

— * 







I* 



-if' 



Wr ^tfl 





: rtr^fl 







* 



id 



* 





■ 



1844.] 



euano was also smut'ed, as was likewise a portion where 

 Campbell's steep had been used ; but there were only 

 two or three stalks affected with smut in the 

 grain steeped in the composition which he had 

 employed. This was certainly not conclusive, but it 

 was a matter worthy of consideration by farmers. 

 —Mr. Rigky Was on said, when he first began the im- 

 provement of Moss-land he found the crops nearly de- 

 stroyed by smut ; by improving the soil, by collecting 

 good seed, and by steeping, he got quit of the smut, and 

 he had no smut for six years until the last, the cause of 

 which he would explain. He submitted the seed to a 

 Stroii* steep of salt, strong enough to float an egg, and 

 neter 3 permitted it to remain there less than twelve 

 hours ; sometimes he retained it in the steep from 16 to 

 17 hours, and never found any injury to arise therefrom 

 to the seed, This year he was induced to try Campbell's 

 mixture, wishing to ascertain the benefits derivable from 

 if he also used common salt, and a portion not steeped 

 at all; when he found that which was not steeped had a 

 few ears of smut, while the other two portions had no 

 6mut at all. He did not think Campbell's mixture any 

 better than common salt. — Mr. Alexander, of Southbar, 

 had never experienced so much smut as this year. All his 

 seed Oats were affected ; the sandy Oats were, however, 

 worse than the Potato Oats, these being affected one in 

 seven, eight, and ten, up to twenty. — Mr. M'Lintock, 

 farmer, Lochinch, near Pollock, had steeped Oats in 

 guano and water, and had no smut. He used 2£ gallons 

 of water, and 5 lbs. 10 ounces of guano, to 1$ bushel of 

 Oats. He steeped it 78 hours, and dried with ground 

 charcoal. All his Oats were smutty, with the exception 

 of the two lots steeped with guano. They were the sandy 

 Oats. — Prof. Johnston in conclusion said, it appeared that 

 it had not been the custom generally to steep Oats ; again, 

 where steeping had been tried by Mr. Wason and Mr. 

 M'Lintock, it had prevented smut; it therefore just 

 eame to this, that the practical man in future must steep 

 his Oats, just as he steeped his Wheat, in guano or in 

 salt, or in that steep which he had himself brought before 

 them, and which had proved successful in Wigtonshire. 

 The learned Professor then referred to other important 

 questions relative to the steeping of seeds, &c, but ob- 

 served that they could not enter upon them on the pre- 

 sent occasion, though he trusted other opportunities for 

 doing so would arise. — Mr. M'Lintock said he fully in- 

 tended to follow out the guano steep. He had tried five 

 or sii other sleeps, but ail had smut but the guano. 



FARMERS' CLUBS. 



Cardiff.— kt the last meeting of this Club, Mr. David, 

 the chairman, made the following remarks on the Deans- 

 ton, or Frequent Drain System, as compared with Mr. 

 Elkington's system. Mr. Smith, who had devoted so 

 much attention to this system of draining, resided at 

 Deanston, from whence it has taken its name, and, having 

 brought it to such perfection, he may be considered the 

 author of it. He was the manager of a cotton manufac- 

 tory, which is driven by a stream of water running 

 through this farm, and to secure which he was obliged to 

 take the farm attached to it for a term of years ; the 

 extent is from 150 to 200 acres. After completing his 

 cotton mill, his attention was directed to the improve- 

 ment of the land attached to it, which proved to be a 

 poor tenacious clay of very little value. Mr. Smith, 

 therefore, became a farmer from necessity. He ascer- 

 tained that his soil was wet from rain-water and not 

 from springs, and he determined upon adopting a system 

 of draining adapted for the occasion, which answered. 

