( 570 ) 



XXy.— -0?2 the Use of Peat- Tiles for Draining, From his 

 Grace the Duke of Richmond. 



There was, close by the park of Gordon Castle^ a pretty large 

 loch surrounded by swampy ground, altogether from 22 to 24 

 imperial acres, famous for wild ducks breeding in. This place 

 was, in 1837, cleared of alder bushes, and a deep open leading- 

 drain cut across it. In June of the same year a great quantity 

 of peat was cut in the shape of drain-tiles jf\. but a great deal 

 thicker : they were carefully dried on the moss where they were 

 cut, and then put under cover for the winter till they were re- 

 quired. As soon as the drains in the said swamp were cut, peat- 

 tiles were laid in them, in Julg, 1838. The drains were from 24 

 to 30 inches deep, and 36 feet apart; and they have dried the 

 ground as effectually as any other tiles would have done. There 

 were not peats enough to do half the ground, but the wettest of the 

 ground was done with the peats ; the rest of the collecting-drains 

 were done with water-stones. The ground is now in a high state 

 of cultivation. Some yards of one of these peat-drains were 

 opened on the 1st of November, 1847, and the peat-tiles taken 

 out, and all found perfectly sound and hard, and the drain was 

 quite clear, and showed that it had work to do in wet weather. 

 There is in the drain a fall of only 1 foot in 84 feet length. With 

 the proper spade for cutting these tiles out of the moss, a man 

 can cut about half the quantity that he could of fire-peats. 



E. Wagstaff. 



XXVI. — On the Autumn Cleaning of Wheat- Stubbles upon Light 

 Land. By Ph.' Fuse y, M.P. 



In so old an art as farming, the adoption of new inventions is very 

 hazardous : but a good local usage, when we can find one, unites 

 the promise of novelty with the warrant of practice. Now Mr. 

 Raynbird, in his excellent account of Suffolk farming, printed in 

 the present Journal, states that on the light soils of that county, 

 " if a dry autumn succeeds an early harvest, we shall, in all pro- 

 bability, see the ivhole of the fallows cleared of couch and other 

 rubbish before the clover layers are ploughed for wheat." This 

 method appears to me the greatest improvement that could be 

 introduced on our south-country farms. Our present habit is to 

 break up our stubbles — often full of couch-grass — during the 

 winter ; and about May to prepare them for turnips by three or 

 four ploughings, with harrowing, raking, and burning. The dis- 

 advantages of this practice are plain to practical farmers : first, 

 the wear and tear of horses, with the wages of labourers ; these 

 form a heavy item in the valuations of outgoing tenants for Acts 



