152 
Drainage of Whittlesea Merc. 
The order and cost of this preliminary work is nearly as fol- 
lows : — First, the surface is pared, burnt, and partially levelled, 
at a cost, per acre, of IZ. bs. Next, the ashes are spread, 
and the field breast-ploughed, at the rate of 1/. Cole-seed is 
then sown, which gives a small amount of feed, worth perhaps 
•i.f. per acre in the autumn; but it springs up solely between the 
interstices of the long slices cut by the breast-plough, the sod 
itself remaining tough and unbroken till the next spring, when, 
as the land is still unable to bear horses, the long strips are 
chopped by hand, at the cost, per acre, of \()s. The land is then 
again dug and levelled for 1/. 55. Shallow drains are cut and 
laid with turf, 44 yards apart, at a cost, per acre, of bs. ; and the 
land is then considered ready for the warp of clay. 
Oats are sown upon the warp as far as the progress of the 
work of the season will admit, and with the oats a layer of 
timothy grass and clovers. The oats give a fair return ; and- 
the pasturage of the grass, which stands for 3 or 4 years, is 
worth about 30s. per acre. The course, which, after this, can be 
adopted to the best advantage, yet remains to be determined. 
Continued pasturage, or a succession of wheat, oats, potatoes, and 
mangold, have their respective advocates. 
The fields, now under layer, on which tlie warp had been 
spread, and oats grown in 1859, showed streaks in which the 
plant was weak, if not defective. A little consideration pointed 
out the probable cause of the variation. Of the soil excavated 
from the bed of the future reservoir to a depth of 12 feet, the 
upper 3 feet consists of silt and silty peat, the 2 next of peat, 
and only the lowest 7 feet of blue clay. The whole mass was. 
alike put into the trucks, and spread evenly, so that the land which 
chanced to receive a dressing of silty-peat lost by the lesser 
specific gravity as well as by the inferior quality of that material. 
Our time did not permit us to examine, as they deserved, 
either the complete modern homesteads erected on the site of 
the Mere, or the excellent roads formed to connect them with 
the high land, for which, as no materials are to be found on the 
spot naturally adapted for road-making, a large supply of ballast 
is provided by burning the clay with peat. 
The evening was devoted to the investigation of the strata next 
below the bottom of the reservoir now in course of excavation. 
It has been stated above that the 3 upper feet of the bed of 
the Mere consisted of silt, the next 2 feet of common black peat, 
below which the blue clay has been excavated to a depth of 
7 feet, to the bottom of the new reservoir. Some stout workmen 
dug down, in our presence, to a further <lepth of G feet 6 inches, 
which brought them to the bottom of this stratum, of whick 
a specimen is examined in Analysis No. 1. 
