Johnstone, who has drawn up a valua- 

 ble- treatise on the subject, from which much assistance has been derived in pre- 

 paring this Section. It is singular, that another great modern improvement, 

 warping, was likewise discovered by an accident. (See Sect. 10.) 



116 There are instances in Cheshire and Roxburghshire, of lime being ap- 

 plied to a wet soil, without any visible effect ; but no sooner was it drained, 

 even some years after, than, without any additional quantity of calcareous mat- 

 ter, it produced luxuriant crops. 



1 17 Too much moisture in the soil, may prevent springing, for the seed can- 

 not contend with moisture, till it gets green leaves. If there is any risk of wet, 

 the field should be water-furrowed, after the seed is sown. 



1 1 8 In the southern districts of Scotland, particularly in the counties of 

 Berwick, Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Peebles, most of the principal sheep farms 

 have been very much drained, and the consequence is, that the size, quality, and 

 healthiness of the stock in these districts, have been thereby so much improved, 

 as appears almost incredible to those who were acquainted with the former state 

 of sheep-farming in those parts. In many of these farms the rent has increased 

 fourfold, and the rot is now hardly known. 



119 Middlesex Report, p. 288. 



120 Oxfordshire Report, p. 231. Derbyshire Report, vol. iii. p. 621. 



121 Forfarshire Report, p. 73. 



1 22 They must be scoured annually. 



1 23 General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 437. 



124 Husbandry of Scotland, vol. i. p* 61. 



