SPRING. 



and draw them of?'. Such drains, where properly made and 

 direfled, muft not only be effeftual, but durable in their na- 

 ture. The bottoms of the drains or channels in all thefe 

 cafes fhould conltantly be cut a few inches into the firm im- 

 pervious beds or ilrata, and their higher fides be made to 

 communicate well witli the openings in which the waters 

 are lodged. In thefe ways this fort of land may, in moll 

 inftances, be rendered perfedlly dry, and in a ftate fit for 

 cultivation. 



A full and perfeft knowledge of the bufinefs of fpring- 

 draining is of the utmoft utility and importance ; as more 

 labour and money have, probably, been ufelefsly thrown 

 away upon this fort of rural improvement than that of any 

 other, merely for want of fuch information. In many cafes, 

 from three to five times as much money may have been ex- 

 pended, and trouble caufed, as the nature and circumltances 

 of the different cafes demanded. It is indeed not impro- 

 bable, but thai for one-fifth part of each, the bufinefs might, 

 in different inftances, have been more effeiftually and com- 

 pletely performed, if the perfon employed had been fuffi- 

 ciently informed on the fubjeft. It has been the too com- 

 mon pr.i(ftice of the orduiary claf-; of drainers, in removmg 

 the wetnefs cauf d by fprings, whether from intereft and 

 defign, or the want of adequate knowledge, to fill the 

 ground with a number of drains, cut fo as to fpread and 

 extend themfelves in all diredtions, wherever the flightelt 

 appearances of moilture or wetnefs prefented themfelves ; 

 while in all probability, by the cutting of a fingle drain in a 

 fuitable and proper direction, fo as to intercept the fprings, 

 or draw off the internally colleded waters, which caufed 

 fuch wetneffes by their fpreading branches, the whole of the 

 land might at once have been effeftually laid dry. The 

 prevention of this ufelefs wafte of labour and money is only, 

 perhaps, to be found in the endeavour to bring the nature of 

 the theory and praftice of this fort of draining into a more 

 clear and comprehenfive point of view, fomewhat in the 

 manner which has been attempted above, fo as to enable 

 thofe who undertake this kind of bufinefs, to fuperintend 

 and direft all the various operations and proceffes of it in 

 the moft fuitable, proper, and efficient manner, without in- 

 curring unneceffary expence. There can be no doubt that 

 improvements of this principal kind in land would be much 

 more generally attended to and extended than they are at 

 prefent, if this were the cafe, and the ineffcftual modes in 

 which they are executed, in too many different inftances, lefs 

 frequent. As the chief and belt (kill of the artift, in this 

 fort of bufinefs, probably lies in the readinefs and certainty 

 with which he is capable of difcovering the main fprings, 

 coUeftions, and paffages or channels of the water which pro- 

 duce the different kinds of wetnefles which are to be re- 

 moved ; and as neither long cuftom, nor the moft cxtenfive 

 practice, has hitherto been fufficient to lead to the means of 

 attaining thefe, in all cafes, even when guided and affifted 

 by the outward fuperficial appearances which the furface of 

 the ground may afford ; it is fomewhat extraordinary that 

 other aids and methods have not been had recourfe to for the 

 purpofe. This has, however, fo far as we know, not been 

 at all attempted until lately, and yet in one or two in- 

 ftances only. The ingenious drainer of Trafford-mofs, in 

 Lancadiire, as already noticed, has contrived a pump for 

 this ufe, which is to be put down into the foil in different 

 places, in order to afcertain the prefence of fprings, or col- 

 legions of water in it, before the work of draining is begun. 

 It IS an implement of very fimple conftrudtion, and ready 

 apphcation, and which may be of very great utihty in this 

 intention. See Svkisg- Draining Putnp. 



The writer of the work on " Landed Property" has alfo 



7 



fuggefted, that the borer is a tool which particularly pre. 

 fents itfelf as ufeful in this way. On the fuppofed fimilaritjr 

 of the modes of fearching for fprings or internal waters, and 

 for mineral or foffile fubftances, it is thought extraordinary 

 that the fame method of proceeding (houid not have long 

 fince been adopted. In the latter cafes, in frefti diftridls, 

 the work of fearching for coal is not, it is faid, begun by 

 finking a fhaft, though appearances may be ever fo favour- 

 able ; the ground is firll tried by the borer, at a compara- 

 tively trifling expence, to afcertain the proper place of 

 finking the pit. In trying for other matters, as ochres and 

 other fimilar kinds, the fame tool too may be faid to be 

 that which is in common ufe. And there can, it is thought, 

 be no riflv in faying, that it may be equally well and more 

 profitably employed, as a common tool of the drainer, for 

 the purpofe oi Jlndtng the fprings, refervoirs, and channels 

 of fubterraneous waters, in the praftice of that art, and by 

 which it may be refcued from the difficulty and myftery 

 in which it has hitherto been fo greatly involved. See 

 Borer. 



It is ftated, that an inftance in the praftice of a firft-rate 

 drainer has been feen, in which the ufe of the borer, for the 

 purpofe oi jfinding the water before the fpade was fet to 

 work, wo'ild have faved a large fum of money, which had 

 been laid out under an error in the mode of praftice which 

 had been purfued. 



There will be fome difference in the depth and manner of 

 ufing the tool, according to the circumftances and difpofition 

 of the land, and the intentions and methods of the draining 

 which are to be undertaken, as has been ftiewn already in 

 c^nfidering the nature of the drainage ia different cafes. 

 A'.id it may be neceffary and convenient to have the bores 

 and boring rods properly marked and regulated, efpecially in 

 particular cafes. 



Thus, though there may be fome inftances of wetnefs in 

 lands, in which it may be eafy at once to judge and deter- 

 mine, with a great degree of certainty, of the nature and 

 fituation of the caufes by which they are produced, and con- 

 fequently to operate and perform the means of their removal 

 without any difficulty or trouble of this fort ; there are ftill 

 numerous others, in which the ufe of fuch tools and imple- 

 ments may be of the higheft and moft material importance and 

 advantage, not only in pointing out, with accuracy, the pe- 

 culiarity of their fituations and direftions, but in preventing 

 uncertain and unneceffary cutting, and thereby procuring 

 confiderable favings in different ways. They mutt, of 

 courfe, contribute much to render the praflice of fpring- 

 draining more complete and perfeft. 



S,vv.iVG-Draining yfuger, that fort of tool which is em- 

 ployed in this kind of draining for boring down into the 

 fubftrata of the earth, after the drains have been dug, and 

 tapping or letting off the fprings, or for perforating the ftiff 

 foil or other parts, and letting the water down into a porous 

 ftratum below. It is a tool of very great utility in this fort 

 of draining, and which has much fimilarity to that which is 

 employed in fearching for coal and other fubterraneous mi- 

 nerals. The auger, or ftiell part that forms the hole or 

 bore in the earth or ilrata through which it pafles, is moftly 

 from about two and a half to three inches in diameter ; the 

 hollow portion of it being about one foot four inches in 

 length, and conftruCted nearly in the form of the common 

 auger of the carpenter, only the fides of the fhell part are 

 made to come clofer to each other. The rod parts are 

 formed in feparate pieces, of four feet long each, which 

 fciew into one another, to any fuitable length, one after 

 another, as the depth of the hole or bore may require. The 

 fize of the Hem above the auger part is about an inch fquare, 



except 



