1848. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
15 
in them all day, and carry home his day’s math at 
night.” I was told that, in some meadows, the mark 
<of the swath continues from year to year, and on some 
farms I should think, from the appearance, that there 
could be no doubt but it is so. Their implements for 
mowing are very rude and awkward, A straight and 
clumsy snath, very broad scythe, secured at the bottom 
of the snath with an iron rod from the snath to the 
back of the scythe. This, however, is deemed the 
apparatus best for their lands. A Welshman who had 
lived with me in America, and who was a Very expert 
mower with one of our patent snaths, told me he could 
do twice as much, when f saw him mowing in Wales, 
if he had his old snath and scythe. I have no doubt he 
could do so, from a trial I made with the Welsh im¬ 
plements. 
As a substitute for grass, they use Gorse as a food 
for their stock. This has been in use in Anglesea, and 
some other districts in North Wales, from time imme¬ 
morial, as a food for horses, ft has occasionally been 
used, when provender is scarce, for horned cattle. 
When used, either by itself or with provender, as food 
for milch cows, it proves highly beneficial. It is a 
coarse evergreen shrub, growing to the height of two 
or three feet generally, and propagates itself. It gives 
to milk and butter a fine color and rich flavor. It is 
the opinion, that cows yield a better profit than when 
fed on the best grass or even turneps. The butter is 
certainly most excellent, as I had an opportunity of 
testing, equal certainly, if not superior, to any I ever 
tasted. It is fed to some extent, with turneps, to 
sheep. Its principal use, however, is in feeding horses. 
It, grows abundantly in all parts of Anglesea, and fre¬ 
quently saves the farmer from great loss, when their 
is a failure of his other crops. It grows luxuriantly in 
the thinnest, coolest, and most sterile soils. It can be 
used either of one or two year’s growth. With at ten- 
tion to its culture, and keeping it from injury from 
sheep, who are very fond of it, it will produce, when 
cut every year, from eight to fourteen tons per acre, 
of good, succulent food. And if cut every second 
year, it yields at the rate of from twelve to twenty 
tons per acre. There is no crop which furnishes so 
abundant food as this, with a very trifling outlay. In 
many parts of the district very little attention is given 
to its culture, and it is suffered to grow without any 
care, and yields a much smaller crop than when judi¬ 
ciously managed. H. 
UIPEE-©£AmiG. 
At the last meeting of the Hartford County (Ct.) 
Ag. Society, we had the pleasure of listening to an ex¬ 
cellent. practical lecture on the subject of draining , 
from Prof. John P. Norton, of Yale College. Hav¬ 
ing been requested to deliver an address before the So¬ 
ciety, Prof. N. decided to confine his remarks chiefly 
to this subject, instead of discoursing upon agriculture 
in general terms. The decision was in our opinion a 
very proper one. Draining is comparatively but little 
practiced or understood by our farmers; though it is an 
admitted fact that it constitutes the basis of the great 
Improvements which have been made in British Agri¬ 
culture within the last half century. During a resi¬ 
dence of several years in England and Scotland, Prof. 
Norton had the best opportunity for witnessing the 
benefits of thorough drainage, and of becoming ac¬ 
quainted with the best modes which are practiced in 
those countries. His knowledge of the subject has, 
therefore, enabled him to treat it in the most satisfac¬ 
tory manner, and we think we cannot do a better ser¬ 
vice than t© lay his remarks, which he has kindly fur¬ 
nished us, accompanied by some illustrations, before 
our readers: 
The subject which I have selected, as one of much 
interest to a large portion of the farming community, 
is that of Draining. During a long residence abroad, 
my attention has almost daily been called to the drain, 
as in many situations the basis of all good farming. I 
have seen and admired the results of its introduction, 
in almost every part of Great Britain. Since my re¬ 
turn to this country, each district which I have visited 
has also reminded me of the drain, but unfortunately— 
of its absence, or extremely partial employment. 
Drains, in their various forms, are, as is well known, 
channels for conveying away water;—the first consid¬ 
eration that presents itself then, is—in what situations 
are these channels necessary ? They are obviously so 
in marshy swampy grounds; these cannot be managed 
at all without them. But there is a class of wet 
springy soils, sufficiently firm to walk upon or even to 
plow, which are frequently, in this country at least, 
considered dry enough. The grass grown upon them 
is sour and scanty, and all attempts at vegetation are 
imperfect; the' soil is continually saturated with water, 
while the air obtains imperfect access ; various nox¬ 
ious acid compounds are formed in consequence, and 
plants live with difficulty. The sun’s rays warm such 
a soil very slowly, and it is only when the best part of 
the season is past, if at all, that it approaches^to a 
proper state of dryness. When now the drain is in¬ 
troduced, it draws the water gradually away from be¬ 
neath ; the air follows from abov$,*and comes in con¬ 
tact with all the noxious compounds which may have 
formed; it decomposes them, and they become, in most 
instances, fit for the nourishment of plants. From the 
land in its wet state a constant evaporation was going ’ 
on, which prevented the rays of the sun from exerting 
their full influence; now there is no such evaporation, 
and the warm air can penetrate even into the subsoil. 
The foregoing cases, are of soils made wet by 
springs; these, however, form but a small class when 
compared with those that are injured by retaining too 
much of the water that falls from above. In stiff clays 
these injurious effects are very manifest. During the 
whole early part of the season, they are saturated with 
water, and consequently cold; any attempt to work 
them only does mischief, by puddling the whole ^oil 
into a species of mortar. When the season is far ad¬ 
vanced, the sprface dries, and at the same time be¬ 
comes baked into clods, which are only broken up with 
very great difficulty and expense. But it may be 
doubted whether drains would have an effect on such 
stiff soils, whether the w r ater would run into them. 
Their action first commences on that portion of the 
soil which lies next thq sides of the drain; this gradu¬ 
ally dries, and as it consequently contracts, innumera¬ 
ble little cracks are formed, through which the air ob¬ 
tains access to a fresh portion ; this process goes 
slowly on, until at last the whole mass of clay within 
the influence of each drain continues perfect, though 
in some instances, they do not pervade the entire soil 
until at least a year after the drains are made. Some 
of the stiffest clays in England and Scotland, are now 
drained most effectually, and with great ease. The 
full benefit of draining upon such clays, is not by any 
means confined to making them dry. Air and mois¬ 
ture acting together, produce various chemical changes 
in the soil which gradually ameliorate its physical cha¬ 
racter; rendering it less stiff, and more easily pulver¬ 
ized. I have seen many instances, where careful man- 
