44 



On Draining. 



adapted for thoroughly effecting its object in the case with which 

 I had to deal ; and it may now be as well that I should explain 

 specifically what that case is ; since whatever I may advance has 

 reference to that alone, and I make no pretensions to prescribe for 

 others. 



This estate lies on the western edge of the Yorkshire coal 

 measures, at an elevation, for the most part, of not less than from 

 600 to 900 feet above the level of the sea, and within 8 or 10 

 miles of the crest of that great range of moorland hills formed 

 here by the vast masses of the Millstone Grit," which at this 

 point, separating the counties of York and Derby from those of 

 Lancaster and Chester, and prolonged on either side by one for- 

 mation or another to the Scottish border and to the midland 

 districts, has been called the Backbone of England. The surface 

 is varied and steep, and there is nowhere any difficulty of fall or 

 outlet. The soil of this region, generally, has been thus de- 

 scribed by Mr. Charnock, in his Essay on the Farming of the 

 West Riding (Journal, vol. ix. pp. 288-9) : — 



" By far the largest portion of the soil on this formation is of a strong 

 character, resting on the ordinary subsoil of yellow clay, so general in the 

 coal districts. The clay with its strong soi'ls usually covers the valleys, 

 and the entire rise in the lower swells, but in the more elevated places ex- 

 tending only a limited distance up the rise, where the sandstone comes 

 through, and a friable soil commences, as though the aluminous particles 

 had slipped or been washed down from the steeper inclinations, and formed 

 the clay subsoil of the lower levels. At Woolley, Staincross, and Barnsley, 

 these features are very perceptible ; after which we meet with exceptions 

 to this order in a considerable tract of the clay subsoils, interspersed with 

 a saturation of light-coloured aluminous sand, and very wet, extending to 

 Sheffield and up to Wortley, and thence forward with but little variation 

 to the prominent point of Wharncliffe brow." — vol. ix. pp. 288-9. 



The yellow clay thus mentioned, of qualities varying somewhat 

 in closeness and depth, forms here, in fact, the almost universal 

 subsoil. At a certain point, but not always within a descent of 

 4 feet, it is generally found to rest either on the rock, or on a 

 shale almost entitled to that name, differing therefrom only in 

 its laminated structure ; compact as if it had been subjected to a 

 hydraulic press from the beginning of the world ; entirely impene- 

 trable both to roots and water, and dry as a board when all 

 above is soaking; — or on shales of loose and broken texture, per- 

 vious to both, and usually overflowing with the latter. These 

 are sometimes interspersed with outcrops of the coal, and crossed 

 by the edges of throws" or faults," which are generally ob- 

 served to act as partial dams, retaining an accumulation of water, 

 which, when they are pierced, finds of course a ready vent. 

 Commonly at about 3 feet, or 3 feet 6 in. deep, some one of 

 these beds is met with underlying the yellow clay ; but occa- 

 sionally it is necessary to lay the drains at 4 feet, without being 



