On Draining. 



513 



washed the finer particles of the soil into the furrows, forming 

 a puddle which prevented the action of the drains, and much 

 of the crop was damaged. When I visited the land on the 

 completion of the entire work, you may judge of my annoy- 

 ance at seeing what had been done ; but which was in some 

 degree appeased by observing that the adjoining field was laid 

 perfectly flat, and that the barley upon it looked particularly well. 

 The man admitted he had seen the error and its palpable conse- 

 quences on the first field, and resolved not to commit it a second 

 time. 



In the execution of what may properly be termed drainage 

 works, i. e., the draining of entire and extensive estates, it is a 

 matter of some surprise how comparatively few are conducted 

 upon any prescribed plan, or with any view to apply the drainage 

 water to other useful purposes, such as irrigation, power, or 

 ornament. The drainage of a field here, and another there, 

 without regard to entirety of design or purpose, is the usual 

 course^ and although it might have been expected that on many 

 of the extensive properties which are being drained under the 

 general Act such a course could have been adopted with benefit 

 to all parties, yet it may be doubted whether there is any one 

 instance in which such an attempt is being made. The provi- 

 sions of the original Act evidently contemplated such works, for 

 they required the production of plans of each property, and the 

 delineation thereon of the proposed drainage, for the inspector's 

 consideration, suggestion, and approval ; and had this systematic 

 and safe course been adhered to some very complete works 

 would have been the result, for general imitation ; but the outcry 

 of proprietors against what they esteemed an unnecessary trouble 

 and expense, induced the legislature in the Amendment Act to 

 dispense with these plans, the consequences of which may, I fear, 

 be felt when too late. How many a homestead by a little simple 

 engineering and suitable direction of the drainage water might be 

 supplied with power sufficient for every purpose of threshing, 

 grinding, chopping, &c, at a comparatively insignificant cost. 

 How many an extra crop of grass a year might be cut from the 

 lands of the lower levels irrigated by the drainage water from the 

 higher grounds. And how many a town, village, and mansion, 

 now but precariously provided, might, by a proper system of col- 

 lection, conservation, and filtration of the drainage from the 

 adjoining lands, be supplied, at an easy cost, with abundance of 

 the purest water for every purpose. And I say purest, because 

 there can be little doubt that, subjected as in such cases it would 

 necessarily be to repeated filtration and aeration, it would not 

 only be soft and pellucid, but more free from those mineral con- 

 stituents which spring-water imbibes from the foundation on 

 which it is found, and which are frequently very objectionable 



