242 
On the Failure of Deep Draining 
one of the best farmers in that county, Charles Etheredge, Esq., 
of Sturston, Harleston. He writes thus : — 
You know all round niy heavy land here I have ditches from 3^ to 5 
feet deep, and such ditches are general throughout the same land in Nor- 
folk and Suffolk, on farms well cultivated, and they are generally kept 
clean with a free access for the water. Still we tind it necessary when 
our drains are parallel to these ditches, to make them not exceeding 
22^ feet apart from them. I do not mean to say that if drains 3^ to 4 
feet deep were put 40 feet apart on these soils, the centre between the two 
would not he improved by them. I think it would, but certainly in a 
much less degree than if they were 22 feet apart and 30 inches deep ; and 
there would be another great objection on clay interspersed with flint and 
chalk boulders in the digging. I find that after 2^ feet of soil has been 
removed, the next 14 to IG inches have cost 6c?. to Sd. per rod of 5^ yards. 
It is not at all uncommon to see a clay pit stand with water, within 2 
feet of the surface, within from 3 to 6 yards of a 4 feet ditch : where I 
have been draining 4 feet deep, the subsoil is interspersed with sand 
pockets, and a much greater width between the drains may be allowed; 
but there can be no rule. Finally, my great object in draining is not only 
to do it effectually but rapidly. You must in no instance be satisfied to 
have your soil saturated with water till your sluggish drains draw it off; it 
must go otF as quickly as it falls, or your drainage will be neither effectual 
nor permanent. Yours, &c. C. Etheredge. 
W. B. Webster, Esq., &c. &c. 
Mr. Nesbitt (the-well known agricultural chemist), in the 
discussion which took place at the London Farmer Club on the 
9th of March, in the present year, in stating his opinion that upon 
some soils deep drainage was most effective, whilst upon others 
a shallower drainage ought to be adopted, referred to Mr. 
Tiiompson in this county (I think he said), as having tried deep 
draining on his farm, and having been compelled, after a fair 
trial, to abandon it, not finding it successful on that soil. To 
quote instances of the success of an opposite system is no proof 
that deep draining might not likewise produce advantages ; yet 
where experience has proved the value of the one, it is hardly 
wise to engage in large operations on an experimental plan that 
can hardly produce fairer results, and may be attended with dis- 
appointment and waste of expenditure. It has been by draining 
at depths of 30 and 3G inches, and at distances of 18 to 24 feet, 
that the farms of Mr. Harvey, Mr. Gidney, and many others on 
the clay lands round Harleston, in the south-eastern part of this 
county, have been brought into their present admirable condition. 
In Lincolnshire I have gone over thousands of acres of the fens ; 
and I found the fact testified to by most of the best farmers, that 
if the water in. the ditches or dikes is taken off to a level below 
3 feet, the grass-land in dry summers is decidedly injured. The 
following letter from a farmer of this county will show that deep 
draining is not so novel a practice as some of its modern advo- 
cates assert : — 
