338 
On the Drainacje of Land. 
saved annually in not having to make furrows and water-trenches, 
which are quite requisite before the land is drained, though be- 
sides taking off the water a considerable portion of the best soil 
is washed off with it. 
On land that is not drained wheat is very liable to lose plant 
through the winter from various causes ; some is starved by the 
wet, some drawn out of the ground by the frosts from its being 
wet, and a considerable portion in some seasons never grows at 
all, as the seed will burst when the soil is very wet : 2 pecks of 
seed can be thus saved by draining, and yet a more regular plant 
be obtained. I have no doubt that I use so much less seed than 
I used to do on my own farm. A great deal more benefit is also 
derived from the manure that is applied ; and there are many 
more, Avhich perhaps by some would be thought trifling advan- 
tages ; but, as a farmer said to me the other day, if anything is to 
be got in farming, it must be bl. in one way and 51. in another ; it 
is of no use to make any great speculation, thinking to get 50^. 
as it is in trade, for profit can only be acquired by steady per- 
severing industry. 
Durability of Drains. — This must depend on the materials 
used, the nature of the soil, and the manner in which the work is 
executed ; but I can see no reason why the generality of draining, 
if done well, should not be permanent, or at least last an indefinite 
number of years, provided accidents (to which everything is liable) 
are attended to in time and mended ; a little neglect may soon 
damage a great deal of well executed draining. Stone, tile, and 
clay are likely to last as long as any ; the two former from not 
being liable to decay, and the latter from there being nothing to 
decay ; even wood draining has been known to last on some soils 
40 to 60 years, but then no portion of the wood remained, the 
opening being formed into a clay drain ; as wood must rot in a 
few years, and where the soil is not sufficiently tenacious to form 
an arch it must fall in. 
The Past and Present practice of Draining is various in 
different parts of the country ; the past practice in this neighbour- 
hood was to use stone and turf; the stone for wall or rubble- 
drains, according to their length and the quantity of water to be 
taken off : they were generally put across the greatest fall to take 
the water from wet flat places, and to catch springs, which was all 
that was thought necessary. I do not know a piece of land 
that has been well drained so long as 20 years, but a great deal 
that had been partially drained. I have myself furrow-drained 
several acres that were considered to have been sufficiently drained 
by two or three large wall drains in 20 or 30 acres, which cer- 
tainly used to carry off a tolerable quantity of water, but still open 
furrows and trenches were required to take off the rest, but now 
