154 
On the Quantity of Rain- Water, 
of the sufficiency of inch-bore pipes for agricultural drainage to 
be fully demonstrated both by experience and experiment. 
I will now mention an experiment which every farmer is com- 
petent to make, and which cannot fail to throw light on the action 
and effect of his drains, and on the relative condition of different 
pieces of land as to porosity, or filtrating activity — I allude to the 
simple ascertainment, by measure, of the quantity of water dis- 
charged from different drains, after rain, in the same time. In 
reply to numerous inquiries on this subject, I have only suc- 
ceeded in obtaining sufficiently exact information from Mr. Ham- 
mond, whose intelligence had led him to make the experiment 
without any suggestion from me. He states — " I found after the 
late rains (Feb. 17, 1844), that a drain, 4 feet deep, ran 8 pints 
of water in the same time that another 3 feet deep ran five pints, 
although placed at equal distances." The circumstances under 
which this experiment was made, as well as its indications, deserve 
particular notice. The site was the hop-ground before referred 
to, which had been under-drained 35 years since to a depth vary- 
ing from 24 to 30 inches, and though the drains were laid some- 
what irregularly and imperfectly, they had been maintained in 
good action. Mr. Hammond, however, suspecting injury to be 
still done to the plants and the soil by bottom water, which he 
knew to stagnate below the old drains, again under-drained the 
piece in 1842 with inch pipes, in part to 3 feet, and in part to 
4 feet in depth, the effect proving very beneficial. The old 
drains were left undisturbed, but thenceforth ceased running, the 
Avhole of the water passing below them to the new drains, as was 
to be expected. The distance between the new drains is 26 feet, 
their length 150 yards, the fall identical, the soil clay. The 
experiment was made on two drains adjoining each other, i.e., on 
the last of the series of the 3 feet, and the first of the series of 
the 4 feet drains. The sum of the flow from these two drains, 
at the time of the trial, was 975 lbs. per hour, or at the rate of 
19J tons per acre in 24 hours — the proportionate discharge, 
therefore, was 12 tons by the 4 feet, and 7^ tons by the 3 feet 
drain. No springs affected the results. Hence, we have two 
phenomena very satisfactorily disclosed; 1st, that the dee])est 
drain received the most water ; 2nd, that it discharged the greatest 
quantity of water in a given time — the superficial area of suj)ply 
being the same to both drains. It would appear, then, either 
that the deej)er drain had the power of drawing water from a 
horizontal, distance greater by the ratio of 8 to 5 than the shallower 
drain ; or that the perpeiidi(;ular descent of the water was more 
rapid into the 4 feet drain ; or that its increased discharge was 
owing to both these causes combined. 'J'lie ])henomenon of a 
deep drain drawing water out of soil from a greater distance than 
