42 



A DISCOURSE 



of the ground, and of competent depth to receive and drain the weeping 

 springs, instead of those frequent slashes and gutters I have mentioned ; 

 since, besides the beauty of the canal, the profit of the fish, &c. the earth 

 and mud cast out on both sides, and spread upon the depressed and lower 

 parts of the ground, will not only raise the unprofitable marsh, but thereby 

 improve it for pasture. One needs go no farther to see the effects of this 

 husbandly, than to St. James's park, where, before the canal, I remem- 

 ber all that pleasant valley, now yielding most rich pasturage, (with the 

 fish, decoy, and walks planted with fragrant lime-trees,) was nothing but 

 a noisome, unwholesome bog and morass of moss and rushes. The use of 

 the plough is for this work the most expeditious, and cheaper than the 

 spade alone, which, after every journey of the first, will be necessary to 

 cast and shovel out the loosened earth on both sides, to fill up the hol- 

 lows and depressures of the ground, and with the rake to trim the banks 

 and level the rest as is requisite. This, undertaken in ' dry summer 

 weather, the plough stiU succeeding the spade till the cliannel be of con- 

 venient depth, will of all other be the most effectual ; and, if near the 

 mansion-house, a graceful addition to it. But to return to other remedies. 



Lands which are cold and dry, (as we have hinted,) to be improved 

 by contraries, namely, by application of composts, which are hot and 

 moist ; as sheep's dung, burning and calcining of the earth with the ve- 

 getables on it, and the like, to excite heat and fermentation ; but which 

 is not to be effected without repugnant remedies, and such as are of he- 

 terogeneous parts, to stir and lift up the mould, and render it less in- 

 active. If it be cold and clinging, as frequently it is found, there lime- 

 rubbish, the small harsher chalk, sea-coal ashes, a moderate sprinkling 

 of sand, with some compost, may perform the cure ^. 



Some lands are wet and poachy in winter from a bed of clay keeping up the water that 

 falls from the heavens. The best method of rendering such lands firm and dry, is thus 

 described by my excellent and learned friend, T. B. Bayley, esq. whose activity and dili- 

 gence in the public service merit the highest praises. 



From a very extensive expei'ience, I recommend the following method of draining land, 

 as effectual, durable, and cheap. 



" First make the main drains down the slope or fall of the field. When the land is very 

 wet, or has not much fall, there should, in general, be two of these to a statute acre ; for the 

 shorter the narrow drains are, the less liable they will be to accidents. 



" The width of the trench for the main drains should be, at the top, about thirty inches ; 



