44 



reasonable time, they are again to be turned; and now 

 during the operation, ashes in as great quantities as we can 

 afford are to be thrown in. — Should the uiaterial raised from 

 the drains be loose or peaty, the compost will very soon 

 be sufficiently friable ; but should the subsoil be viscid or 

 tough day, (materials I like) they will require a third 

 turning ; and in this case I wish for as much lime as conve- 

 nient, reluctantly dispensing with it: but in loose and 

 more open materials, pure ashes, if profusely bestowed, 

 will be abundantly sufficient; and with fair, good, top- 

 dressings of this compost, so easily made, / engage to raise 

 from Sutherland, by the skirts of Ben Nevis and Ben 

 Lomond, Skiddau and Snowdon, and finally far up, on 

 Dartmoor, crops of hay of superior qualitj-, and double 

 the quantity of what is now raised on the best meadows in 

 Midddesex, with the aid of London dung. 



As our drains are the sources of our composts, so hap- 

 pily placed as to be spread on the surface ^i\\io\xt portage, 

 it may be convenient to increase their size beyond what is 

 immediately necessary for the discharge of the water; and 

 also to make them more frequent than we should otherwise 

 have done. 



Our desire of obtaining more material for our compost 

 will be increased, when we find it well adapted to our pur- 

 pose, deep viscid loam or clay ; — in this case, I should not 

 hesitate to make the drains two or two and half feet deep 

 — still equilateral triangles. 



I cannot generally pronounce on the distance between 

 the parallel drains, it must depend on the depth and tena- 

 city of the subsoil ; nor is parallelism essentially necessary ; 

 — to discharge the water is the object, and inequahty of 

 surface may make a deviation desirable. 



The frequency of my drains has been objected to, as 



