times, thorough 
9.—1846.] 
THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE,  - 139 
in proportion to the area of the field.. All open ditches 
should be filled up by forming a conduit with stones or 
tiles in the bottom, and filling in earth to level it up to 
the surface of the field. Where any hollow intervenes 
i e area of the field, it is necessary to put in a sub- 
main drain, similar to the one described, as the receiv- 
ing drain at the bottom of the field ; and such drain 
should be placed so as to conduct the water in the most 
direct course to the nearest outfall. 
“The distance of the parallel drains from each other 
should never be more than 25 feet, and need not be 
less than 15 feet. If placed at more than 25 feet 
apart, the laws of percolation do not admit of a suffi- 
ciently quick passage of the water, to ensure, at all 
inage. If placed nearer than 
15 feet, an ad expense is incurred, without a 
corresponding benefit. In practice 21 feet apart has 
been found to be an arrangement suited to effect 
thorough-drainage in all soils. <A fixed rule is always 
desirable, when it can be adopted, without risk of much 
unfitness ; I, therefore, advise the adoption of 21 feet as 
the regulated distance. The depth of the frequent 
drains should not be less than 30 inches from the 
general surface of the field, when levelled down, and 
need not be more than 36 inches. Indeed, a greater 
depth is in most circumstances injurious, as the subsoil 
in the region immediately above the level line of the 
bottom of the drain is too far from the influence of the 
atmosphere to permit the absorption of the moisture in 
dry periods. In cutting the drains the plough may be 
used as an assistant, by taking out the first 10 or 
12 inches of the soil. ‘The drains should be cut as 
narrow and as straight and uniform in the sides as the 
nature of the soil will admit. All stones of whatever 
size interfering with the line of the drain should be re- 
moved. The bottom of the drains should not be more 
than 4 inches wide, and even narrower where tiles or 
tubes are to be used. The bottoms should be cut in as 
smooth and uniform a plane as possible, to insure the 
free and uniform flow of the water, and to form a proper 
bed for tiles or tubes, when such are used. As to the 
material with which the open of the drain is to be 
maintained for the free passage of the water, it may 
consist of amy durable matter arranged in any fitting 
form. What I especially recommend is—Ist, stones 
gathered from the field, of a size not exceeding 24 | 
inches in their greatest diameter, or stones broken from 
large masses to that size. Tiles, either of the horse- 
shoe section with soles, tubes of tiles not less than 
2 inches in internal diameter, or any other suitable 
material made in any suitable form. 
“Tn laying the material into the drain it is necessary 
to do it with care, and to place the whole in as uniform 
a manner as possible. When soft places occur in the 
subsoil, or where running sand prevails, I recommend 
that the drain should be cut a little wider and deeper at 
Such places ; and that a thin turf or scraw be laid, and 
the stones or tiles, or, in the absence of turf, a quantity 
of stiff clay, well tramped in, will suit as well. Where 
broken stones are used for filling, they should be eare- 
fully thrown in with no earth, and as little debris of the 
stone as possible amongst them. They should be put 
into the depth of from 6 to 8 inehes,* and be dressed to 
an uniform surface at the top. Over the stones a thin 
turf or seraw should. be laid, all along, with the grassy 
side down, the turf to fill the drain from side to side, 
Successive layers of soil should also be carefully com- 
ive soil should never be pw 
Wer part or the drain, but should be kept as 
ver the general surface, or to fill 
ing up of the s 
This should n 
When a field has been thoroughly drained, and the sub- 
* At one time I 
2 inches of stones ti 
rec 1 $ ^s to be put 
in. am now satisfied, from greater experience, that 6 o 8 
inches of stones well secured; are quite sufficient, 
, Water into it, and the open of the drain should be ample ; soil stirred, the surface should then be levelled down to 
an uniform plane, as being the form best fitted for en- 
suring uniform dryness, and uniform condition of the 
soil, and as facilitating almost all ‘icul ] operati 
and as.tending to afford the most uniform and abundant 
erops.—J«mes Smith. of Deanston. 
«To Edward Bullen, Esq., Secretary of the Irish Ag. Soc." 
m — — 
Home Correspondence. 
