DRAINING. 391 



ills f:\sm from them. He digs hollow-drains, from two 

 feet and a half to four feet deep, rilling them very carefully 

 Aviih stones, hand-picked from the heaps by women, to 

 prevent any earth going into the drains and impeding the 

 current of the water. The effects of the improvement 

 aie great. 



In going from Waterden to Rainham, passed by Scul- 

 tliorpe Mill, and there enter a region that must make a 

 farmer's heart ache. Of the nuisances that a country can 

 be plagued with, certainly water-mills class very high in 

 the black catalogue : for the sake of this beggarly mill, 

 which apparently cannot be worth more than trom 20I. to 

 30I. a year, here is a noble tra6f, from a furlong to a mile 

 wide, of what, ought to be rich meadow, poisoned with 

 water, and producing rushes, flags, sedge, and all sorts 

 of aquatic rubbish. Who would not suppose the two 

 sides of the river belonging to little proprietors, as beg- 

 garly as the mill, who could meet over their tankard 

 to wrangle, but never agree ? No such matter. Marquis 

 TowNSHEND on oue side, and Mr. Coke on the other. 

 It would not be amiss to couple the two stewards of the 

 estates up to tlie chin in one of these overflowing dykes, 

 till they settled the matter, ^/or the benefit of the public. 



The Rev. Dixon Hoste, who has done much liol- 

 low draining, twists three sticks or poles togetiier, which 

 lie lays in at the botton-. of the drain, and then tills, six 

 inches deep, with stones; as he has found, that when the 

 drains are filled with stone only, tlicy do not run quick 

 enough. The smaller drains he digs 24 inches deep, and 

 the leading ones 30. Tlie price 4£d. a rod for the one, 

 and 5d. for the other. 



Mr. Havers, at Thelton, drains attentively : the dis- 

 tance from eight to ten yards j tlie depth, in general, 30 

 inches, but of leading drains, 32 ; fills with bushes and 



C c 4 ctraw; 



