Some of the Agricultural Lessons of 1868. 
drought, more corn and grass were produced on drained land 
where the work had been efficiently done for some years than on 
undrained land. His own observations have led to the conclusion 
that in corn lands generally, and in grass lands of fair quality, there 
has been more and better produce than on similar lands undrained. 
The following are the replies of some of Mr. Denton's corre- 
spondents. Mr. Wortley of South Collingham, Newark, says, — 
"With the exceptions hereafter noticed, my belief has always been that 
the underdrainiiig of wet land, whether arable or grass, increases the pro- 
ductive power, even in such seasons as the last ; the advantage being most 
apparent in the arable land, but on the whole very decided (taking the 
improved quality of the herbage into account) in the case of grass. Since 
I received your circular I have been receiving rents on an estate in Wilts, on 
which during the last eight or ten years I have done a good deal of draining. 
It comprises one parish, entirely dairy land, on the Oxford clay ; another parish 
and part of a third on the chalk, comprising a large area of grass on the chalk 
marl, the undrained part of which at times is very wet ; a fourth parish, and 
part of a fifth, on the middle oolite, varying from the thinnest 'stonebrash' 
with springs breaking out on the hill sides, to the heaviest clay. Bearing 
your circular in mind, I asked most of the tenants separately whether during 
the past season they would rather have had the pipes in their land or not ; 
there was all but a common consent among them, including even the small 
dairy farmers, that the land was better for having been drained. I must say 
in conclusion, that according to my experience there is some foundation for the 
popular belief that a certain kind of grass land is injured by underdraining ; 
that is to say, the inferior plants which previously made a show, if they did 
little more, are destroyed by the drainage, and they are very slowly replaced 
by better if the land is left^ to itself. I ought to add also, though it does not 
touch the question as to underdraining, that in my opinion some fen land 
(arable) is injured if the water is ^altogether removed from it ; though a 
certain amount of drainage is, of course, essential." 
Mr. James Rawlence, of Salisbury says : — 
" I quite think with you that more corn and grass have been grown on 
drained than on undrained land, except on grass land that had been drained in 
the previous autumn, in which case the aquatic plants all died out from the 
long drought and heat, and the more nutritious grasses had not time to fill up 
their places ; besides which, no fissures had been made by the contraction of 
the soil, and, therefore, it had not become aerated, which is one of the benefits 
of thorough draining, and one which enables strong clay land to withstand the 
ill effects of a long drought." 
Lastly, Mr. Castree, of Gloucester, may be quoted : — 
" The dry and hot summer of this year has not yet shown its full effect on. 
drained grass land ; former hot seasons dried up and withered the grass lands 
for the season, but in subsequent years the herbage was much improved in 
quality by the roasting it had undergone. 
" The drained clay lands have not been so much cracked as the undrained, 
and have been more verdant. 
" The meadows on the banks of the Severn are improved by draining otV 
water that lies in hollow places, or wet places ; but ilrainago is no improvement 
of sound meadow or pasture land." 
There is thus a general concurrence of testimony to the fact 
