24 
On Thorough- Draining. 
On the heavy lands of Suffolk and the adjoinin<r counties, under- 
drainin<? at a distance of 16^ feet, and a depth of 26 or 30 inches, 
is as much a matter of routine as hedgin<r and ditching. It is 
done almost universally at the expense of the tenant, whether his 
tenure be at will or on lease. The outlay is thought to be repaid 
by the first crop ; certainly by the second. My meaning is this : 
usually the land is drained the year it is frJlowed ; and when the 
period recurs for draining a field, I should expect, under favour- 
able circumstances, that the increased v,alue of the succeeding 
barley-crop over what it would have been without draining, 
would repay the cost of the draining. 
Our system is especially intended to remove that wetness of the 
land which is caused by water becoming stagnant on the surface, 
from the retentive nature of the soil or surface materials ; but it 
is also calculated to carry off the water which filtrates from higher 
grounds through beds of porous materials lying immediately upon 
impervious strata. 
Much of our land has been repeatedly under-drained. The 
grandfather of the Messrs. Crosse, of Finborough, began under- 
draining ninety years ago. 
Ours does not profess to be a permanent system, like tile or 
stone draining ; but we think the second time the land is drained, 
in which case the old drains are cut across, that an additional 
benefit is derived. 
On our strong clays, under-draining does not enable us to feed 
off turnips with sheep ; it reduces the amount of horse-labour, 
inasmuch as the land is more easily worked, and sooner fit for 
work after rain ; two horses abreast are universal in the plough, 
except that in wet seasons the three last furrows of our nine-feet 
stitches or beds are ploughed with two horses at length, in order to 
avoid treading on the ploughed land. 
The drill and scarifier are each adapted to cover 9-feet stitches, 
0!ice going and returning : the horses walking in the furrows : the 
shafts cf the drill being set on one side, instead of the middle of 
the machine, and the scarifier being worked by means of a long 
whipple-tree. Our ^vheat is mostly dibbled, and we do not "con- 
sider the practice a strangely slow process:" hands are plentiful. 
Even the best- drained land does not break up in such a friable 
state as to permit the drill to work immediately after the plough: 
hence the great inducement to dibble : land upon which wheat is 
drilled must be either summer-fallows, or bean-land ploughed di- 
rectly after harvest, and left to llie influence of the v/ealher to be 
pulverised. All our lands intended for barley are ploughed for 
the last time in autumn, and scarified in spring before drilling. 
The surface of the land is left almost level by the scarifier, and 
is seeded throughout, furrow as well as stitch. 
