THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 255 



the end. It is advised that the main drain 

 should be sunk six inches lower than the side 

 drains ; but where pipes are used, the side drains 

 may enter directly into the main drains, the 

 pipes being made with a hole in ihe side, for 

 this express purpose. It has been found quite 

 effectual, in some cases, to lay two pipes for a 

 main drain, side by side ; but it would seem 

 most desirable to have a pipe of a large bore 

 for the main drain, and of a sufficient size to re- 

 ceive all the water which should be emptied 

 into it from the side drains. Such pipes, at Mr. 

 Stirling's, near Falkirk, were of a very large 

 bore, and made in three parts, so as exactly to 

 fit each other when brought together. The ad- 

 vantage of a concave or circular bottom for ihe 

 water to flow in, in preference to a flat sole, must 

 be obvious at first thought. Tiles have been 

 constructed with a circular bottom, like a horse- 

 shoe set upon its front edge, and a flat cover to 

 rest upon it ; but I can see no advantage which 

 this has over a pipe; unless it might be that, 

 by the removal of the cover, the seat of any ob- 

 struction might be ascertained without lifting 

 the whole. 



" It is often found necessary to make what 

 are called submain drains, which of course com- 

 municate with the main drain. This must de- 

 pend upon the nature of the ground, and where 

 these submains are made on the side of a hill, 

 they are best made obliquely, crossing the small 

 drains diagonally, and thus giving an impulse 

 to the w T ater received into them. It is advised, 

 in all cases, to make the parallel drains, which 

 connect with the main or the submain, straight, 

 whether running on level land, or on a side hill ; 

 and it is deemed best that no small or parallel 

 drain should ever exceed two hundred } 7 ards in 

 length, without emptying into a main or a sub 

 main drain. The distance at which the drains 

 should be placed apart may vary with the na- 

 ture of the soil, from a rod to forty or sixty feet. 

 It may be interesting to know the length of 

 ..drainage, or of pipe, which may be required in 

 an acre, at the different distances which are cus- 

 tomarily adopted. I subjoin, therefore, the fol- 

 lowing table : 



Distance between Length of Drains Feet of Pipes. 

 Drains. in Furlongs. 



66 1 660 



44 1£ 990 



33 2 1320 



22 3 1980 



16£ 4 2640 



" £ On the heavy lands of Suffolk, and the 

 adjoining counties,' says one farmer, 'under 

 draining at a distance of 16^ feet, and at a 

 depth of 26 or 30 inches, is as much a matter 

 of routine as hedging and ditching.' This depth 

 would now be deemed quite insufficient. 



"The mode of covering drains is various. 

 Where the drains are filled with broken stones, 



it is advised to lay upon the top of the stones 

 an inverted sod, and then return the dirt which 

 has been taken out. Where a pipe or tile and 

 sole are used, the same advice may be given. 

 In adhesive or clayey soils, it is deemed quite 

 objectionable to return the clay, and ram it in 

 closely upon the pipe. It has been deemed im- 

 portant, by some persons, that alternate pipes of 

 a large and small bore should be used, so that 

 the small pipes may enter the larger ones, and 

 that there should be no interruption of continuity 

 between them. In some cases, rings of clay 

 have been formed, into which the ends of the 

 two pipes might enter, so as to close the inter- 

 stice, and retain the pipes upon a level This 

 is not, however, deemed necessary. Where the 

 bottom is hard, and the pipes carefully placed, 

 there is no danger, afterwards, of their getting, 

 if the term may be allowed, misfitted ; in cases 

 where the bottom is sandy or loose, more pains 

 must be taken lo prevent this, which is easily 

 done by an experienced and careful drainer." 



The following is described as the result of 

 subsoiling and draining upon an estate in Ireland : 



" In the whole of the land drained, there is 

 not one open channel for water; all the water 

 passes away under ground, and the wheat seed 

 on the potato land has this year been covered 

 with the grubber, without any ploughing, after 

 the removal of the potatoes, leaving the land 

 perfectly flat, and without a furrow, as recom- 

 mended by Mr. Smith, so that every stalk of 

 grain will benefit equally from both the soil and 

 the atmosphere; and during the late rains, even 

 on sloping ground, not a particle of the fine soil 

 has been washed from the land, while, in the 

 undrained lands around, the roads and ditches 

 are filled with the fine deposits from the streams 

 of water which have rolled down the furrows, 

 and the rivers are red with the still finer matter 

 which they are hurrying to the bottom of the 

 sea. This advantage is attained without any 

 attendant evil; they look to the total abolition 

 of every water-furrow from the fields.' " 



The following is a description of the manner 

 in which the drains at Ballyleidy have been 

 executed ' r 



"The submains are laid off on a considerable 

 declivity, and cut six inches deeper than the 

 parallel drains, with a slate and a large tile laid 

 in the bottom of each, with stones carefully 

 coupled over the tiles, and six inches of broken 

 stones placed over all, then neatly turfed. Iron 

 grates are built in at the mouths, where these 

 submains discharge, so as effectually to prevent 

 the entrance of any kind of vermin. I am now 

 satisfied that the most permanent submains are 

 two tiles reversed, forming a pipe, and thus con- 



