1844.] 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



517 



the surface, than that it should be drained off by running 

 over the uppermost or active soil. In clay districts, 

 where the clay was found to be stiff and impervious to 

 water, and was thrown into ridges of, say 6 feet, the 

 active soil being thin, the water ruuning over the surface 

 damaged that part of the land near to the furrows, little 

 was grown, and the plant was found to be stiff and spiry. 

 When the drain was first cut in a stiff clay soil, there 

 being no opening or crack in the land, the water at first 

 was found to lie upon it, but soon afterwards the clay 

 began to contract, it consequently occupied less space, 

 and fissures were quickly perceptible in the body of the 

 clay. At first these cracks were small, but it would be 

 found from observation that they continued to extend ail 

 over the body of the soil betwixt the two drains ; in a 

 short time the whole of the land was found to be full of 

 fissures, and in a completely spongy state. If the water 

 remained in these fissures, the land would soon become 

 as impervious as ever, but the cracks, which were found 

 to be vertical as well as horizontal, suffered the water to 

 pass along, and eventually it found its way into the 

 opening of the drain by the fall which had been given, 

 and the water ran from the field altogether, the active 

 soil by this means being left completely dry. Practical 

 experience had shown to him that the most advantageous 

 depth for a drain was from 2 to 3 feet. He had also re- 

 marked that when the water fell into the soil, it expelled 

 the air; that had been found to have a most beneficial 

 effect on the soil, and the moment the water fell down, 

 another portion of atmospheric air found its way into its 

 place ; thus the alternate action of water and the atmo- 

 sphere materially benefited the land, because by this 

 means a much greater depth of soil was obtained than if 

 the land had remained in its stiff' and impervious state. 

 One great advantage of a 30-inch drain over one of 18 

 was, that if they went to plough immediately after rain 

 had fallen, they avoided that puddling which was certain 

 to be caused by the weight of a horse or cirt where the 

 shallow drain had been used. Another advantage in 

 having the water sink into the surface was this : rain 

 generally brought large quantities of ammonia ; this was 

 left in the soil by the under-draining, and must certainly 

 be better than if the water ran merely along the surface. 

