43—1846.] 
THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
715 
This just about balances the expenses, hardly any- 
thing more. I give it just as the result (unforeseen) of 
the calculations on the data with which I started ; but 
it is very obvious to any one that land farmed so highly 
28.I have suggested will not stop at yielding 36 bushels 
of Wheat, per acre, nor 20 tons of. Swedeseither. Land 
on which 3/. worth per acre of bought food for cattle is 
annually consumed, must increase rapidly in fertility, 
and the moderate crops which I have calculated on will 
S. 
soon be exceeded. — M. S. 
ON THOROUGH DRAINING. 
' Bzronz entering on the drainage of land to the vast 
extent it must be carried on this year in Ireland, the 
Subject demands our most serious attention, our deepest 
consideration. Even by some of the cleverest of men 
its greatest and first principles are but darkly seen, 
while with others I must think erroneous views have 
not yet been entirely got rid of. In calling the atten- 
tion of Irish landlords to the subject, I feel some diffi- 
dence, for it is, as though I said I knew better than 
others; which, although a very common failing, few 
like to appear to throw so far away the mask of modesty 
as to acknowledge it, 
Some difference of opinion still exists as to the depths 
of drains, the areas of their porosity, and the distances 
at which they should be drawn, as the readers of the 
Agricultural Gazette ave well aware. Mr. Smith, of 
Deanston—I might have said the deservedly renowned 
Mr. Smith—though still contending for the shallow 
draining and narrow distances he originally adopted, 
has been long in the transitory mood, and has aban- 
doned, to.a considerable extent, his original principle of 
the furrow drainage for the more modern one of Mechi, 
Parkes, Grey, &c., of thorough drainage ; indeed, like 
all converts, I see he lias taken the extreme coté, for 
le has become so renegade to hia old friend the furrow 
that nothing but the top of the ridge will now content 
him for his drain. 
As-I am not going to admit the superiority of his 
shallow drains, I Shall first take the liberty of ques- 
tioning his claim of superior experience over Mechi, 
Parkes, &c., in thorough draining. I do not dispute it 
in furrow draining; in this he has the right of invention, 
and from the length of time he practised it of experi- 
ence too ; but his experience of thorough drainage is 
but cocval with theirs, it is a thing of yesterday, the 
word itself has been but just taken in its present ac- 
ceptance. Till very lately, furrow and thorough were 
used indiscriminately ; and when a distinetion began 
to be made, thorough was rather taken in the sense of 
complete, perfect (and I am inclined to think Mr. 
mith is somewhat disposed to regard it still in that 
sense), than in its now derivative one of through. 
To the principle of thorough (through) drainage, 
Mr. Smith’s furrow drainage is as opposed as one thing 
can well be to another. The thorough drainage of 
Mechi, Parkes, &c., is a passage of the rain water 
through the unstirred subsoil into the drain, detained 
in the soil till it has parted with its ammonia, &c. The 
Ow drainage of Mr, Smith was the passage of rain 
water over, or but little under, the surface into covered 
drains in the furrows, from whence the system derived 
ts . And for this purpose the. drains were 
directed to be filled in with light and porous materials, 
their original clayey earth being scattered over the 
ridges. For the former deep drains are evidently essen- 
tial ; for the latter shallow ones were as evidently best 
adapted, and their depth was therefore incidental to the 
depth at which it was intended the surface should be 
worked. By the férmer wide distances are effectually 
drained with sufficient expedition, and with a small 
area of porosity (an inch pipe); to the latter narrow 
distances were requisite to prevent the water of heavy 
rains running off along the tops of the furrows carrying 
with it the finer and richer particles of the soil ; for the 
Same reason a large area of porosity was also required. 
o me Mr. Smith does not appear to have formed à 
p of the distinguishing features of thorough 
and deep draining. He talks of a just medium for the 
depths of drains, by which he understands, I believe, 
such a depth as will place the upper part of the.stone- 
filling some three or four inches below the stirred soil. 
