SPRING. 



ground, with which the drain hadfeemingly little conneftion, 

 has been laid dry, and caufed much lurprife to thofe who wit- 

 nefied the effeft. At Odftone Hall, in Leicefterfhire, a con- 

 fiderabk- trad of wet marlhy ground, of very Uttle value, 

 divided in the middle by a fmall river, was fo completely 

 drained, it is faid, by the fame experienced drainer, by 

 making a fmall trench at one fide, and by boring in it, that 

 the part of the marlh on the oppofite fide of the rivulet, 

 which was at a very confiderable dillance from tlie drain, be- 

 came, in a iTiort time, equally dry with that where the cut was 

 made ; has continued fo ever fince ; and, from being for- 

 merly of little or no value, is now converted into excellent 

 water meadow, producing, 'without manure, abundant crops 

 ef grafs and herbage. 



At Madeley alfo, near the town of Newcaftle, in StafFord- 

 thire, there was likewife a very confiderable bog of fome 

 hundred acres, the drainage of which was deemed imprac- 

 ticable, being of fo wet and foft a nature that no cattle 

 could pafs over any part of it, until this able drainer lately 

 obtained a leafe of it for a certain number of years, and, by 

 means of a very little cutting and expence, has in confe- 

 quence fo effectually drained it, that it may now be con- 

 fidered as not only a fingular inftance of the fuccefs of this 

 fort of draining, but as being likely foon to become highly 

 produftive as a farm, in contequence of other improvements, 

 which this has produced, on it. 



Extenfive bogs too, which were formerly confidered as 

 incapable of being reclaimed, have within thefe few years 

 been effeftually laid dry, by this fort of drainage, at or near 

 Woburn, belonging to the noble duke who refidcs near 

 that town, at but very little expence, confidering the 

 manner and nature of the undertaking in fuch bogs. The 

 drainage, in thefe cafes, was accomplithed by the fame fl<i]ful 

 drainer. 



Succefsful drainages of this kind have alfo been performed 

 in different parts of the northern diftrift of the ifland : and 

 particularly in the extenfive park of the duke of Buccleuch, 

 where the work has been carried on in exaftly the fame 

 manner, and in pcrfeft conformity to the principles, and the 

 rules and direftions which have been laid down for the 

 drainage of the firft clafs of thefe fpring-bogs. In this 

 cafe, the ground has not only been rendered dry and much 

 more valuable than formerly, but the drains have likewife 

 ferved the ufeful purpofe of affording a conftant fupply of 

 fpring-water to different parts of the park. 



It has been fuggetted by the writer of the Middlefex cor- 

 refted Agricultural Report, that, wherever there may be 

 any bogs, draining is unquetlionably the firll ftep to be 

 taken towards their improvement ; for the accomplifhment 

 of which, the principles and praftices which have been laid 

 down above fhould be reforted to, though the drainer fhould 

 not be too fanguine, or imagine that it is, in every cafe, an 

 eafy operation. It is much feared, that there areyimf bogs 

 which could not, without great difficulty, be drained at all ; 

 and others, that would coft the value of the land, in drains 

 and machinery, to fully effeft it. Yet, notwithftanding fome 

 unfuccefsful trials may have been made, they (hould, it is faid, 

 not difcourage or prevent the making of fuch attempts, in 

 all cafes, where there is tolerable profpeft of fucceeding in 

 them. The inftances are, no doubt, very numerous, it is 

 thought, in which this fort of land may be effedually 

 drained at an eafy expence ; and thereby be brought from 

 a flate of annoyance to yield confiderable projit to the own- 

 ers, as well as the community. See Bog, Morass, &c. 



Drainage of Ground on the Sides of Rivers, andjlatf-jjampy 

 hand, beloiu the Level of artificial Leads or Runs of Water. — 

 It is alfo ftated, that many extenfive trads of land are wet 

 4 



and rufhy, from a caufe that cannot be removed by any 

 number of open or covered drains. This is called haugh or 

 holm-land, and lies along the fides of brooks and rivers, 

 which having altered their courfe fo often between the op- 

 pofite banks, and depofiting fand and gravel as they recede 

 from their lalf channel, the water of the river conftantly 

 percolates through the ground thus formed to the level of 

 its prefent courfe, keeping it fo moilt and wet as to pro- 

 duce rulhes and other coarfe aquatics ; and wherever a drain 

 or pit is dug in luch ground, it immediately fills with water 

 to the level of that in the river. Where the river has a 

 quick defcent, it is lefs apt to produce this efFeft ; but 

 where the current of it is flow, and the level of its furface 

 little below that of the ground on either fide, the foil will 

 be very much faturated with water. Anv number of drains 

 cut in any direftion, can have no good effect while the river 

 continues in its prelent courfe at fuch a height. . Confe- 

 quently the only remedy, where it can be had recourfe to at 

 a moderate expence, is, it is fuppofed, deepening and widen- 

 ing the bed of the river, the earth taken out of which will, 

 at the fame time, ferve to form an embankment on either 

 fide\; for while it can rife higher than the outlets of the 

 drains, and flow back into them, it renders the ground 

 equally wet as before they were made, and the expence of 

 making them is laid out to no advantage. Befides being in- 

 jured in this way by the Wi'^r-water, fprings, in many fitu- 

 ations, iffue from the bottom of the higher banks or ground, 

 and ooze through the foil higher than its level. The water 

 of thefe can eafily be cut off or lowered to the level of the 

 river by a proper drain, as will be afterwards ftfen. As this 

 fort of land is moltly formed by the rivers changing their 

 courfes, and thereby leaving confiderable extents of flat 

 level ground on one or both fides of them, which is of an 

 alluvial nature, and commonly of a very rich quality, being 

 for the moit part conftituted of very fine earthy particles, 

 which are either depofited by the water in the time of or 

 after floods, or waflied down from the higher grounds in 

 time of heavy rains, and fometimes by both ; its drainage 

 and embankment mult confequently, when neceffary and 

 practicable, or capable of being performed without any ex- 

 traordinary expence, be highly defirable and important. See 

 HAUGH-Lan//. 



But in fome cafes the wetnefs proceeds entirely from 

 fprings, where the foil of the flat ground betwixt them 

 and the river does not confitl of loofe gravel or fand, but 

 of a loam or clayey mixture. In order to drain this 

 ground, a trench muft be begun at the lower end of it, 

 and brought from the river along the bottom of the bank 

 from whence the fprings iflue. This trench fliould be cut 

 lelotv the line of the fprings, where it can more eafily be 

 done, and kept open to receive the river-water in floods, 

 and alfo any runs of water from the high grounds in time 

 of rains, which would bhiv it up if covered ; and muft dif- 

 charge itfelf into the river at the loweft poffible level. 

 Where the ground by the fide of the river is of fuch 

 extent as to render a regular embankment along the fide 

 of it a matter of confideration, a flood-gate might, it is 

 luppofed, be placed at the mouth of the outlet-drain, 

 which would fhut with the preflure of the river-water in a 

 flood, and thereby exclude it entirely from the inner ground, 

 and would open by that of the water accumulated in the 

 drain during the inundation, and fo be emptied into the 

 river when it fubfides. The conllruftion of fuch a gate is 

 fimple, and the only remedy in cafes where'it is defirable to 

 have the flood-water excluded in fuch inftances. 



From this trench, fhort covered drains muft be cut up 

 a little way into the bank, to lead in the fprings that are 



above 



