40 
Some of the Agricultural Lessons of 1868. 
two-tliircls of an average crop, and where depastured never lost a tingkj 
of green. — I have not cultivated by steam ; but having secured a deep tilth 
by subsoiling every fourth year for twenty years at least, I am satisfied that 
I derived advantage in the two last years, one being very wet and the other 
very dry, from the friable state of the subsoil." 
Mr. Paget adds : — 
"In Transylvania sueh a summer as -we have passed through this year 
is by no means uncommon ; and I have noticed that white clover and grasses 
of the best quality grow very luxuriantly there, when the water table is not 
more than 2 feet from the surface. An intelligent agriculturist there expressed 
his conviction that to reduce the level to 4 feet below the surface would 
be injurious where the evaporation was so rapid as it is there. If this opinion 
is well founded, perhaps different rules ought to be applied to our dry Eastern 
Counties and the moi:?t West ; but my experience here does not confirm it. 
I have meadows where the supply of water to the drains is constant, in which, 
the pipes are laid at dej^ths varying from 3 feet 6 inches to 8 feet, and I fail t» 
discover any advantage in the shallow drainage during the heats of this- 
sunmier. I have never seen permanent bad effects from over tbainage. One 
field drained in 1863 became bare in May 18G5 ; but in the autumn of that 
year it was covered with white clover, and it has now a good sward. I 
attribute this effect to the death of carex, and of the water grasses which, 
before occupied the surface. It is now well worth twice the rent compared 
"with its former value. I have also satisfied myself that some drains which, 
carry off the overflowing of the water table will cease to run when the 
evaporation is very rapid, and recommence on the recurrence of the soft 
moist wind without rain which often accompanies a falling barometer.. 
This accounts for a phenomenon which some years ago puzzled draining 
engineers." 
The next witness I shall call is Mr. Smith, of VVoolstone, than; 
whom no one is better qualified to speak of the advantages of 
steam cultivation. He combines with his statement on this head 
some useful information also on the effects of land drainage 
during the late drought. He first describes his farm : — 
"My farm, containing 112 acres of arable and 60 of grass land, consist^i■ 
of two distinct qualities of soil. The valley land is mixed gravel and clay, 
I have generally called it light land ; it is, however, by no means light 
working land for ordinary horse culture ; it always needed three horses te 
plough it. The hill land is very heavy clay. — On gi-ass land hereabouts the 
drained and undrained fields were both alike burnt up. I could not see that 
either of them had any advantage over the other in contending with the 
dryness of the summer. On arable land, that which was drained had the 
advantage, and greatly so in all cases, — in the wheat crop, to the extent of 
more than a quarter per acre. All the crops on well drained land were fine 
and full, whereas all the crops on undrained land were thin on the ground., 
and nothing like so bulky when cut, yet they ripened well. The effect of 
drainage upon the lican crop was very perceptible, for on the undrained land.'^ 
they burnt up very early in the season ; whereas on the well drained land 
they did not burn up so quickly : and on my own well drained and deeply 
cultivated lands they stood out to the last ten days before harvest, and I had 
the honour of having the best beans in the neighbourhood this dry summer, 
the result of drainage and deep steam cultivation. I can, however, give you 
one instance of drainage having done an injury to a good meadow. Forty year.s. 
ago a mill in the adjoining parish was pulled down. I have a meadow that 