Mechi’s just medium is a balance between the expence 
and the depth of the drain somewhere between five and 
ten feet. But Mr. Smith says—“ if the drains are 
made too deep"—and what is too deep ?—“ the water 
would remain longer in the soil than would be either 
necessary or useful, Now, letting alone that the ad- 
vocates of deep drains affirm that the water runs 
quicker off from. them, it is yet a: problem. how long it 
is necessary or useful for the water to remain in the 
Soil before itis drained off, It should remain in it 
until it has parted with its ammonia, &e.; but how 
long this is will depend much upon the quantities of 
these matters coutained in the soil ; falling on a soil 
exhausted of the extraneous matters contained in rain- 
water and full of matter capable of being acted on by 
the acidifying principles it brings with it, the smallest 
possible space of timé may be long enough ; but if the 
soil is saturated with these matters and does not con- 
tain disengaged bases for the acidifying principles to act 
on, we ean searcely conceive (irrespective of the effects 
of excess of water on living vegetable tissue, and which 
does not here enter into consideration), that the rain- 
water can remain too long in the ‘soil -or percolate 
through too great an extent of earth, 
Now, if drains act at 5 feet deep, and that they do so 
we have a vast preponderance of evidence and experi- 
ence against Mr, Smith, they must drain the soil to that 
its commencement, and never sold nor was in any way 
t 
depth, and supposing on the hypothesis of Mr. Smith, 
but without acceding toit, that the rain-water d d 4 
01. 
d with anything but a genvine article, which 
nt I am prepared to establish upon oath should 
tati 
as straight as it could go by force of 
tion, as 
drained to the depth of 5 feet would absorb a given | 
quantity of water with greater rapidity tham. a soil 
drained only to the depth of 2 feet, and leave the sur- | 
face sooner in a fit state to be operated on by man, let 
the draining from it be either quick or slow, for water 
cannot percolate so rapidly horizontally as it will de- 
seend perpendicularly by its gravity. The action of 
drains at 2 ft. 6 ins. below the surface, and at 5 feet 
must be very different—we shall sce that their effects 
are so ; for admitting with Mr. Smith that (with some 
trifling variation), in shallow drains the rain-water 
descends directly through the broken ground by its 
gravity, “and then along the surface of the subsoil 
which had never been mechanically moved, into the 
drains.” Yet with deep drains this is not the case; 
true, we may suppose the water to descend perpendi- 
cularly through the broken soil a depth of less than 
2 feet; but as upwards of 2 feet of the subsoil that has 
not been mechanically moved is made dry by the ope- 
ration of the drain placed 5 feet below the surface, as 
there are 3 feet of rammed. and solidified clay over the 
pipe in the drain, the.rain-water cannot as in the shal- 
low drains rum along the surface of the mechanically 
unmoved subsoil into the drains, but must penetrate 
through it in concentrated radii to the drain-pipe, and 
this properly constitutes the great distinguishing feature 
of thorough, or as it-ought to be called, through 
drainage. P Fond 
The various fertilizing matters held in solution in 
the main-water, and the acidifying principles it brings 
with it over and above those which it may have lost in 
its rapid passage through the broken soil ; a soil pro- 
bably already saturated with these matters and princi- 
ples, are thus carried into and through every part of 
the subsoil, and there finding crude alkalies, earths, and 
metallic oxides, form salts, and in the course of a short 
time change this sterile and inert bulk of soil, 3 feet 
in thickness, into a nutritious and active earth, 
The roots of plants now descend through this mecha- 
nically unstirred subsoil till they reach a still lower 
soil which has not been deprived of its surplus water. 
ut as the growth of a plant above the surface always 
has a relative proportion to the growth of its root be- 
low the surface, we have in these deep drained soils a 
vegetation of far superior luxuriance to that of the 
shallow drained soils. We have then not only a saving 
of expense in the deep and wide apart system of drain- 
age, but we obtain a fertile soil to the depth of four or 
five feet. 
