26 
The Farming of Westmorland. 
contend that it is useless to cut deep into this. Lord Lonsdale 
was one ot" the first, if not the first, to set the example of deep 
drains up the slope instead of the old plan of shallow drains 
across it. In spite of partial failures, to be accounted for in 
various ways, the great principle of depth, and " the utmost fall" 
must be admitted to have been conclusively established as 
successful. 
Instances can doubtless be pointed to, where deep drainage 
has not succeeded in laying the land dry ; but a close examination 
will generally discover some other reason for the failure besides 
depth, such as tiles too small, and badly laid, careless filling- 
in, not driving the heads of the drains far enough into the 
apparently dry hill-side (where the water-bearing strata lie con- 
cealed), or inattention to the outfalls. 
The writer, in setting out the drains in a poor rushy pasture 
field, was assured by a neighbour, looked on as an authority in 
such cases, that as it was " sammel to the top " it was of no use 
cutting the drains more than 2 feet, or 2 feet 6 inches. A pre- 
judice, however (if it may be so called), in favour of depth, 
induced a trial drain 4 feet deep, or 5 feet, or till water was 
found. When 4 feet was reached slight fissures and veins of 
sand betrayed themselves in the dreaded " sammel," plenty of 
bottom water soon appeared, and the drainage is a success. 
In another case the drift or hard deposit of clay and gravel 
continued till the workmen were overhead in the drains ; at a 
depth of about 6 feet, a bed of fine sand, evidently laid there by 
water ages ago, was come to, out of which the Avater rushed 
profusely. In either of these cases a less depth must have been 
entirely useless. 
No universal rule, however, as to depth and distance can be 
laid down. Experience and judgment can alone decide these 
points on the spot, but more failures have occurred from too 
shallow than too deep drains. 
Homesteads. 
" A farm-house should be somewhat elegant, to give pleasure 
to its possessors and to allow the wife to take delight in it. It 
should be built on the most healthy spot on the farm, in a tem- 
perate air, such as the middle of a hill commonly enjoys, where 
it is neither stifling in the summer, nor exposed to the rage and 
storms of wintei\"* 
The farm-buildings are mostly stone and slated, the ancient 
thatched buildings having nearly all disappeared; great improve- 
ments have been made within the last half century, and, on the 
* 'Columella.' 