 In cases, too, where large quantities of rain fell, it was 

 important that every part of the land should bear equally 

 the burthen of it ; this could not be if it was suffered to 

 run on to particular spots. Every one knew that 

 the great object of farming was to produce the largest 

 possible amount of grain, or crop of any kind, from 

 any given area of surface ; but that could not be accom- 

 plished unless every bit of the land produced an equal 

 quantity with the rest. But there were other advantages 

 of under-draining. By it the water did not pass too quickly 

 intothedrain; and if it was allowed topass through the land 

 slowly, in fact, almost by filtration, it had time to deposit 

 everythingitheld in suspensioninthesoil, which was agreat 

 advantage. In all drains, properly executed, the water 

 ran out of the land into the drain as pure as spring 

 water. As a proof of this, in the low districts of Scot- 

 land, where there was a scarcity of water, the inhabitants 

 found that they could obtain as much water as they 

 required from these drains, and that it was quite palatable 

 and fit for domestic purposes. He had become quite 

 convinced of the great superiority under-draining had 

 over any other system. He would only draw their atten- 

 tion to the present season to prove this. It had been, 

 he believed, the driest since 1826, and he had been at 

 seme pains in making inquiries as to the state of the 

 plant when the lands had been thoroughly drained, and 

 he found one uniform result, that the plant had continued 

 to grow, and was as vigorous and healthy as in years 

 when there had been a large quantity of rain. That 

 distinctly showed the advantage of the system. He 

 would next advert to the distance which it was expe- 

 dient to make between each drain, and after csreful inves- 

 tigation and much experience, he found that in the 

 Btiffest clay soils the distance ought not to be mors than 

 18 feet from drain to drain : that would be found to suit 

 most soils. la some parts of Scotland he had known 

 them to have as large a space as 40 feet between the 

 drains, but in those cases the land had been generally 

 found to be wet at the extreme points between the 

 drains, and the consequence was, that it had been found 

 necessary to make a drain between the two. In Scot- 

 land the most incalculable benefit had been derived from 

 the drainage on the clay lands ; in many cases they had 

 begun to* grow Mangold Wurzel, which it had been found 

 impossible to cultivate previously ; this of itself was of 

 great importance to the farmers, and if this system of* 

 draining were adopted in England, large crops of Turnips 

 might be grown where none could be before, and parti- 

 cularly of Mangold Wurzel, because, although the attempt 

 had been made to grow them in Scotland, they had not 

 suitable climate, and that they had in England. Oue 

 thing he would urge them to bear in mind with reference 

 to drainage, and that was the necessity there was for their 

 having a good level and a good outfall ; if the brooks 

 into which the water was to he discharged from the drain 

 were insufficient for that purpose, great evils might arise 

 from it ; he had seen an instance in which a fall 

 at the rate of 6 inches in a mile threw out 300 tons of 

 water an hour. He divided drains into three denomina- 

 tions — main drains, sub-drains, and minor drains ; and it 

 ought always to be observed, where these discharged 

 into each other, that the sub-drain should be 6 inches 

 deeper than the minor drain, and the main drain one foot 

 lower than the sub-drain. Another great point 

 also to be attended to was the constructing the 

 drains in a regular manner. The parallel drains were 

 decidedly the best, and a plan ought always to be kept in 





order to know the exact position of each drain : this was 

 only to be accomplished by laying them down in a sys- 

 tematic manner. Some persons had agreed that the 

 cross drains were the best ; but as they must all termi- 

 nate in a parallel drain, he thought it must follow that 

 they should all be constructed on that principle. 

 Mr. Smith then spoke of the manner of executing drains. 

 In filling the drain with stones (which are better than 

 tiles when thev could be obtained for the same monev), 

 care should be taken that the stones were small and 

 well selected. The depth of stones required he once 

 thought was 12 inches, but from experience he now 

 found that I) or 9 inches were sufficient ; consequently 

 one-third of the quantity of stones originally used would 

 now be saved. Care should be taken that the stones 

 were well covered over with turf cut as thin as is 

 used for thatching houses ; and tlmt the stones were 

 completely covered from side to side ; the turf 

 should be covered over v?ith 3 or4 inches of soil taken 

 from the bottom of the drain, because the more sterile 

 irs quality the better. He had executed 130 miles of 

 draining within the last 30 years; he had since opened 

 those drains in hundreds of places, all of which had 

 been constructed according to the method he h*d 

 described, and in not one bingle instance had he found 

 any st'diment between the stones. In many parts of 

 England the expense was so great that it was found 

 necessary to use tiles, and he did not object to them, 

 particularly on clay-land ; and they ought also to bear 

 in mind that the tiles should never be put down without 

 soles, because that enabled the cylinder to bear a much 

 greater degree of pressure, and had been found in every 

 respect much more efficacious. Mr. Smith next adverted 

 at some length to the price, and more particularly to the 

 construction of tiles ; he declared him>elf to be of opinion 

 that tiles were much the best without an? holes in them, 

 but expressed a hope that ere long a tile answering every 

 purpose would be invented and made at a comparatively 

 trifling cost. He had once advocated the system of put. 

 ting stones over the tiles, he now found that there was 

 nothing better than to trample clay which had been taken 

 from the bottom of the drain firmly over them ; that 

 would be found not only sufficient to keep them in their 

 places, but they would bear almost any weight. Mr. 

 Smith then referred to the disposition of the surplus 

 soil — but with this matter every agriculturist will be quite 

 familiar — and proceeded to remark on subsoil-ploughing. 

 The object of this was, he said, to move the sterile soil 

 under the active soil, to free it from the water, and in 

 time to bring it into such a state that it might be an 

 adjunct, and, in fact, form a part of the active soil 

 already possessed. He tried various methods to accom- 

 plish this object, and at length he got a plough made of 

 3 cwt., and with it ploughed 200 acres of laud of his 

 own j all his neighbours had used it ; it had been in use 

 upwards of 20 years, and had never been sent to the 

 blacksmith's consequent on any serious derangement of 

 the machinery, and it had turned up stones of 2c*t. 

