78 
Tlie Farming of Cheshire. 
frame with a sliding box over it (as shown in drawing No. 1, 
p. 1 10) ; and, instead of throwing out a furrow, as was formerly 
the custom, it makes the drain by pressure sufficiently deep to 
admit of a free course for the surface-water : this implement re- 
quires four horses to work it; and it will water- furrow from 15 to 
20 acres per day. On much of the pasture-land the butts are 
too small and flat, some not more than 5 or 6 feet wide, the reins 
only serving as reservoirs for supplying the rushes with water, in- 
stead of acting as drains to the land. Large portions of the 
natural meadow-land, consisting of many thousand acres, are de- 
prived of half their value by an obstruction to their drainage, 
occasioned by corn-mills backmg up the water to a considerable ex- 
tent in streams where there is very little fall ; and by the consequent 
liability, Ifrom the same cause, of having the hay swept away by 
floods, or so injured as to render it unfit food for caitle. This 
evil therefore calls for serious .consideration in any inquiry con- 
nected with the agricultural pursuits of a dairy district, where the 
clay-land farmer is almost entirely dependent upon the produce 
of his meadows as a winter supply of food for his milking stock. 
The summer and autumnal floods, before the after-grass is eaten 
off, occur at least once in three years, and are frequently attended 
w^itli almost ruinous consequences to the farmer ; for, in addition 
to the entire loss of his hay occasionally, his cattle become dis- 
eased, and not unfrequently die from eating flooded hay. On the 
river Gowey there are no less than twelve mills on a distance of 
about 15 miles; it is therefore obvious that the individual efforts 
of the landowners, and the united exertions of the occupiers, will 
avail but little in attempting to effect a complete state of drainage, 
unless the proprietors of the farms collectively join in removing 
these impediments, and converting the present water-mills into 
steam-mills. 
Effeciual draining being the greatest of all improvements, and 
also an expensive operation, it is of importance that the work 
should be well executed, in order to make it as permanent as pos- 
sible; in addition to the drains being cut in the right direction, 
and of j)roper depths, care should be taken to have the bottom of 
the drains, where they are not on a solid bed of clay. marl, or 
gravel, sufficieully firm to support the tiles, by a layer of soles of 
the same material, slates, or split alder, and close enough to pre- 
vent moles and vermin from getting into them ; the tiles also 
should be of a good material. In cutting drains for tlie purpose 
of carrying off the surface-water only, the bottom is generally 
found willi a sufficient appearance of firmness to support the tiles, 
particularly if the drains are formed in dry weather ; but it should 
be borne in mind that by draining the water is drawn to those 
parts where water had never reached before, and, by constant 
