y 
7.—1846.] THE 
AGRICULTURAL GAZET 
TE. 105 
OYAL AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.— FARM 
BUILDINGS.—A Premium of 102, will be given for the 
Design (with an estimate), which shall be approved by the 
Council, of a FARM-HOUSE AND BUILDINGS OF STONE 
AND BLUE S 
requisite for an 
outlay not to exceed 20007. Stone on thespot. To be sent to 
the Secretary, carriage paid, on or before the 10th of March. 
By direction of the Council, 
Cirencester, Feb. 14, 1846. OBT. J. Brown, Hon. Sec. 
The Agricultural 
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1846. 
TWO FOLLOWING W 
tural Society of Eng 
o 
MEETINGS FOR TH 
WnmpwzsDAY, Feb. 18. 
THURSDAY, 19. 
WxpwxspAY, — 25—Agricultural Society o 
‘Taunspay, — 26—Agriculsural Imp. Sae. oí " 
LOCAL SOCIETIES —Llandovery—Shropham and Guilteress. 
FARMERS' CLUBS. 
Feb. 16—Botley Feb. 25—Newton 
—  90—Shadwell —  i—Ottery St. Mary 
33 — Wellington — 27—Rhing of Galloway 
24—Nairnshire —  38—Herefor 
reland, 
ul of England. 
E à 
In a wet climate like that of the British Islauds, 
and where the general average of the soil is rather 
disposed to the tenacious character than otherwise, 
it is hardly possible, in an agricultural point of view, 
to over estimate the importance of the Suzsrcr or 
DnarwAGE. The change which it produces on the 
very constitution of the soil, when thoroughly per- 
formed, is so striking even to the ordinary observer, 
and the results, not only upon the future crops, but 
upon the texture of the soil itself for easier and 
cheaper cultivation, and upon the whole future rota- 
tion and economy of the farming System, are so 
great, that it honestly deserves the character it has 
pretty generally obtained, of being the foundation 
ofgood farming. But,like every other art which 
has acquired its celebrity by the slow process of 
individual experiment, rather than from any one 
generall d land blished theory, it has 
for many years remained, and still is, the subject of 
great variety of opinion. Clay soils are, of course, 
the ordinary arena of its practice (for we are not 
speaking of that description of drainage whose ob- 
ject is the relief of land springs, which forms quite 
a different subject, wholly unconnected, though fre- 
quently confounded, with the drainage of clay soils, 
which are not generally liable to them), and as the 
clays differ in character, though not so much as is 
apt to be locally imagined, there is, of course, con- 
siderable diversity of belief on many points of prac- 
tice. But this is neither surprising, nor, upon a 
broad view of the question, to be regretted ; for 
there is no knowledge so correct or so valuable as 
that which is derived from the compared and com- 
bined reports of many experimentalists. And, be- 
sides this, diversity of opinion is, in truth, an invo- 
luatary tribute paid by mankind to the intrinsic im- 
portance of anything which is the subject of it: 
indeed, we shall find that the more important any 
question is, the wider varieties of opinion there are 
respecting it, and the longer it is before they are 
Set at rest. As an instance of this, we may remark 
that though there are few subjects of more import- 
ance to mankind than commerce on the one hand, 
and agriculture on the other, yet after all the ages 
upon ages during which we have ploughed the 
sea with the one and the land with the other, 
the most perfect model of a ship or of a plough 
is at this very day equally matter of conjecture 
and enquiry. And we must not be surprised at 
this. True principles, upon any subject, are of 
slow and difficult growth, but,when once established, 
they last for ever. It isso in religion, which is our 
most important subject as moral beings: it is so in 
politics, which are our most important subject as 
Social beings : and itis so in commerce and in agri- 
culture, which are probably our most important 
subjects as industrial beings. And that it should 
be so in that branch of agriculture which we are 
now considering ; that the subject of drainage 
should have given rise to such diversity of opinion, 
and to practices sò irreconcilable with each other, 
we may regard as a good omen, in as far as it affords 
proof that the subject is one of even more import- 
ance than is, perhaps, generally suspected. Indeed, 
differences of opinion, so far from being an evil, are 
the source of good, for they occasion discussion, and 
discussion in the long run leads invariably to the 
extinction of error, and the establishment of true 
principles : and where the outlay of capital is con- 
siderable in the pursuance of a proposed system, 
these become of almost nationalimportance. Where 
stagnation of surface water exists, the farmer is 
beaten at every point, and delayed, if not absolutely 
frustrated, in every operation of the year. His 
capital is wasted, his labour misapplied, his hopes 
thwarted, and his calculations made erroneous, 
It is as useless to manure a field that does not 
drain as to feed a stomach that cannot digest. If 
the digestive powers are languid or diseased, that 
Which should be food becomes poison ; and this is, 
in fact, what occurs upon an undrained field. The A FEW PASSAGES FROM A FEN LABOURERS 
mud and sludge and morass of winter become baked | 
to brick in the summer, and all the ploughing and | 
k nach : | 
harrowing and manuring in the world will never |P 
get crops out of such materials as these. We must 
cure the patient first ; we must get rid of the drop- 
sical disease, and give anew coustitution, before we 
can hope that eyen the best food will have- its 
proper effect. But there is a great deal of land, 
requiring drainirg, that may not exhibit the worst | generally precede it. 
