AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF chap. Xlt. 



CHAPTER XII. 



Jmprovemeftfs. 



SECTION I. 

 DRAINING. 



O N all wet, spungy, or spouty ground, drain- 

 ing is a species of improvement indispensibly 

 necessary. Without this, any other improve- 

 ment will be of little avail, and the land must 

 continue for ever unproductive, and compara- 

 tively useless. This has not escaped the at- 

 tention of the gentlemen and farmers in Fife ; 

 and a good deal has been done this way, by 

 ' which the value and appearance of the county 

 have been much improved. 



Drains from 2-3- to 4 feet deep, rilled with 

 small stones to within a foot or 18 inches of 

 the surface, and covered with turf, the green 

 side down, or with coarse straw, pob, or ferns, 

 before they are filled up with the earth , are the 

 most common, most approved, and most suc- 

 cessful. 



On wet bottomed, and fenny or mossy ground, 

 requiring deep drains, they are sometimes filled 

 with thorns,, or other brush-wood, for want of 