 Subsoil-ploughing,'; as they were all aware, was merely 

 to stir up the under &e& at first, and not to throw it up ; 

 no farmer could succeed except he had a deep soil ; he 

 began farming with a soil varying from 2£ to 4 inches 

 in depth, but after under-draining and subsoil-plough- 

 ing, he had had for the last ten years, 16 inches of mould ; j 

 this was on what had previously been one of the most 

 sterile farms that was to be met with. The subsoiling 

 might be commenced carefully a year after draining ; 

 the first crop after draining should be Oats, and then 

 they might be^in to subsoil-plough, hut it would 

 be necessary that the work should be done cau- 

 tiously. He had been asked whether subsoil-plough- 

 ing might take place before the land was drained ; his 

 reply was, that it would be very dangerous, because if an 

 opening were made before there had been a regular 

 course of draining, it only made a pool to hold more 

 water. But of all things he cautioned them that the 

 utmost care should be used in subsoil-ploughing for the 

 first three or four years after draining. Several questions 

 were put to Mr. Smith by Mr. Baker and other gentle- 

 men. He said, in reply to one question, " Straw or 

 stubble will do to put on the top of tiles on clay soils ; M 

 in reply to another, li It is improper to place light sod 

 on the top of them ;" and to a third, 4k It is possible, 

 and in fact quite practicable, to drain with peat ;" to a 

 fourth, u 1 recommend land to be laid flat alter thorough- 

 draining ;" and to a fifth, " I would not lay the land 

 level until after the subsoiling had taken place. — 

 Abridged from Worcester Chronicle. 



water whs carried or filtered through the subsoil to the 

 drains 24 feet on each side; and In less tenacious sub- 

 soils as far as 30 feet ; and when the subaoil wa« broken, 

 the distance from which the water was drawn was in- 

 creased ; but the great observable difference of effect lay 

 in the shorter time in which it filtered to the drains. 

 I formed the pools at right angles to the drains, at inter- 

 vals of <) feet asunder. I submit short comparative ex- 

 tracts from mv registry : — 



Expkrimknt, No. I. — Soil, thin blue clay on a heavy blue ad- 

 hesive subsoil. The depth of the surface of the water in the 

 pods is marked in incites. 



Line of p m>Is marked 41 | Weather, fce. 



15 



< 



P 



k. 

 O 



u 



I Si 



13 



Hi 



1*04 



4? 



II 



3 





Ij full. 



3^ 26th October -10 o'clock, 

 A. M. On the 24th, heavy 

 showers; the 25th dry, with 

 bright sun. Night wet. 



full. 



U 



- 



8*1 H 



8* 



63 



♦I 



Hi 3J 



33 



6* 



l 



2^ 



li 



34 



28th Oct.— 10. a.m. Previ- 

 ous day and input and this 

 mnrninp characterised by 

 heaw and almost conti- 

 nuous rain. 



3g 30th Oct. — Half past8. A.M. 

 Part of 28th very heavy 

 rain. Remainder of period 

 to this date cold, frost/, 

 and dry. 



li 



I J 



* 



I 



Rise during: the wet period. 

 Fall during- the dry period. 



Expkrimknt No. II.— Soil — Strong heavy clay, incumbent on 

 a cl »s*% compact, reddish subsoil, intermixed with blue clay, 

 and less retentive than No, I- The pools when made were at 

 a distance from any of the drains tuen formed. The drain 

 with which these observations are connected was opened 2lst 

 Oct. 1844. Thus the depth of water, and of course the effect, 

 is observed by the comparison below. 



Date of Registry, Weather, &c. 



Line of Pools marked * 



9 



* 

 7 



* 

 6 



6 



H 



61 6? 4* 



4* 



ni 



8 



7i 



H 



I 12} 5* 7 6* 



<4 



13* 



64 1 



ioi 



si 





■ 



4J 



H 



2 



H 



IX 



10$ 



8 



n 







i 



lQtU Oct. 7 a.m.— Warm sun, 

 but a little drought. 



21st Oct. 7 a.m. — Heavy rain 

 for 3 or 4 hours, remainder of 

 time mild but little drought. 