It has been calculated that | the good cause—to know the real condition of the 
symptoms of its need. 
two-thirds of all the land in this kingdom require to 
be drained before their full eapacity for production 
can be brought out, or even ascertained. 
though it is to our moist climate that we owe our 
green pastures and verdant meadows, such as the 
traveller through almost any other country in 
Europe will look for in vain, yet it also brings with 
ACCOUNT OF HIS OWN LIFE. 
[Even though the matter were argued by farmers on 
purely selfish grounds, the conclusion would yet be 
unavoidable that one feature of a perfect agriculture 
will be an educated and well-paid body of labourers. 
This may in the main be an effect, and follow in the 
train of the application of capital to land ; but in this, 
as in other cases, if the effect can be otherwise attained, 
it will help forward the operation of those causes which 
And it may, perhaps, assist in 
labourer under present cireumstances ; the following, 
we believe, is a fair representation of it, so far as the 
: du bed E 1 
And | fens of Lincolnshire and 
g are 
“I was born in a water-mill, which drained a farm 
of 400 acres in the Cambridgeshire fens, and the first 
sounds I remember to have heard were the rattling 
of the wooden wheels, the hum of the sails in the wind, 
and the dashing of the water amongst the ladles. My 
it the necessity of aiding by artificial means the de- | father lived in the mill, and had also a rood of land ad- 
scent of the rain water wherever (in consequence of | joining it rent free, fo: 
ASE ii 
too stiff and retentive a subsoil, or too flat a surface) 
it would otherwise, in the winter months, lie so long 
upon the land as to do harm instead of good. It is 
not that a great deal more rain fallsin the winter 
than in the summer months, for on an average of 
years from 1818to 1843, more rain fel! in the month 
of July than in any winter month; but it is that 
evaporation aets so much more powerfuly and 
rapidly in summer, that the absorbing and perco- 
lating powers of the soil are in that season less 
called into action, while, in the winter months, these 
become the only means of escape. 
rainage, then, is the remedy ; but it itis a very 
expensive operation; the price varying from 57. to 
10/. an acre, and in many cases it has exceeded the 
previous value of the fee simple of the land. We 
may, therefore, well make the most patient and 
guarded inquiries upon the subject before we begin, 
as to how it can be done in a manner at once the 
cheapest and the most effectual. The more econo- 
r attending to the sluices, and 
I le hi Although rather un- 
comfortable in external appearance, it was a very good 
house, for the floors were high, the roof good, and the 
Sides being well boarded and tarred prevented the en- 
vance of wind and rain. My father dug a diteh, and 
threw the earth up all round his little field, so that he 
contrived to drain it thoroughly when other fields were 
partly under water. My first employment was along 
with my mother and a brother and sister, in this in- 
closure, where we grew Potatoes, and a few other vege- 
tables. I never went to school, but we were all taught 
to read and write a little by my father, who was always 
reckoned a good scholar. ‘The nearest school was at a 
village three miles distant, where an old man and his 
wife taught boys and girls for 4d. a week. This school 
was therefore quite useless for us, for besides the money, 
which we could not afford, the roads were so bad that 
we were unable to get to the village in the winter, even 
the high turnpike-road which eame within half a mile 
of us was for many weeks covered with water—posts 
were set up to mark the course of the road, and all 
travellers had to proceed by boats. I worked with my 
achinery. 
mically it can be performed, of course, the greater | father for the farmer who owned the mill ; in summer 
will be the profit; but it is one of those things to 
I had to weed corn, pick Couch, and tend pigs on the 
which the old maxim eminently applies, that “ what fallowed land to eat up roots of weeds, and in the 
is worth doing at all is worth doing well ;" and no 
prudent cultur 
saved that leaves a single drain less effectual in any 
part of the field. When once done, it ought to be 
done for ever. No period of time should terminate 
the efficacy of a well-làid drain; and it may be 
added, that no ordinary period of time can be said 
to terminate the constantly-progressive improve- 
ments which, for reasons that-will hereaftér appear, | twenty, and then being married I removed 
winter I was employed in the yards feeding stock 
t will think a sovereign well | 2nd getting straw for bedding into the yards and hovels, 
ut when I got to be 13 or 14, I worked the teams, 
harrowing or rolling, and sometimes I drove carts and 
waggons; and when I was out of work, I used to dig 
turf, or go fishing. From my first day's work, i 
never earned less than 6d. a day, and 9d. a day 
was my regular wages when I used to work a team.” 
