and of Rural Improvement generally, during 1841. 587 



course of our tour we had an opportunity of seeing the frequent- 

 drain system in every stage of its progress, and found that in 

 many parts of Scotland rents had been trebled and quadrupled 

 by it. In Northumberland and Durham we found Mr. Smith's 

 system frequently adopted, and between York and London it 

 may occasionally be seen in progress. A farmer in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Dalkeith has recently made a considerable im- 

 provement in the manufacture of draining tiles, which will extend 

 the practice by rendering it less expensive. The use of these 

 tiles pierced with holes is about as great an improvement on 

 the mode of draining by small stones formerly practised, as Mr. 

 Forsyth's mode of piercing the bottom of flower-pots promises 

 to be on the use of crocks or other rough drainage. The tiles, 

 however, are found to require small stones or gravel laid over 

 them, and so, probably, in many cases, will the pierced bottoms of 

 Mr. Forsyth's flower-pots, if it were for nothing more than the pur- 

 pose of admitting air to the roots. A new species of clover, Trif^- 

 lium giganteum, has been introduced from Affghanistan,and a new 

 variety of lucern from Candahar. The latter is chiefly valuable 

 as coming in earlier than the common species ; but the clover 

 appears to be a valuable acquisition, having in Ireland yielded at 

 the rate of 37 tons per acre cut green. {Gard. Chron., vol. i. 

 p. 631.) At the last meeting of the Highland and Agricultural 

 Society of Scotland, held at Berwick, promises were given of an 

 increased attention by that Society to the subject of cottages and 

 general education (p. 572.), with which we were much gratified. 

 The meetings of the English Agricultural Society, and their 

 very excellent Journal, are silently effecting great and important 

 changes in field culture and live stock. The principal subjects 

 which occupy the attention of gentlemen farmers in both coun- 

 tries are, the important ones of draining, subsoil-ploughing, 

 and saline and concentrated manures ; although it may be men- 

 tioned as somewhat remarkable, that the first two practices have 

 been carried too far in light sandy soils in some parts of England. 

 Rural Architecture. — The public taste in architecture is 

 gradually becoming more refined, more especially in the country, 

 by the many churches and villas that are being erected or 

 repaired, and by the very handsome station-houses which 

 frequently meet the eye while gliding along the railroads, 

 both in England and Scotland. Landed proprietors, however, 

 do not seem fully alive to the high degree of ornament which 

 they might confer on their estates, by giving their cottages and 

 farm buildings a more artistical character.* There are now 



* It will scarcely be credited, for how small a sum a plain homely design 

 for a labourer's cottage, that does not exhibit exteriorly even a germ of 

 architectural taste, may be rendered highly architectural. Suppose the erec- 

 tion of a cottage of the most homely description to cost, for labour and 