Draining.—The writer of the Leading Article in the 
Agricultural Gagette of February 14, on the subject of 
* Drainage,” states that the cost per acre for surface 
draining of the common clays of this country is from 
51. to 107. It is probable that in some cases this may be 
true, where the extreme tenacity of the soil may re- 
quire the parallel drains to be placed within 10 or 12 
feet of each other, but this must be considered the ex- 
ception and not the rule. For several years I have 
made all sorts of pipes and tiles for deep (or spring) 
and surface draining. both for my own property as well as 
for sale, and as far as the extensive practice of drain- 
ing in this district may be useful to your readers, it is 
at their service in the following details. Is 
myself entirely at this time to surface draining, from 
30 to 36 inches deep. F will assume that the parallel 
drains discharge themselves individually into a water- 
course or diteh, that they are placed 24 fect apart from 
each other, and that the drains are cut from 30 to 36 
inches deep. The pipes used, to be 2 inches in the bore, 
and 15 inches long. ‘This will give about 5 score and a 
half of rods to the aere, which at 
Bs. 6d. per score (a full price) is .. . £110 8 
14 pipes to the rod, being 1540 to the aere 
at 27s. per thousand, the price in my 
FAT Os K«- sesta: ocu actis " MEER "ripe ed 
46 
he acre. + . e 091479 
To this of course must be added the delivery of the 
pipes to the work, charged according to the distance of 
cartage. Some farmers put 2 or 3 inches of stones or 
the clippings of hedges above the pipes before the earth 
is filled in ; to this there can be no objection, but I be- 
lieve it to be entirely unnecessary. If, however, mains 
are required to catch and earry off the water from the 
parallel drains, this must, of course be an additional 
expense, bnt it cannot be calculated at more than from 
2s. to 3s. per acre. It is our practice to make these 
mains of good sized tiles doubled upon each other, and 
which are placed 3 inches deeper than the pipe work, 
and a main often carries the water from 10 to 15 aeres. 
Smaller pipes than those I have described above are 
recommended by Mr Pusey, Mr. Parkes, and others, 
only because they are cheaper, but they find no advo- 
cates here, except my friend Mr. Mechi (whose farm 
is in this neighbourhood). These 1-inch pipes are, in 
our view, insecure ; they readily “silt up,” and in wet 
weather they cannot be safely placed; and when a 
tenant or proprietor contemplates an outlay, for secu- 
rity for an indefinite time, the additional cost of 10s. or 
12s. per aere cannot be worth a moment's considera- 
tion. Many landed gentlemen are now preparing to 
erect establishments for making draining goods, and it 
is highly important that they should select clay adapted 
to the purpose, or they will spend their money uselessly. 
I advise such persons to have their elay well tested be- 
fore they begin, and as this work is usually let by con- 
traet, itis equally important that they should have the 
tiles and pipes well burnt. I know that large quan- 
tities of both tiles and pipes are used, which will break 
down so soon as they come under the combined action 
of air, water, and frost. Imperfect draining is worse 
than no draining at all, Machine makers promise 
largely, and want looking to. Allis not gold that glit- 
ters.—Henry Dixon, Witham. 
Subjects for Farmers’ Clubs.—There are three para- 
graphs in your Paper of the 14th inst., the subjects of 
which it may not be amiss to bring together in one point 
of view. The first is headed “ A few Passages from a 
Fen Labourer’s Account of his own Life,” which ac- 
count gives occasion to your correspondent “J. A. C." 
to make mention of several means of bettering the con- 
dition of agricultural labourers, such as the allotment 
system, benefit clubs, clothing clubs, and -schools for 
the children. Thesecond paragraph I allude to is * On 
the Utility of Farmers’ Clubs,” signed © Wm. Glover,” 
and the third is, “Savings Banks improve the Condition 
of the Labourer,” signature “J. H.” Amongst the 
many questions which members of Farmers’ Clubs may 
called upon to discuss, surely this is or should be a 
very prominent one, namely—How can we best pro- 
mote the interests of those on whose industry and skill 
we are ourselves so necessarily dependent? Now, such 
a question is to a. great extent answered in the commu- 
ications above noticed, And well would it be if the 
individuals constituting Farmers’ Clubs would turn 
their attention to these things, and aim at securing the 
services of a contented able-bodied and industrious 
peasantry, by encouraging measures such as are here 
test of experiment, and that he asserts what he supposes. 
to bethe fact, but what neither he nor any chemist has 
hitherto proved to be so. Mr. Bs explanation of the 
rocess may possibly be the true one, but it must be 
made to rest on other grounds than mere supposition, 
before it will be deemed satisfactory by—P: F. [You 
suppose that this explanation rests on mere supposition ; 
you cannot assert it. Did yousee Mr. Gyde's answer 
to your question? That contained a reference to 
experience. 