 The chairman's son had visited Mr. Smith, and examined 

 his farm, which he found was now dry, and produced 

 good crops, and he had ascertained that the land had 

 been increased in value from about 15s. per acre to from 

 30s. to 40s. per acre. Draining was not new even in 

 "ds part of the country, for he had seen a short time 

 *go some draining tiles at some depth from the surface, 

 inland cut up for a railway, which must have been there 

 f» a ny years. In England draining had for some time 

 b jen extensively practised, and had produced beneficial 

 eff ects ; but it appears their ancestors thought land was 

 0a 7 * et fr °m springs, and their attention was directed 

 entirely to that object, cutting the drains in such a 

 fanner as would " catch the springs," as it was termed. 

 lh ?y did not appear to have considered that the rain 

 w nich fell had much to do with it, for all their operations 

 We re directed to the water from below and not from 

 ■£ *e. Almost the only authority on draining, which 

 "fcy had about 40 years ago, was Mr. Elkington, who 

 published a work on the subject. He recommended, as 

 « e most effectual method of drying low-lands, to sink 

 * e P wells upon the system now termed the Artesian 

 jystem, which was stated to dry up the adjoining 

 pnngs. H e a ] s0 ai j v j ge( j jeep drains to be made into 

 ? e ad ^ oi ning high land, wherein it was considered that 

 Jge reservoirs of water had accumulated. Those were 

 je principles of draining advocated by Mr. Elkington. 

 jj: , uh » on the contrary, considered that most of 

 "eir jand was wet from the rain which fell, and not from 

 1D gs. The quantity of water which falls annually 

 ar greater than is generally imagined. This has been 

 tr\ a provetl in the clearest manner by experiments 

 bed h° n ' h - believed > in Hertfordshire. It was ascer- 

 'ri ,7 * n ingenious contrivance what portion of the 

 Bat feil was re( l uireJ to promote vegetation, and 



i n JJ*V he ex . tent of the surplus. The total quautity of 

 t p* l ^ * n tne 8ame situation averaged during the 



fcet d IearS 26 ^ inches annually ; a body of earth 

 e ep Was g0 pi aceci as to a d m it the surplus rain- 



nich fell on it to run into another rain-gauge, 



™ result was that out of the 26$ inches which fell, 



* Te rage amount which filtered through this body of 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE 



7-25 



earth was 11 J inches, and was not required by the vege- with the exception of the part where the sprine showed 





tation on the surface, which consisted of a thick covering 

 of Grass, the remaining 15J inches having proved 

 sufficient for this vegetation and for evaporation. This 

 surplus of Hi inches must therefore be conveyed off, 

 unless the subsoil is open and sufficiently friable to 

 allow it to pass through it. One inch in depth of water 

 was, he believed, equal to 100 tons per acre. If 

 there is a surplus of 111 feches to be taken away when 

 the fall is only 26 j inches, the surplus in this country 

 must be far greater with an annual fall exceeding 40 

 inches. He, the chairman, had kept a register for about 25 

 years, and he had found that the average depth exceeded 

 40 inches ; it had often exceeded 50 inches in some years, 

 and in assuming 40 inches it would be below the mark. 

 If, therefore, \5\ is sufficient for vegetation and for eva- 

 poration, their surplus would be 34| inches to be drained 

 off, but as it is probable that evaporation is greater 

 when the earth is more saturated, perhaps 20 inches 

 would be a fair average, which leaves 20 inches to be 

 drained off from all their clayey soils or those the subsoil 

 of which is impervious to water, otherwise it must stagnate 

 in the land, and prove highly injurious to vegetation. 

 Every inch of water being equal to 100 tons per acre, 

 20 inches would be 2000 tons. He believed a gallon 

 weighed 10 lbs., consequently this would exceed 7600 

 hogsheads as the amount of surplus water which fell in 

 this country upon every acre in the course of the year. 

 He therefore thought that they would agree with him 

 th-it the evil was from above and not from below, and 

 consequently their attention should be directed to the 

 best and most effectual mode of taking off this surplus, 

 in preference to making deep drains at very wide intervals 

 for the purpose of catching the springs. As the rain falls 

 evenly over all the field one large deep drain was not so 

 likely to remove the evil as numerous smaller ones. 

 There are no doubt various situations where land is wet 

 from springs, but his opinion was that by far the largest 

 portion was otherwise, and that nine-tenths of the wet 

 land In this country is so from the subsoil being imper- 

 vious to water, and will not admit this surplus to pass 

 through it. Again with regard to the last mode of re- 

 moving this surplus, let them copy nature as closely as 

 they can. In dry friable soils, the apertures below are 

 small and innumerable, and so ought to be their artificial 

 apertures, and placed at some depth from the surface. 

