On the Drainage of' Land. 
337 
soils in wet seasons cannot always be worked as they ought, even 
if drained, so it is best to have tolerable strength when it will 
work well), altogether you cannot reckon upon more than one- 
fourth saving, which, however, is something considerable, as horse- 
wear and keep are expensive. 
Improved Climate must naturally follow a well-drained country; 
where the excess of moisture is left to evaporate from the heat of 
the sun and fall again in the evening in logs, a damp unhealthy 
atmosphere must be created, bringing agues and fevers in its train, 
but I think we do not hear so much of agues now as we did even 
20 years ago, and 1 should say they have been prevented in a 
measure by the more effectual drainage of land, of stagnant pools, 
and of towns. In a work I have lately read it is stated that 
the average of life is considerably increasing ; if this be correct,, 
and we have no reason to doubt it, it is not too much to say that 
it is caused partly by an improved climate. But those who live in 
marshy or fen districts can say something more to the point under 
this head than I am able to do. 
Some other advantages may be derived from well-drained land, 
to which I will call attention. One is the way in which the land 
should afterwards be ploughed if it lies in ridges. Such fields are 
generally ploughed, alternately cast, and ridged, that is, all the 
lands are cast down one time when they are ploughed, and ridged 
up the next time ; by so doing you have the furrows open over the 
drains ; but land is generally ridged up for wheat ; and we all 
know that in finishing a ridge the cattle tread the furrow more 
than the other part ; and, as wheat ploughing is often done when 
the soil is not very dry, they knead it down very close ; and fre- 
quently after it is planted and ought to be finished, the farmers 
get three or four horses in length and plough the furrows out 
again, that they may also know where to hoe and reap to ; but what 
can be more absurd ? If the drains are only from 12 to 18 inches 
below the bottom of the furrow, under the idea of opening the 
ground to admit the water, they actually prevent it by the treading 
of the cattle ; for water will enter a drain 30 inches deep with the 
soil left in its natural state, a great deal quicker than it will a 
drain of 12 inches where the ground has been kneaded down. 
Now, after I have drained a piece of land, if I wish to keep it in 
ridges, which I do where the lands are wide and on a clay sub- 
soil, I plough each land alternately ridge and cast, always plough- 
ing the two lands that lie to be ridged, first, one on each side of 
the one to be cast. By doing so I have only one finishing-furrow 
to two lands, and that always on the top of the ridge, and they are 
generally plain enough to hoe or reap to without fresh striking. 
By this mode there is no more treading over the drain than over 
any other part, and a considerable amount in manual labour is 
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