* 
Vol. III.— No. 55.] 
Saturday, January 14, 1854. 
[Price 6cl. 
AGRICULTURAL TALK. 
F LOODS have followed the tliaw— and the heaviest fall 
of snow that has occurred for years will he a powerful 
witness in favour of arterial drainage. On this important 
question Mr. Bailey Denton, Engineer to the General 
Drninnge Company, has addressed a long letter to the 
President of the Royal Agricultural Society, of which the 
following contains the pith: — 
In the complete drainage of a kingdom every part should 
.he in harmony with the whole. Thus— 1. The minor 
under-drains should flow freely into the main-drain’s. 
2 . The main under-drains into the outfall-ditches. 3. The 
. outfall-ditches into the main water-courses. 4. The main 
' water-courses into the rivers to which they are tributary. 
5. The flowing rivers into the tidal sea. But this order of 
things has been reversed, and a vast expenditure of money 
in undcr-draiinng lias been incurred “without any general 
and systematic ‘preparation for the effective discharge of 
the waters set free by under-draining.” 
• The result of this neglect we can see, and shall sec for 
weeks to come, in every river and valley in the kingdom, 
where tens of thousands’of acres are under water, and a con- 
siderable per centnge permanently injured by the alluvial 
soil being washgd aw.ay_to_ help to'Obstruct the river-bed. 
Tlie'remedy would be by a general survey to divide the 
kingdom into districts for draining purposes, under the 
advice of great engineers like Rcndel and Rennie, and to 
authorise those districts to foi’m associations, raise loans, 
and execute the needfql works ; arming the executive 
body with legal powers as irresistible as those which re- 
leased Ireland from the incubus of law and lawyers, by the 
Encumbered Estate Act. 
We do not want the slow, costly, inefficient machinery, 
of government, or to place our landed proprietors at the 
mercy of engineering amateurs, like the Board of Health ; 
but we want to see some benefit derived from the Ordnance 
Survey, and to set local interests in motion to execute 
local work. 
We have the best engineers In the world, men of sci- 
ence and men of practice, mathematicians and managers 
of men — we ought to use them. We ought to consult 
them, and place them in honourable positions where they 
would be responsible for their opinions. Instead of adopt- 
ing that course, every board, every commission is filled 
with barristers and young well-connected gentlemen, who 
have all their business to learn. 
If the arterial drainage of the kingdom is to be taken 
up on a national scale, a board or commission to advise 
and control can be formed more successfully from the 
wealthy members of the Institute of Civil Engineers, than 
from the needy and noble members of the inns of court. 
Why, in some fitting honourable office should we not 
have the benefit of the services of men like Robert 
Stephenson, who. although indifferent to money and 
knighthoods, might accept a responsible Parliamentary 
position. 
Mr. Bailey Denton docs riot hope to see any great 
drainage - scheme executed, and therefore confines his 
suggestions to a general measure for placing the outfall 
ditches and minor streams, on which no mills work, 
“under some central jurisdiction, represented by distinct 
officers, whose duty jt shall be to examine the state and 
efficiency of any watercourse (not affecting mills and 
water rights), at, the bidding of any landowner prejudiced 
by the neglect of another landowner, and thereupon report 
the same to the central authorities, who shall have power 
to direct such works of cleansing, scouring, widening, 
deepening, and straitening to be executed ns they may 
think proper, with funds raised on the landowners by a 
rate proportionate to the properties benefitted.” 
lie thinks it vain to wait until the Legislature shall pass 
a general measure for the improvement of mill streams 
and main rivers. And perhaps he is right ; because public 
opinion has to be educated on the question, and taught 
that two millions of acres, a great portion of which is 
capable of producing three quarters of wheat per acre if 
properly drained, are now defertilised by winter floods 
making them permanent marshes. 
It is not our place here to enter into details, but it will 
be our duly to return to this subject again, and show where 
the agricultural interest have a right, and where, if united, 
they will obtain Parliamentary assistance towards growing 
more food for the nation. 
The London Farmeh 9’ Ci.rn have selected the following 
subjects for the discussions of the ensuiim year. 
Pohmoi-i- r. _ T’l.r. i. . a w _ i . ° J 
February G. — Tbq present imperfect Mode 
of taking tlie Corn Averages. (It Is pro- 
posed to follow this up by a Deputation 
to the Board of Trade on the day nfter 
the Discussion.) 
March G.— Agricultural Statistics, and the 
best Mode of Collecting them 
April 3.— On the Application of Manure in 
a Liquid State— to Roots, Grosses and 
Grnin Crops 
May 1.— On the Diseases and Blights affect- 
ing Plants, and the best means for their 
Cure or Prevention 
June 5 — The Present Policy of our La- 
bourers’ Friend Societies 
November 6.— How can the Letting and 
Hiring of Land be effected to best ensure 
the General Interests of the Community 
at large ? 
PROPOSED BY 
Mr. W. Pain, of Compton, 
Winchester. 
Mr. W. Bennett, of Cam- 
bridge. 
C. Spooner, of 
Hants. 
j Mr. W. 
\ F.llng, 
I 
Mr. R. Baker, of Writtle, 
Essex. 
Mr. J. C. Morton, of Upper 
Wellington. st , London. 
Mr. S. Cheatham, of 
qugby, Leicester. 
ai largo r j 
December 6 — On the Results arrived ntl \t r T „ „ , 
from the Several Systems of Drainage In- r ' _ , a Donton > of 
practice during the last few years... . . ^ Gravely, Herts. 
COURSTNG CRACKS, No. III.— Mr. SWINBORISE’S “ELFIN.’ 1 Drawn i.y T. H. Wilson, from a Picture ly Niair. isr. u r. 
(See Page 27.) 