In calling the attention of the landlords of Ireland to 
this subject, I would also suggest to them, that as a 
difference of opinion may subsist. between them and the 
Board of Works as to the system of drainage to be 
carried out, they have a just right, as being most inte- 
rested, to stipulate for the one they think fit; the only 
interest of the Government is that the improvement 
effected be such as shall inerease the value of the land 
to the amount of the outlay, and any system of drain- 
age with reasonable care will do this.—4. M. Goodiff, 
Granard, Oct. 15, 1846. 
Home Correspondence. 
Compound Guano.—My attention has been called to 
an article in your valuable journal of the 3d instant, 
respecting a circular of mine which has come into your 
hands, upon “compound guano." In that article you 
invite me to solve certain propositions respecting the 
compound, which I now take the liberty of doing ; and 
shall feel obliged by your insertion of this letter, In 
the first part of your article, you say, “ that the infer- 
ence you draw from my circular is, that you haye been 
quite wrong all this time in looking sharp after the 
genuine article.” his inference I consider quite 
foreign to any statement in my circular, and amata 
loss to understand how you came to such a deduction, 
I state, most distinctly, that it isa combination of 
genuine guano. ou next ask for enlightenment on 
this subject: “how the quality of anything can be 
affected by mixing with itself?” The answer to the 
question is so simple, that I wonder it should have been 
put. Perhaps you are not aware that the wine you 
drink after dinner is 19 times out of 20 mixed and com- 
pounded.of different sorts to give it flavour and qua- 
lity ; and why ! that the produce of different vineyards 
are distinguished for different flavours and qualities. 
It is the same with coffee and sugar grown in different 
parts of the world, each bearing a different feature as 
to quality and appearance peculiar to itself. And 
arguing from the same analogy in guano, is it an un- 
reasonable deduction where the same is confirmed by 
experience and facts, to take advantage of the varieties 
of the different importations, and select from those that 
which bears the most opposite qualities, as in the case 
of the:compound, namely, the Peruvian and Saldanha 
Bay guanoes, which are distinguished for different fea- 
tures—the one for richness in ammonia, the other for 
richness in the phosphates, both excellent peculiarities 
for,fertilisation.; and I.assert, an admixture of these 
properly adjusted, forms a guano of great value as afer- 
ülizer; and I am mot singular in my opinion on this 
article, but am borne:out by:men of experience both as 
chemists and iculturi In lusion allow me, 
in justness to myself and those connected with the 
article in-question, to say, that J never in my life was a 
party, or had anything whatever to do with adulterating 
guano. L have been engaged in the guano trade from | 
such a course be deemed necessary.— Geo. Jos. Ashton, 
82, Mark-lane, London. : - 
Preparation of Manurc.— You ask me to give you a 
£ s. d. estimate of the expense of carrying out my plan 
of manufacturing manure, in manure bin towers. 
Perhaps the fairest way of doing this will be to com- 
pare it with the present practice, as given in detail in 
an excellent article on Measure Work, at page 451, in 
the Gazette ; and I will, in order to do this in a/elear 
manner, place the two plans in juxtaposition :— "323 
Expense as given in detail at | Expense in-Manwre Bin Towers. 
age 45 My prices as correctly as T 
canstate them (without prae-. 
tieal knowledge on the sub- 
ject), are on the manure ina 
manufactured state. 
and d.| 1, Annual charge on out- 
23 
a ARNEE AnA if Iunderstand 
them correctly, are charged 
on the manure in a manufac- 
tured state, 
1. Filling in yard, 
carting to heap 
First turning 
Second turning 
Loading and Garti 
Dividing in Field . 
Spreading +. .. 
i 
i 
B5 
F 
B 
Z 
B 
tured 
state «^ . 
. Labour in whe 
ter, &c. to the 
E 
rey 
EE 
=| 
oe | ote 
e 
occasional pumping of 
liquid manure .. .. 