22nd Oct. 7 a.m.— Commenced 

 to rain lierhtly previous even- 

 ing: at 8 p.m.; heavy this 

 morning', and ceased at 6 a.m. 



23rd Ocf.$ pa6t7 a.m. — Heavy 

 showers during the previous 

 24 hours. 



26th Oct, 9 a.m.— Heavy rain 

 on the 24th during half the 

 day; 25th dry, with bright 

 sun— night wet. 



27th Oct. 4 past 7 a.m.— Pre- 

 viuus day and night dry and 

 frosty. 



28th Oct. i past 10 a.m. — Pre- 

 vious day and night heavy 

 and continuous rain. 



3 1st Oct. 8a.m.— The 28th very 

 wet ; remainder of period 

 drving and a little frosty. 



Comparison or draining effects, in unbroken Subsoil. 

 6 



Fall from 21st (the day on 

 which the drum was opened) 

 to the 3 1st October. 



Miscellaneous. 



* Thorough Draining — Mr. Alton says — " In all clay 

 soil and dense land the water does not niter beyond the 

 depth of the plough furrow, unless the subsoil has been 

 opened by trenching or subsoil-ploughing." Al^o, *' In 

 such land, if a pool be dug within 18 inches of the drain, 

 and 30 inches in depth, when filled with water not a 

 drop of it will (if the subsoil has not been rent in form- 

 ing the pool) filter from the pond to the drain, but 

 stand there until it is exhaled in vapour, by the sun, 

 and by dry winds." The whole of these opinions have 

 proved to be erroneous. I have found that the water 

 does filter through the unbroken subsoil of dense 

 clay, and that it does filter out of such pools as Mr. 

 Aiton speaks of, to the drains. My proofs :— During 

 the past season I opened 93 pools, and made observa- 

 tions for the purpose of tracing the rise and fall of the 

 waters therein during the various changes from wet to 

 drought, and the contrary in unbroken and broken sub- 

 soil. I have found that, in heavy blue adhesive clay, 

 in which not the slightest porosity seemingly existed, th 



Fall from 8th t^ 21st October, 

 previous to the drain being 

 opened. 



The above shows distinctly that the water was drawn 

 off to a distance of 24 feet from the drains, and the fal- 

 lacy of Mr. Alton's statement, that '* the water does not 

 filter through the unbroken subsoil ;" also, that " it 

 does * not * lodge in the pools until exhaled in vapour by 

 the sun,'' &c. It r i »t be alleged that the subsoil was 

 rent in digging the pools. The subsoil was unbroken, 

 and yet the water passed off quickly ; and even if the 

 :*ubsoil had been partially rent, the distances from which 

 the water was drawn, on the drain being opened, proves 

 distinctly that it percolates through the unbroken .sub- 

 soil. If the operation of opening a pool 12 or 15 inches 

 square hid rent the subsoil, it could only have been a 

 few inches around it ; but this idea is absurd, as the ten- 

 dency of such operation is to consolidate and render the 

 ]iools more retentive of water. The following comparison 

 shows more clearly the effect made at a distance from 

 which the water is drawn off. One part of the ground 

 unbroken, and the other trenched 18 inches deep : — 



Line of Pools marked * 



* 



Z 



< 



G 

 *■ 



SB 



* 

 12 



15 



* 

 12 



Hi 



"4 



15 



10 



15 



11 



BJ 



12 



134 



14 



* 

 13 



* 

 13 



Date of Registry, &c. 



Trenched 



13 



14 



11 



9 



&3 



9 I 9* 9 



10£ 



Untrenched 



Trenched 



8$ Untrenched 



10$ 



H [ 6i 



Trenched 



TJnrrpneHp.1 



28th Nov, 8 a. a. 

 Weather mild, 

 but very little 

 drought 



15th Dec- 8 A.M. 

 Previous three 

 or four days 

 very drying:. 



2ist Dec. 8 a.m. 

 Uaiu during 

 the previous 

 nirht. 



There are some apparent discrepancies in ^compa- 

 rative registry, but arising principally from some or the 



inches of the surface of 



* These figures express the < ce in incu« « , d th 



the water in the pools from the surface of ** ; grouuu , P 



e in fact, which the water had sua* m tut P°°'S. 