 If they took a section of the land after it is drained with 

 drains 20 feet apart and 27 inches deep, and allowing 

 7 inches for cultivated land, the drain would be 21 inches 

 below the surface of the subsoil ; this would give a fall of 

 only 1 in 6 from the centre of the space between the 

 drains, but if the drains were 31 inches below the subsoil, 

 the fall would be 1 in 4. Again, if the distance between 

 the drains was extended to 30 feet apart, a cross section 

 will show the fall to be only 1 in 9, which is not suf- 

 ficient to draw off the water through the soil as quickly 

 as it should be ; it has also been found that drains at 

 40 inches deep will drain off more water from the same land 

 than shallow drains at 27 inches, which must arise from the 

 greater fall, but at all events they must not be too far apart. 

 With regard to the expense, he was sorry to say, that it has 

 formeda serious obstacie,for if done properly with tiles and 

 soles the expense has not been much less than 8/. per 

 acre ; this would be for drains at 18 to 20 feet apart, 

 which is near enough for the wettest land. He had 

 paid more himself in some instances, where he had 

 added about 6 inches of broken stones on the tiles. The 

 tiles were procured from Bridgewater, and the carriage 

 formed a serious item. The invention of pipe-tiles he 

 considered to be a mode of reducing the expense very 

 considerably, which renders soles unnecessary, but they 

 ought to be made on every farm, or very near, to save 

 haulage, and he hoped soon to find that the wettest land 

 might be well drained for about 4/. or 5/. per acre. 

 Draining should be up and down the land, as it would 

 drain much quicker. If cut, according to the old system, 

 in a slanting direction, the water must travel from the 

 edge of one drain across the whole space into the other ; 

 but up and down the slope the water would be divided, 

 and get into the drain in half the distance. — The Rev. 

 James Evans said that he did not think the two systems 

 of draining — viz., the Deanston and Elkington — had 

 been sufficiently contrasted. Elkington had recorded 

 La his work astonishing effects of some drains he had 

 made, and of springs which were tapped. They pro- 

 bably had heard of a coal-pit sunk in Gellygare, which 

 had dried all the springs In the neighbourhood. The 

 effect of frequent drains is very trifling in comparison to 

 these. But he contended that there was no one system 

 of draining applicable to this county. There was in the 

 neighbourhood wherein he resided, and through the vale 

 of this county in general, a large extent of the lias 

 formation, which consisted of alternate beds of clay and 

 rock. He found from some surface and deep drains 

 which he had cut, that the water did not penetrate the 

 first layer of rock ; he was, therefore, satisfied that it 

 was quite useless on such soils to make any but surface 

 drains. He had a deep gutter passing through his 

 garden, ou the side of which he had holes made for 

 fixing posts ; these holes became filled with water, and 

 continued so until absorbed by the atmosphere, although 

 within 4 feet of the drain alluded to. The soil in dry 

 weather cracked excessively. — Mr. Goddard thought 

 that the two systems in question were for totally dif- 

 ferent objects. He had been that morning in a field 

 which was kept wet by a spring at its upper side. In 

 that case one drain on Elkington's principle would more 

 effectually dry the field than any number of frequent 

 drains; and in draining it on the Deanston system, the 

 whole field would be intersected by drains, although, | 



itself, the soil was naturally dry. Now he was convinced 

 that dry land would be injured by being drained, as the 

 manure applied to the surface would be washed into the 

 drains.— Mr. Booker observed that no one system of 

 draining could be with success universally adopted, espe- 

 cially in this county, on account of the variety of causes 

 which contributed to the wetness of their soils. The 

 chairman had stated that the quantity of rain which fell 

 in Hertfordshire, on an average of 8 years, was 

 26£ inches, and that it amounted in this county to 

 40 inches. Now, this quantity— it appeared from the 

 experiments that had been referred to — was so much 

 greater than was required by cultivated plants, that it 

 became requisite to adopt some means for conveying off 

 the superabundance which fell in every case where the 

 soil and subsoil were not sufficiently porous to admit it 

 to pass freely beyond the roots of plants. The conse- 

 quence of not attending to this was fatal to a proper 

 system of cultivation, and ruinous to the soil. It was 

 eminently necessary, in determining what system of 

 draining to pursue, to discover the origin of wetness. — 

 Mr. Williams considered the Deanston system applicable 

 to all descriptions of soils. He could not agree that in- 

 jury would arise from drains being continued even 

 through the driest soils, as in such cases no water would 

 reach them, till the soil was well moistened, if made 

 30 inches deep. Frequent drains he thought more certain 

 of drying lands affected by springs, at a depth from the 

 surface sufficient for agricultural purposes, than a deep 

 drain on Elkington's system. Part of the Deanston system 

 was to subsoil the land after draining to the depth of 16 

 or 18 inches at right angles with the drains ; this opera- 

 tion materially assisted the draining, as the water at once 

 sunk that depth from the surface, and was gradually ad- 

 mitted into the drains through cracks or worm-bores.—. 

