Farming of Dorsetshire. 
425 
and largo on the pastures is a pledge of good dairy land and 
butter of the best quality. 
Drainiuf/. — The desideratum of a chalk subsoil — a natural 
drain, nhich never chokes, and which charges no interest for 
capital — is obtained, as we have seen, to a large extent in this 
county, and to it is, doubtless, to be ascribed the high character 
of the farming of the chalk district. The time and capital 
occupied in draining stiff soils have been released in this lo- 
cality and applied in other improvements. In addition to the 
positive advantages conferred by a chalk subsoil, it is no slight 
matter to Ije saved the inconvenience and annoyance of a stop- 
page of drains, which in other parts of the county is becoming a 
serious evil. Advantage has been taken of the porosity of the 
chalk in cases where clay-galls overlie this substratum. Mr. 
Damen of Winfrith in sucli cases sinks a well down to the chalk 
4 or 5 feet wide, fills it with faggots, and brings the mouths of 
his drain-pipes to the well, and the water gives him no further 
trouble. In the vales t'.iere is still very much draining to be 
done, yet the progress of this v/ork has of late years been consi- 
derable. Tlie Kimmeridge clay of the Blackmoor Vale — where 
there is a wide field waiting for the drainer — has been opened in 
many places, and the retentive soil made available for its own 
correction ; for this clay makes excellent drain pipes, which 
are being manufactured by tens of thousands. In a small 
radius round Shaftesbury three of these useful manufactories 
have recently sprung up. Lord Rivers has opened clay-pits at 
Okeford, and is expending large sums on this fundamental work. 
Turf-draining — plug, wedge, and shoulder — was prevalent until 
the introduction of pipes, and there are still many parts of the 
county in which it is preferred. Lord Ilchestor has had much 
plug-draining done both at Melbury and Abbotsbury, and where 
done on strong soils, and done carefully, it has been Cjuite suc- 
cessful ; but it has got out of order where the soil was not sufli- 
ciently tenacious and persistent for this kind of Avork. Stone 
drains his Lordship finds the best, but their expense is an obstacle 
to their general application. Mr. Farqu'.iarson drained a few 
meadows on the banks of the Stour about 12 years ago with turf- 
tlrains 2 feet deep and 20 or 24 feet apart, and they lasted well 
until the moles carried their draining operations alongside them. 
Mr. Pitfield of Heap has found such drains enduring, and JNIr. 
Edward Pope has had them hold good for 20 years, the original 
cost of them being 6c?. a perch. In the neighbourhood of Yet- 
minster also, where the conditions before referred to — a suffi- 
ciently retentive soil and careful workmanship — have been ob- 
talnc'l, turf-draining has answered in many places ; but this 
