52 



On Draimng. 



and 3 feet 6 inches in depth ; and I first introduced the auxiliary 

 drains into one half of it as E, B, D, F. Before the whole field 

 was completed 1 had an opportunity of examining it after abun- 

 dant rain, and so remarkable was the effect that, in stepping over 

 the line E F, from the plain surface between deep drains alone 

 to that furnished with the auxiliary system, I could compare it to 

 nothing less than passing to dry from undrained land. The 

 success of this experiment induced me of course to extend the 

 practice. I have since adopted it almost universally, and I 

 believe I may say with the same invariable result. The foremen 

 of my drainers are unhesitating in their testimony to its efficacy ; 

 and I believe I may refer to Mr. Graburn, who has twice since 

 inspected my works, as Assistant Commissioner for the Govern- 

 ment advance, for a no less favourable judgment. T believe that 

 in no instance where he has examined ground of mine under this 

 system has he found any reason to doubt the completeness of its 

 performance. In one or two cases, where the common method 

 had still left the soil wet, we added the shallow or 2-foot drains 

 to the deep ones upon the same plan, and had the satisfaction of 

 witnessing an apparently permanent cure. I was, however, still 

 anxious for an opportunity of observing the action of these drains 

 myself more closely, since there have been various statements 

 made as to the total inutility of shallow drains by the side of deep 

 ones ; which are said to abstract the whole flow of water, and to 

 leave their more unpretending neighbours dry ; I therefore or- 

 dered two or three of the 2-feet drains to be opened for that 

 purpose in a field which had been drained for some weeks, and to 

 be left so that the pipes might be investigated in several places. 

 After some heavy rain I took occasion to examine them, and I can 

 affirm from ocular inspection that, in this case, at any rate, they 

 were each of them conveying a brisk little stream to the main 

 channels. Nothing could be more satisfactory than this expres- 

 sive evidence ; and it farther strengthened the convictions which I 

 had imbibed from other sources ; for, let it be recollected, that 

 in the absence of these outlets, that same water would have been 

 dammed up in the soil until, without the aid of cracks and fis- 

 sures, it had been able to filter through the clay bed beneath. 

 How long it would have required satisfactorily to accomplish this 

 process we may conjecture, though we cannot determine. 



But I go one step further. Supposing that this filtration were 

 a more certain process, and that the regular action of a good 

 parching summer rarely failed to secure and establish it, is there 

 nothing gained in the immediate drying of the land by means 

 within our own command at any season? If it is drained, as 

 much must be, in autumn and winter, is there not something 

 achieved in laying it dry for immediate use during those quarters 