. Leading and carting the 
manure, and spreading 
directly upon the land 2 
* 
T 
It would at first sight appear that my plan does ves 
effect any saving in the manufacturing of manure ; but 
such is-not the ease, as I will endeavour to show. In 
the first place, the manufactured manure in the bins 
would be-more perfectly decomposed, and therefore oc- 
cupy less-spaee than such as is ordinarily carted out of 
foldyards, or, indeed, in any subsequent state before it 
is spread upon the land. This would effect a consider- 
able saving in time,labour, and cartage. Secondly, 
there is the saving of cartage to the heaps, described as 
part of the first operation. Thirdly, the saving of time 
and labour in dividing the manure into heaps in the 
field, preparatory to its being spread broadeast or 
otherwise. It must be remembered that the manure 
as manufactured according to my plan, may be carted 
direct from the tower to the field, and there spread 
upon the land. These several savings would, in m: 
humble judgment, amount to nearly one-half the total 
expence of the existing practice ; then if so much ean 
be saved in time and labour of man, horse, and cart, 
there must be a ponding saving in h flesh and 
wear and tear of cart, &c. The charge of 3d. per cubic 
yard on the manufactured manure in my plan, is made 
out of the interest on the outlay in erecting the tower, 
&e. Now I think that a good part of this 3d. 
might be very fairly set off against the wear and tear 
of that portion of-eartage saved by my plan. 
in remarking on my article at p. 652, that the doing 
away with the first cartage would be no saving, because 
the horses must otherwise be idle. But why should 
either man or horse be idle? At any period of the 
year:eould they not be employed in the transposition of 
Scils.on.a farm where such a plan is practicable; orin 
leading road scrapings, &e , and the various materials 
to be procured in large towns? If, by judicious and 
skilful management, more and better manure could be 
made at home, and at less cost of time and labour than 
heretofore, could not such time and labour be employed 
in the manner described, or in such other description of 
work as would suggest itself to the mind of any intelli- 
gent man? I do not contemplate the necessity of 
leading manufactured manure at the busy season of 
spring, neither would it be profitable to do so with im- 
perfectly decomposed organic matter ; it might remain 
in. the bins till wanted at the proper season of the year. 
In another part of the same article you say that it is 
doubtful.if we ean, by merely mechanical arrangement, 
wholly save the volatile parts of manure. Of course we 
cannot, because if a gas is once generated there is no 
other way of preventing its escape but by that of pre- 
senting a body with which it will combine, such, for 
instance, as those you mention ; but my object is not to 
let the process get-so far as to generate the ammo- 
niacaligas,. The -heat neeessary for the decomposition 
of the animal.and vegetable matter if kept within cer- 
tain limits, would not, Lapprehend, have the etfect of 
disengaging the gases to any wasteful extent ; but if 
inereased beyond those limits, rapid decomposition will 
take place, with great loss of elementary matter, which 
would be dissipated in the at 1 u ted 
into fixed substances by the acids, &e., usually em- 
ployed for that purpose, I-fear that I have not given 
a very satisfactory answer to your question of expense, 
Indeed it was not possible without an opportunity of 
doing it experimentally ; but I trust that enough 
been said to place the matter fairly before your readers. 
— Henry Liddell, Beverley-road, Hull, Oct. 14. 
P.S.— What do you think of sprinkling litter, &c., as it 
is put into the bins, with a caustic solution of potash or 
soda (the latter would be the cheapest)? The lime em- 
ployed in rendering the alkalies caustic might go in 
with the liquor. Of course there would only be $0 
much of it used as was necessary to moisten the ma- 
terials and excite fermentation, My object in suggest- 
ing the use -of solutions of caustic alkalies is this :—I 
think they would probably in some degree effect the so- 
lution of the silica in the straw, and thereby destroy its 
organic structure. If this could be done, it would 
hasten the decomposition and reduce the bulk of the 
P 
