19 



crops, in Scotland, is evidence that such crops can- 

 not be altogether unsuited to Massachusetts. 



Mr. Webster proceeded to state, that one of the 

 things which now attracted much attention among 

 agriculturists in England, was the subject of tile 

 draining. This most efficient and successful mode 

 of draining is getting into very extensive use. Much 

 of the soil of England, as he had already stated, rest- 

 ed on a clayey and retentive sub-soil. Excessive 

 wetness is prejudicial and destructive to the crops. 

 Marginal drains, or drains on the outside of the fields, 

 do not produce the desired results. These tile drains 

 have effected most important improvements. The 

 tile itself is made of clay, baked like bricks ; about 

 one foot in length, four inches in width, three fourths 

 of an inch in thickness, and stands from six to eight 

 inches in height, being hemispherical, or like the half 

 of a cylinder, with its sides elongated. It resembles 

 the Dutch tiles sometimes seen on the roofs of the 

 old houses in Albany and New York. A ditch is 

 sunk eighteen or twenty inches in depth, and these 

 drains are multiplied, over a field, sometimes at a dis- 

 tance of only seven yards apart.* The ditch, or 

 drain, being dug, these tiles are laid down, with the 

 hollow side at bottom, on the smooth clay, or any 

 other firm subsoil, the sides placed near to each other, 

 some little straw thrown over the joints to prevent 

 the admission of dirt, and the whole covered up. 

 This is not so expensive a mode of draining as might 

 be supposed. The ditch, or drain, need only be 



* See Appendix, — Note C. 