 After a desultory conversation among other members, it 

 was determined to resume the subject at a future meeting. 



Miscellaneous. 



Report of the Thorough-Draining executed on the 

 Estate of Edward Lucas, Esq., Castle Shane, Monaghan, 

 by Filzherbert Filgate, Esq.— The next field drained 

 was done at the same rates, exactly as the preceding; 

 and the observations made with respect to the one 

 apply to the other, excepting that in this case the main 

 drain was cut for 3$d. per perch. 



No. of 



acres in 



field. 





No. of 

 perches 

 of small 

 drains. 



Price 



per 



perch. 



Mo. or 



perches 



of main 



drains. 



P nl^ e l Total cost Cost P cr 

 pJrchJ offield ' acre ' 



The water from these fields is carried away by the 

 fligged sewer already mentioned. The next field, con- 

 taining 2a. 2r. 13p., is part of a field adjoining one of 

 the approaches to the house, which was exceedingly wet, 

 and covered with rushes. It was necessary to make a 

 great length of main drains to carry off the water to the 

 stream at the bottom of the field, which makes the 

 expense much more considerable than it would otherwise 

 have been ; but if the remainder of the field should be at 

 any future time taken in hand, this length of main drain 

 would become available for it. The prices paid were, 

 cutting, filling, breaking stones, &c, 3£</. per perch for 

 small, and 7$d. for main drains. The stones were 

 quarried in the demesne for lj-j*/. per perch, and drawn 

 to the field hy the farm-horses. The money paid was : — 



No. of 



acres in 



field. 



a. r. r 

 2 2 



13 



No. of 

 perches 

 of small 



drains. 



Price 



per 



perch. 



448* 



s. 

 



d. 



No. of 



perches 



of main 



drains. 



Price 



per 



perch. 



I 



ITot ^ost per 

 field. acre - 



110? 



t. 







d. 



ii 



18 



d. 

 5 



£ s. 

 4 12 



d. 

 4 



Parts of two fields, lying near a stream, containing 

 1a. 3r. Up., were drained : the stones laid down by the 

 farm-horses. As the ground was very soft, the main 

 drains were cut at the same rate of small ones, 3£d. per 

 perch. The outlay was as follows : — 



i No. of 

 No. of perches 

 acres in of small 



field 



tlr«ins. 



Pi ice 



per 

 perch. 



*. d. 



" 3J 



No. of 

 perches! Price 



of main 

 drains. 



per 

 perch. 



Total costiCost pcr 

 of field. I acre. 



6 



3 



I. 



16 



d. 

 II 



£ i. d. 

 2 2 6 



We finish with the field containing 5a. 1r. 2p. The 

 soil is a rich heary loam, of great depth ; so deep, that 

 in many places at the bottom of the drains we had not 

 come to the subsoil. The price paid for cutting and 

 filling drains and breaking stones was the same as be- 

 fore, 3£d. per perch ; the stones were bought at 3d. per 

 ton, 210 tons being used. They were carted more than 

 one Irish mile, in carts hired at 25. 6</. per day for cart, 

 man, and horse. The cost of the stones when laid down 

 in the field was 4 \d. per perch. This and a preceding 

 field were the only cases in which, under peculiar cir- 

 cumstances, the stones were attempted to be provided 

 otherwise than by contract, and, as appears from the 

 table, with an increased expense of from 25*. tr> 

 305. per acre. The main drains cost for cutting, &c, at 

 the rate of Z\d. and bd. per perch, according as they 

 required to be cut unusually deep or not. 



No. of 



acres In 



field. 



A. 



5 



R. 

 1 



P. 



2 



No. of 

 perches! 

 if small 

 drains. 



Price 



per 



perch. 



s. 



6 8 



d. 

 7i 



No. of 



perches 



of main 



drains. 



{ 



S2 

 80 



Price 



per 



perch. 



a. 





 



d. 



Total 



cost of 



field. 



Cost 



per 



acre. 



