12 PEEMANENT AND TEMPOEAEY PASTUEES. 



there is no doubt tliat grass can advantageously take more water 

 than corn crops. Further, the roots of most grasses do not pene- 

 trate very deep, and therefore it is desirable to have the water 

 somewhat nearer the surface than on the arable part of the farm. 



As to the practical part of draining I need say but little. 

 There are tracts of country without any arterial drainage, no 

 river or stieam being available into which drains, if laid, can 

 discharge their effluent water. The remedy is of course beyond 

 the power of private individuals except in a few rare instances. 

 Such works can only be carried out by Government, or by 

 companies with large funds and under parliamentary sanction. 

 This subject will, however, one day, and I hope not remotely, 

 claim more attention from statesmen. Scientific engineering has 

 rendered the task possible ; the real difficulty lies in its cost. 

 Meanwhile, in such exceptional districts, pastures having no fall 

 for drain-pipes may be considerably improved by a system of 

 gutter-cutting on the surface. This practice would often be 

 serviceable on land subject to floods. Water should not be 

 allowed to lie on portions of a field after the main stream has 

 retired sufiiciently to enable this water to flow if only a channel 

 were provided. 



The manner in which drainage should be carried out in any 

 particular case depends on soil, climate, and otlier considerations. 

 These conditions must of course be taken into account, but they 

 concern the details and not the principle of the work. The 

 difierence between the rainfall in the eastern and western coun- 

 ties,^ or between the West of England and Ireland, will regulate 

 the nearness of the lines of drains and the size of the pipes. But 

 these differences do not touch the main question whether to 

 drain or not to drain. All soils which rest upon a porous subsoil 

 certainly do not need it. Other land may be retentive, and yet 



1 There is ten inches more rainfall annually in the North of Scotland than in the 

 South of England, and in the West of Ireland it is larger than in Scotland. The case 

 named hy Professor Ansted in his Physical Geography is still more remarkahle. He 

 says : ' At Seathwaite the fall is 127 in., and a few miles off, at Bishop's Wearmouth in 

 Durham, on the other side of the moors, it is only 17 in.' 



