On  Draining  Clay  Soils  too  deep. 
311 
that  I am  not  confined  to  any  points  of  detail,  and  that  the  leading 
principle  of  arrangement  which  I have  proposed  may  be  carried  out  in  a 
great  variety  of  ways  without  losing  its  advantages.  Indeed  to  prescribe 
one  special  plan  of  farm-buildings  as  suitable  in  detail  to  farms  which  have 
not  been  seen,  and  the  special  wants  of  which  are  not  known,  seems  to 
me  to  savour  more  of  the  ignorant  quack  than  the  true  physician. 
Bluntisliam,  Huntingdonshire, 
April,  1849. 
XX. — On  the  Mischief  arising  from  Draining  certain  Clay  Soils 
too  deeply.  From  W.  B.  Webster. 
To  J.  Hudson , Esq. 
Dear  Sir, — In  the  last  volume  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Jour- 
nal (the  tenth),  in  a letter  on  the  advantage  of  deep-drainage,  the 
following  appears  at  p.  498 : — “ I have  seen  land  belonging  to  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  at  Strathfieldsaye  so  drained,  and  upon  tena- 
cious clay,  as  I know  from  the  analysis  of  it.  And  with  him  it 
has  had  such  good  effect  that  his  land-steward  is  intending  by 
degrees  to  have  the  whole  of  the  Duke’s  estates  in  Hampshire 
drained  to  a great  depth,  never  at  a less  depth  than  four  feet,  but 
in  some  instances,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  soil,  a still  greater 
depth.” 
Having  seen  all  that  had  been  done  at  Strathfieldsaye,  and 
knowing  that,  on  the  retentive  subsoils,  the  deep  drains  did  not 
act  well,  but  only  on  certain  portions  of  springy  land  that  had 
been  drained  years  ago,  I at  once  wrote  to  the  agent,  and  received 
the  following  reply  : — 
“ Reading,  5th  March,  1850. 
“Dear  Sir, — In  reply  to  your  letter  of  the  1 8th  ultimo,  I beg  to  say 
that  my  father  is  from  home,  but  I can  safely  inform  you  that  the  state- 
ment you  allude  to  as  being  in  the  ‘ Agricultural  Journal,’  that  it  was 
our  intention  never  to  put  a drain  in  less  than  4 feet  deep  in  future  on  the 
Strathfieldsaye  estate,  and  by  degrees  to  redrain  the  estate,  is  quite  in- 
correct. 
“An  experiment  was  made  on  the  clay  some  few  years  since  with  the  4 feet 
deep  drains  at  wide  intervals,  but  it  is  not  found  to  answer  so  well  in  this 
country  as  the  3 feet  deep  drain  about  26  or  30  feet  apart.  An  instance 
has  occurred  upon  the  heavy  land  of  some  3 feet  drains  having  been  placed 
between  the  4 feet  deep  drains,  which  is  probably  what,  the  writer  in  the 
Journal  you  allude  to  might  have  meant,  only  he  should  have  said  that  it 
was  the  intention  never  to  put  a drain  upon  the  heavy  clay  at  a greater 
depth  than  3 feet. 
“ I am,  &c. 
“ Charles  Easton  (for  Geo.  Easton). 
“W.  B.  Webster,  Esq.” 
Previous  to  bringing  the  subject  before  the  Society,  I was 
anxious  again  to  see  the  land  myself,  which  I have  now  done,  and 
it  only  requires  a person  to  pass  a day  on  the  estate  to  be  convinced 
that  on  the  dense  clay  subsoils  not  surcharged  with  under-water,  3 
