36 



Farming of Derbyshire. 



The lands were about 4 to 5 yards wide, and the drains, taken 

 diagonally, 3 feet deep and 12 yards apart. The tiles were put 

 into the drain in the ordinary way, and the materials returned 

 into the drain, but in a somewhat different way. Wherever the 

 drain crossed the furrow, a chimney of tiles was brought from 

 the bottom to within 6 or 8 inches of the surface, affording a 

 conduit to the collected waters in the furrows into the drains. 



\m\ The tiles were not placed vertically, but at an angle of 

 I 45 degrees — the lower tile resting on the drain tile, and 

 "1 S upper one on the lower in a zigzag form, thus. 



^ \ g The field is a bad one, the clay impervious, and appa- 



^ M rently without sand. 



The stratum is generally of a mixed kind, conglomerated, and 

 undetermined by any geological law. It frequently happens 

 that, when a given quantity of drainage is effected in a field, the 

 work is not complete : occasional parts of the field were found 

 springy and full of water. Although this was discovered soon 

 after the drainers left the field, yet no immediate steps were 

 taken to remedy the evil. The drainers commenced operations 

 over the hedge, and gave time for defects in former fields to show 

 themselves ; and, gathering experience as they went along, gradu- 

 ally succeeded in leaving but few defects behind them. It is a 

 maxim on the estate that, having a certain sum per annum to 

 expend in drainage, it is better to extend its benefits over a 

 large surface than confine the outlay to a limited number of 

 acres. All the fields drained are mapped in a book provided 

 for the purpose, every drain given, and the mouth of it pointed 

 out, the number of lineal acres drained, and the cost. 



The tile-yard was established in 1832, and is one of the best 

 of its kind, the floors of the flued sheds being of cast-iron. 

 A small steam-engine grinds and puddles the clay, and prepares 

 it for the tile machine. Upwards of 4,000,000 tiles have been 

 made and laid down, on an estimated quantity of 2500 acres, 

 at an average cost of 4/. per acre. 



Since the estate came into possession, the farmsteads have been 

 rebuilt or restored in a substantial manner. They are of brick 

 covered with blue slate, having iron employed where stone is gene- 

 rally used. The window-sashes are cast-iron, burglar-proof; 

 the window-sills weathered down to represent stone : there are 

 cast-iron troughs, racks, and mangers ; and, what is of the greatest 

 importance, cast-iron spoutings to all the premises, carrying off 

 the eaves-water into the well or cistern, and not suffering any 

 water to wash or brew the manure except that falling immedi- 

 ately upon it.* 



The only liquid-manure tank constructed on the Sutton estate has lately been 

 converted into a rain-water cistern. 



