the Royal Ayriculhiral Society. 
43 
management of an imaginary farm, taken in hand by an advanced 
and improving agriculturist in 186-. We will suppose it to be 
thoroughly unimproved and out of condition; and as the clays 
present the most difficulties, we will commence with a clay farm 
wet, foul, and poor. 
It may be well to premise that the entire description of this 
imaginary farm is derived from the writer's own observation and 
farming experience, though of course not all collected atone time 
or in one place. 
The first object is to make the Jand dry ; and our entering 
tenant is informed that " this farm cannot be drained ; that all 
methods have been tried, but that it is as wet as ever; and that 
it's of no use wasting any more money upon it." He examines 
the drained fields, which are of three kinds. One is on a hill- 
side, and the drains are carried across the slope. He finds that 
in consequence of the deadness of the fall in the drains, and the 
sharpness of the slope of the land itself, the water not only makes 
its way into the drains but out of them again, and that the 
adjoining land is, as represented, wet as ever. He resolves 
to drain this land sufficiently up and down the hill to ensure 
the fall in the drain being more than a match for the fall of 
the land. 
The second drained field is a strong loam, though in its 
present sodden state it has all the appearance and most of the 
attributes of the stiffest clay. Here the drains have been 
placed in the furrows, as the lands were high and beautifully 
rounded, and the previous tenant considered himself deeply 
in their debt for preserving a portion of his crop from the 
baleful influence of the stagnant water which remained all the 
winter in the intervening furrows. He therefore, in his care 
to preserve their form, rather added to than diminished their 
rotundity. On examination it is found that the reason why this 
land won't drain is solely its defective form. When land is flat 
each square foot of surface has only to dispose of the rain which 
falls upon it, but if laid in high-backed ridges, a large portion of 
the rain runs into the furrows, and carries with it the finer par- 
ticles of soil and manure, thus effectually choking the natural 
pores and interstices of that portion of the land where the bulk 
of the water is accumulated. After a few heavy rains these 
furrows hold water like a dish, and the vegetation for some 
feet on each side of them is starved and stunted. On digging 
into this land it is found to have thin veins of sand which contain 
much water, and it is of importance to tap these Lilliputian springs 
as low as possible without incurring too much expense. Our 
vovus homo consequently resolves to put in his drains 4 feet deep, 
and the mains 6 inches deeper. The curvilinear shape and 