The Doctrines of Animal Physiology. — Albumen, 
casein, fibrin, and gluten (whether animal or vegetable), 
consisting of the same elements, apparently in the same 
proportions, most of the eminent agricultural che- 
mists of this day have come to the eonelusion that the 
daily waste of fibrin in the living animal will be restored 
if the food contains a corresponding amount of albumen, 
casein, fibrin, or gluten ; and the farmer has been led 
to suppose that to attain his object of enlarg’ 
muscle of his feeding stock it is immaterial in whi 
the above forms nitrogen is administered, and theo- 
retieally the conclusion appears sound. Let us, how- 
ever, examine it by the test of experience. The con- 
stitution of different animals and of the same animals 
under different cireumstances, and the power of such 
animals to digest and assimilate different kinds of food 
do not appear to have their due share of attention ; it 
having been assumed that if carbon, nitrogen, &e. are 
abundantly provided, it matters little in what form. A 
single instance may perhaps suffice to explain the 
meaning of the writer, and to induce attention to the 
subject on the part of others better qualified than him- 
self to deal with it. A ploughboy, with his appetite 
sharpened and his system braced by exercise, can 
readily digest sufficient cheese (casein) to supply the 
waste of his muscular fibre; but the sedentary man 
must repair his wasted system from nitrogenised food in 
some other form ; casein he cannot take in sufficient 
quantity. The horse also, when regularly hard worked, 
is all the better for a good allowance of Beans (casein) ; 
whereas with little work, and the like allowance of 
Playfair. 
but it is possible they may be wrong in some of their 
deductions, and as it is not with their chemistry but 
with their deductions I differ, perhaps I shall not be 
deemed over presumptuous.—G. B. C., Manchester. 
Thisiles.—At page 74, a writer remarking on the 
vitality of seeds, says that from some weeds we have 
nothing to fear from their seeds, and in reference to 
the common Thistle, observes he should like to see the 
person who can raise a bed of plants from its seeds, 
Your correspondent may have ocular demonstration of 
the fact that the Thistle will propagate itself from seed, 
if he follow the example of a friend of mine, who, 
having frequently heard the same assertion, but doubt- 
ing its correctness, was induced to sati himself on 
the point by a simple experiment. This was done by 
collecting seeds from heads of the same Thistle, but 
differing in the degree of ripeness they had attained, 
and planting the seed from each head in separate pots. 
he result was that every seed, to all appearance, 
vegetated, the only observable difference being that the 
more fully matured seeds made the greater progress, 
and I had the opportunity of witnessing them growing 
with all the luxuriance of a bed of Cucumbers. Thus 
far, the generally received opinion that Thistles will 
not propagate from seed is erroneous. As regards 
Grass-land, there can, however, be no doubt that con- 
stant cutting is a means towards effecting a cure ; but 
the most effectual, as well as perhaps economical 
method in the end, is to employ women and children to. 
pull the Thistles by hand, when there is sufficient 
moisture for that purpose. When this latter plan has 
been pursued, it has resulted not only in the extirpation 
of this noxious weed, but in the very perceptible im- 
provement of the pastures. —F’. D. R. 
To Cure Bacon—as large as * Curly Tail’s :” To each 
flitch.put common salt, 8 Ibs.; saltpetre, half a pound ; * 
salt prunello, 1 oz.; to be rnbbed and turned every day 
and let them remain three weeks in pickle, and get them 
dried in a malt house ; when it is cured, * Curly Tail” 
can send me a rasher to try ; we have cured it this way 
for the last fifteen yea N. 
—N. 1 
Societies. 
ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY or ENGLAND. 
i A WxzEKLY Councin was held at the Society’s House, 
in Hanover-square, on the 25th of February ; present 
—Sir Cuartzs Lemon, Bart, M.P., in the chair; 
Earl Spencer; Viscount Torrington; Hon. Captain 
Howard, M.P. ; Sir John V. B. Johnstone, Bart., M.P. ; 
a 
E 
da 
e 
© 
t 
f, 
Ej 
Ei 
E 
e 
e 
ie 
S 
& 
qa 
S 
Ea 
S 
2 
E 
= 
2 
B 
a. 
E 
2 
g 
E] 
ia 
= 
E] 
5 
P 
E 
F4 
E 
n 
E 
g 
e 
B 
E 
i 
ie 
Ld 
= 
B 
» 
E 
Hj 
carbonic acid to effect this decomposition, so contrary to | Calvert ; Rev. Thomas Cator; F. C. Cherry, Esq: ; 
G. ^ > 
the known habitudes of that acid ; nor does he quote | W. Cuthbertson, Es 
Dy Esq Zdwards, 
| Esq. ; A. E. Fuller, AM Bag co Esq. 5. 
3. T. B. Gibbs, Ecq.; G. Gurney, Esq.; J.-H. 
