SPRING. 



the flaty fubftance, to the whinftone rock, at fundry places, 

 and which effeaaally anfwered the purpofe ; the tops of the 

 holes or canals being kept covered with a balket of loofe 

 ftoiies, which was allowed to remain or to be removed at 

 pleafure, as the weather proved more or lefs wet. 



By this means of draining, the land was found to be, in 

 the fpring of 1 786, brought into a condition for fowing, 

 nearly as early as any other part of the farm ; the winter 

 rains falling through the foil upon the ridges into the bofora 

 of the flaty fubllance, which was laid bare in many places, 

 in the hollows of the ridges ; the water was gently drawn 

 off, and ghded regularly into the bore-holes or canalf : and 

 the production of crops in the following years was very 

 good. 



On the contrary, the other part of this wet wafte ground, 

 lying on the flope of the hill, was ploughed in thin broad 

 furrows ; ufing the fame meafures and precautions as in the 

 above cafe, and being allowed to remain to the fame period, 

 after breaking up, was then endeavoured to be brake- 

 harrowed, and afterwards prepared for burning. But both 

 thefe methods faihng, it was left in a more backward ftate 

 than the former part ; and was at lait, in the fpring of 

 1786, after two plonghings, braking, &c. being left in a 

 large lumpy condition on the furface, fown with peafe, in 

 drills, in a clofe manner, for the fake of fhade and the im- 

 provement of the land ; which had thefe effecEls, befides 

 producing a good crop. The after-crops on it were like- 

 wife good. 



As the foil above the (laty fubftance, in this part, was 

 not above two feet and a half deep, the plan of fetting off 

 the ridges eight feet in breadth is faid to have anfwered 

 well. 



Drainage in hilly Lands and Sheep-Pajiures, -with the means 

 of procuring and raifing Water for certain Purpofes, l^c. — In 

 hilly diltrids, and other iteep places, where (hcep are the 

 ftaple or chief produce and ftock of the land, lefs attention 

 feems to have been paid to the drainage of fuch parts of their 

 walks and paltures as are wet and unproduftive, in the 

 opinion of the vrriter of the work on draining, according to 

 Mr. Elkington's principle, than to that of arable ground, 

 althoueh the effefts in the one cafe are equally beneficial 

 with thole in the other. This negleft is often attended 

 with confiderable lofs. From the nature of the herbage 

 which a fuperabundance of moifture produces, whether 

 ftagnant on the furface, or long confined under it, proceeds 

 that almoft incurable malady the rot, to which fo many 

 thoufands of valuable animals fall a facrifice. For this, 

 draining is a moft infallible preventive ; and in fuch fitua- 

 tions it IS attended with httle expence, as the drains may, 

 tor the moft part, be left open, with here and there covered 

 paffages, over which the fheep may crofs with fafcty. It 

 is ftated to be the praftice, in many of the fouthern ftieep- 

 farms of Scotland, to cut fmall open drains in the wet paf- 

 tures, only one foot in width, and the fame depth ; but 

 this, it is believed, has very Httle effect either in carrying 

 off" the fuperfluous water, or preventing the rot in the ani- 

 mals. One rood of fuch a drain, as has been advifed above, 

 would anfwer thefe purpofes, it is thought, more eff'eftually 

 than fifty of the other, and, on that account, would not be 

 more expenflve. 



And although in places where the depth of the cut does 

 not reach the fpring, the auger muft be applied, no appre- 

 henfion need, it is thought, be entertained of the holes 

 filling up, where the drain is left open ; for the force of the 

 fpnng will, of itfelf, throw up any fand or fludge that may 

 get into them, provided no great quantity of flood or fur- 

 face-water is admitted. But the better to fecure them 



againft any obllruftion, fmall openings m»y be made along 

 the upper fide of the trench : and in thefe the perforations 

 may be made, leaving the mouth of the auger-holes about 

 fix inches or a foot higher than the bottom of the drain, 

 which will be without the reach of the water that may ac- 

 cumulate in time of rains. From the irregular difpofition 

 of the component ftrata, the fides of many hills are covered 

 with alternate patches of wet and dry foil. By the ap- 

 pearance of the furface, and by the vegetables it produces 

 along the declivity, the internal ftrata, and manner in which 

 they lie, may often be afcertained with fuch a degree of 

 precifion, as to guide the direftion of a drain without in- 

 veftigating below the furface ; for the difficulty or facility 

 with which fuch ground may be drained, depends entirely 

 upon the lie of the different itrata of which the hill is com- 

 pofed, and upon the perpendicular or horizontal inclination 

 of the rock or body in which the water is contained. If the 

 rock lies in a horizontal diredlion, all tha different outlets 

 or Iprings that appear on the furface may proceed from, or 

 be connefted with, the fame body of water, and may all be 

 dried up, by cutting off or letting out the main body of 

 water that fupplies them, at the lower part of the refervoir, 

 or place where the water would of itfelf run ofl more eafily, 

 if it was not confined under an impervious covering of clay. 

 But, where the rock lies in a perpendicular manner, and 

 contains only partial colledlions of water amongft the more 

 open fiilures of the ftone, which empty themfelves at num- 

 berlefs outlets unconnedled with one another, it would be 

 prepofterous to attempt cutting them off by one drain, or 

 by tapping any particular one of them, without a drain being 

 cut into each. In this manner it is better to cut the maia 

 drain all in the clay, with fmall cuts up to each outlet, than 

 along the line or place where the fprings break out, as it 

 would in that direction be too much in the rock, and difficult 

 to cut, from the nature and inclination of the ftone. Where 

 the water iffuing out in certain parts, can, by means of the 

 auger, be hit on in the main drain, at particular points it 

 will be more .effeftually cut off; but if that is not prac- 

 ticable, the depth of the fmall cuts will reduce it to fuch a, 

 level as to prevent its overflowing or injuring the furface be- 

 lovr. In many hills compofed of alternate ftrata of rock« 

 fand, and clay, the furface of the latter is commonly wet 

 and fwampy, while that of the former is dry and productive, 

 and therefore requires as many cuts to drain it completely 

 as there are divifions of wet and dry foil. The higheft part 

 of the hill, being for the moft part compofed of porous foil, 

 receives the rain-water which defcends through it, till it 

 meet fome impervious ftratum, as clay, which obftrufting 

 its percolation any further downwards, it then rifes to the 

 furface, and forces itfelf a palTage over that impaliable 

 ftratum. After it has thus overflowed the upper clay fur- 

 face, it is immediately abforbed by the next porous ftratum, 

 and, defcending into it in like manner as above, it again 

 iflues at the lower fide of it, and injures the furface of the 

 next clay-bed, as it did that of the firft. In this manner 

 the fame fpring will aff'edl the other fimilar ftrata of which 

 the hill is compofed, down the whole declivity, and form at 

 latt, in the hollow, a lake or bog, if there be not a proper 

 outlet or defcent to carry off the water. In order to drain 

 a hiU-fide of this defcription, it is necefl'ary, it is faid, to 

 begin by making a trench along the upper fide of the upper- 

 mojl rufhy foil, which will have the efftd of cutting oft the 

 higheft fpring ; but as the rain falling on the next porous 

 foil fubfides to the loweft part of it, and forms another 

 fpring, and as it may likewife be partly fupplied from fome 

 other internal fource, a fecond cut is neceflary there, to pre- 

 vent that water from injuring the furface of the next clay- 

 bed. 



