On Thorongh- Draining. 
41 
petus to the system of tile-drainage, and many districts might, by this 
means, be rendered vastly more productive than at present. Tlic ordi- 
nary farmer, unless assisted by his landlord, is unwilling to embark in 
an outlay of 5/., 6/., or 7/. per acre, though both landlord and tenant 
might be induced to co-operate and join in the expense, when it is only 
clearly placed before their eyes that the same benefits can be made avail- 
able at half the cost. 
Where the soil is full of land-springs, and it is necessary to dig the 
ditches of greater depth, stones are frequently used over the tiles to fill 
in the drains; and where they can be readily obtained, nothnig is better 
suited to fill the parallel drains than stones alone, a small portion of 
straw being spread over them before the earth is thrown in, and tiles 
being placed at the bottom of the leads to carry off the greater quantity 
of water accumulated in the side drains. For this purpose the stones 
cannot be too small. The finest gravel, loell sifted, or sea shingle, are 
both excellent materials, but belter than all is the broken cockle-shell 
occasionally to be procured on the sea shore. If, in the first instance, a 
laying of straw be placed on the top of such material, to prevent the first 
sediment from the upper soil settling down and choking the small cavities 
and interstices of the stones or shingle, the superincumbent earth will 
soon form an artificial stratum or crust over the top of the drains, so that 
the loose surface soil will not be liable to fall in and mix with the stones, 
and the drains will be found, after many years, as free from soil or ob- 
struction as when first laid down, and would appear to give good pro- 
mise of lasting for ever. Though it is contrary to the opinion of some 
persons, in draining flat land there is no kind of material which I would 
prefer to stone or shtll, as I consider that tiles would in such case be 
much more liable to choke, requiring a certain declivity and readiness of 
fall to keep them clear. 
Upon the stiff loamy clays of the hundreds of Essex, in the eastern 
and south-eastern parts of the county, land-ditching, by covered drains, 
has been only partially adopted ; and many of the best practical farmers, 
and men, too, not blinded by prejudice to a fair consideration of the sub- 
ject, doubt vvhether the system can be generally practised with advan- 
tage on such soils. 
Where the soil is uniformly composed of that stiff and impervious tex- 
ture which does not admit of the water which falls upon it soaking be- 
low the top- surface moved by the plough, it is thought better to lay up 
the land in ridges or stitches, from which the water is taken by the inter- 
vening furrows, and by them, at certain intervals, into cross furrows drawn 
by the plough at a greater depth, and afterwards dug or "spitted^' by 
the spade, so as to carry off the water rapidly and freely by surface 
drainage. If drained at all, the ditches in such land are seldom cut 
deeper than 14 or 15 inches below the plough, and they are necessarily 
placed at frequent intervals, commonly 1 rod or 16J feet apart, from the 
circvimstance of the impervious subsoil only allowing the water to find 
its way into the drains by perpendicular fall, instead of the oblique and 
gradual percolation by which it is carried off in more porous strata. 
The only way to obtain a free passage to the drain below, is by filling in 
the cavities formed by the spade with the loose top-soil of the surface. 