“T laboured on ‘the same farm until I was and- 
m 
the soil must derive from the new constitution that | old home (the mill) to a village about five miles distant. 
it thus obtains. Still regard must be had to expense ; 
and if it be true, as often remarked, that * the man 
who shows us how to grow two blades of Grass 
where but one grew before is a benefactor to the 
community,” so will he be who shows us how to 
drain an acre of land effectually for less than it could 
be drained for a year ago. 
for instance, in the manufacture of tiles, which re- 
duces their cost, is a virtual addition to the value of| done on the fen farms, in consequence of claying. I> 
d 
Every improvement, | a week, and often received 11s. or 12s. 
Up to this time the whole country was often more or 
less overflowed ; the farmers grew scareely any Wheat, 
and the crops were generally very bad. J had worked 
a good deal at cleaning out the old drains and digging 
new ones, and used to pare a great quantity of turf. 
This turf, when dry, I carried round the country to sell 
for firing. When in work I never earned less than 9s. 
” 
“Of late years there has been much more labour 
all those lands which require only drainage to make | have had much work lately in digging trenches an 
them capable of the highest cultivation. 
spreading the clay upon the land, and as the farming 
p B y up E 
Now, in order to arrive at the best method of|and the erops have so much improved, there is a 
performance, the first point is to obtain a distinct | vast deal more for the poor man to do. 
notion of the object that we have in view, and to 
understand the true nature of the advantages we 
hope for. 
common idea, and the too general answer would be, 
“to get rid of the surface-water—to lay the land 
dry.” Strange as it, may sound, we will venture to 
assert that no idea can be more mistaken, or has 
tended to more erroneous practice than this. In| weeding or thrashing. 
the drainage of a road, or the roof of a house, the 
object is certainly to get rid of the surface-water : 
the drainage desired in agriculture may be almost 
the very reverse ofthis. It isnot to “get rid of” 
the rain-water; but to apply it to its proper use. 
There does not fall one drop of rain too much ; it 
is the land, not the rain that is in fault ; or rather, this money out of my wages. 
What is the object of drainage ?—the 2 
Harvest 
time now finds plenty of Wheat for us to cut, and the 
crops have been often so heavy that I have had from 
ls. to 18s. an acre for reaping. I live now in a neat 
hitewashed cottage, with a piece of ground for a garden 
to grow Potatoes in. Ihavea wife and four children 
to maintain out of 12s. or sometimes 10s. 6d. a week, 
eained by myself, and 3s. by my eldest boy. My wife 
and a younger boy and girl go to work occasionally, either 
It costs me 7s. or 8s. a week 
for bread. I get a few pounds of pork or mutton, and 
still have a little remaining for tea, Sugar, butter, 
candles, firing, clothing, and laying byforrent. When- 
ever my children are not tending Pigs, or scaring 
crows, or doing an odd day's work, I send them toa 
day school for 3d. each a week. There is no free school 
within many miles of us, so that I am obliged to spare 
Although I am pretty 
neither the rain nor the land; but the cultivator. constantly at work, there are hundreds that are paid off 
Throughout nature we shall find that there are | immediately after 
every harvest, They are then 
various degrees of perfection ; were it not so there | obliged to wander about from farm to farm seeking em- 
| 
would be nothing left for man to do; but he is too | ployment. 
Occasionally they are set to work at a 
important an agent in the wise economy of nature |‘ chance job,’ such as thrashing, drain digging, or any 
H E ade da n I rov: e ie] a aki ft 
to be left idle ; and if his intelligence and labour be | improvements which the farmer may be making. Often 
demanded on the one hand, so is he, on the other, iF 
| 
supplied in every instance with patterns to follow, | ni 
abundant suggestions to direct, and motives to 
stimulate his exertions, The pattern in this in- 
drainage is naturally perfect. 
act upon those soils? 
this winter life of idleness leads to poaching, for hares and 
Partridgé&, though not in great plenty, are to be had. 
hus my family are provided for, and I can get acomfort- 
able living : the extra money I gain in harvest generally 
1 s : gives me enough to pay the doctor's bi 
stance is to be looked for in those soils where the | aq keep ERO Pie radio d 
How does the rain | out relief from the parish except a trifle when I am ill 
It falls, not upon a round- | myself, 
i, buy clothes, 
I live with- 
In the winter I find it the hardest to get a 
backed ridge, but upon a level or nearly level sur- living—the wages drop—the weather is cold—we can 
face; it descends gradually and almost perpendi- | scarcely obtain food enough, and rarely have covering 
cularly through the soil into the subsoil ; here it is | enough for our bodies or our beds, or firing enough to 
not arrested, but continues descending more slowly 
into the earth, and disappears. 
But we must delay for a week our further re- 
marks on this interesting subject.—C. W. H. 
warm us. 
great distress, 
am not yet so bad as to be afraid, like some, to meet my 
family ; and should life and health be spared me I can 
yet earn an honest livelihood, ard I pray that sickness 
But should sickness come, then we are in 
All are, like myself, situated thus, I 
