32 DRAINING OF GROUND 



which they may distinguish land in want of draining 

 from land not requiring it. Attend, then, to the 

 following liints : — At certain distances throughout 

 the whole of the intended plantation, say at twenty 

 yards, cast pits rather more than twelve inches 

 deep ; and if, in those pits, water should appear to 

 gather within ten hours after being made, the land 

 there is unfit for the growing of healthy trees with- 

 out being drained ; and where no water appears in 

 the pits, the land there may be reckoned dry, and 

 may be safely planted with forest trees without 

 being drained. 



The distance at which drains should be put on 

 the ground, depends entirely upon the nature of 

 the soil to be dried : that is, if the soil be a stiff 

 clay, or a retentive moss, the drains may require 

 to be laid on as close as fifteen feet apart; and 

 if, upon the contrary, the soil to be dried be of 

 an open "sand or gravel, through which the water 

 can pass freely, thirty feet distant may not be too 

 far separate. In all cases where I drain for the 

 j)lanting of forest trees, of whatever nature the soil 

 may be, I never put on drains closer than fifteen 

 feet, nor wider than forty, if the soil require drain- 

 ing at all. If the soil for a plantation of trees be 

 drained more frequently than at fifteen feet, the 

 trees are very apt to be blown up by the roots 

 when they come to be heavy topped, particularly 

 if the drains are not kept in a clean state ; and if 



