D It A I 
ftas more than one hollow in it, in that cafe, it is ne- 
ceiT'ary to have more than one drain; but if it is aim oft 
level, or inclines only a little to one fide, a ditch or 
drain at the lower extremity, having the ridges and fur¬ 
rows formed; as already mentioned, will anfwer the pur- 
pofe effectually. In fome cafes, however, it may be 
neceftary to have a few fide-cuts from the main drain, 
where the field is large and flat, cut as narrow as poflible, 
and filled with (tone, in the ufual manner. 
Such is the method of draining thefe foils with moft 
advantage ; but many fields fuffer equally from wetnefs, 
that confift of foil exaCfly oppolite to the former, viz. a 
elay furface having a porous fubftratum. Fields of this 
nature commonly lie very flat, without any declivity, 
whereby the noxious water, ftagnant on the clay furface, 
might naturally difeharge itfelf without the help of 
drains *, for foils of the fame nature, in a hanging fitua- 
tion, are feldom or never affeCled by the fame caufe. 
Such ground is more difficult to drain, and requires a 
greater number of trenches than any other foil whatever ; 
and they mu ft be fo arranged as to colled all the water 
from the furface, which can only difeharge itfelf into 
the drains from above, being unable to flow into them 
through the clay, as in foils of an oppofite defeription ; 
and where there is any irregularity in the ground, the 
water will remain in the hollows, perhaps within a few 
feet only of the drain. The firft thing is, therefore, to 
make one main conductor in the loweft part of the field, 
to receive and carry off the water collected by the fmaller 
lateral ones on each lide of it. If it f'uits the (ituation 
or diviflon of the field, this main drain hud better be 
open than covered ; and then the outlets of the other 
drains that fall into it, can eafily be infpected, and fre¬ 
quently cleared. The formation of the ridges in plough¬ 
ing,-to anfwer the. declivity of the ground, fliould alfo 
be particularly attended to in fuch foils. The ridges 
fliould have rife enough in the middle to give the water 
a fall into the furrows ; and thefe fliould have depth and 
fall enough to convey it into the drains. Thus would 
a great part of the rain-water, as it occafionally falls, be 
carried oft, which would lefien the number of fmall cuts, 
Otherwife neceffary. The drains (hould all be dug as 
narrow as poflible, and filled up in the ufual manner 
■with loofe ftones ; only the bottom of the conducting 
drain (if it is not an open one) fliould be formed in the 
manner already deferibed, with a fmall open conduit at 
bottom, the more effectually to carry off the water. 
The fmall drains fliould alfo be coupled at bottom ; i. e. 
two of the lurgeft ftones laid againft each other at the top, 
forming a triangular opening, of four or fix inches, be¬ 
low. This mode of draining is calculated for every te¬ 
nacious clay foil, whether porous below or not; but, in 
many inftances, the deepening of the furrows, with very 
few drains, might remedy the evil, where the retentive 
upper foil is only a foot or two deep, with a porous fub- 
foil under it, through which the water would eafily fub- 
fide downwards, and again empty itfelf at fome lower 
extremity of the field. 
Other extenfive trafts of land are wet and rufliy, from 
a caufe that can hardly be removed by any contrivance 
in the art of draining. This is the land which generally 
lies along the Tides of bropks or rivers, which, having 
often al ered their cotirfe between the oppolite banks, 
and depofiting fand and gravel as they recede from their 
laft channel, the water of the river always percolates 
through the ground thus formed to the level of its pre- 
fent courfe, keeping it fo moift and wet as to produce 
rulhes, and other coarfe vegetables ; and wherever a 
drain or pit is dug in fuch ground, it immediately 
fr Is with, water, to the level of that in the river. 
Where the river has a quick defeent, it is lefs apt to 
produce this eft'eCl ; but where its current is flow, and 
the level of its furface little below that of the ground 
on either fide, the foil will be conftantly faturated with 
water. Drains cut in any direction, can have no good 
4 
N I N G. 59 
effect, while the river continues in this fituation. The 
only remedy, therefore, where it can be dene at a mo¬ 
derate expence, is deepening and widening the bed of 
the river; the earth taken out of which, will at the fame 
time I'erve to form an embankment on either fide ; for 
while it can rife higher than the outlet of the drains, 
and flow back into them, it will render the ground 
equally wet as before they were made; and die expence 
of making them is laid out to no advantage. Befides 
being thus injured by the river water, fpririgs, in many 
fituations, iflu’e from the bouomof the higher ground, 
arid ooze through the foil higher than its- level. Yet 
the water of thefe may eafily be cut Off, and lowered to 
the level of the river. But in foilie cafes, the svetuefs 
proceeds entirely from fpririgs, where the foil of the 
flat ground betwixt them and the river does not confift 
of loofe gravel or fand, but of a loamy or clayey mix¬ 
ture. In this cafe, the water of the fprings is refilled, 
and prevented from finding its way, below the foil, to 
the river, and therefore is forced to flow nearer the fur¬ 
face, keeping it conftantly in a fwampy ftate in all fea- 
fons. To drain this ground, a trench mil ft be cut at the 
lower end of it, and brought from the river, along the 
bottom of the bank from whence the fpririgs ilfue. This 
trench fliould be cut below the line of the fpririgs, and 
kept open to receive the river water in floods, and alfo 
any run of water from the higher ground in times of rain, 
which would blow it up, if covered ; arid muff difeharge 
itfelf into the river at the loweft poflible level. From 
this trench, fliort covered drains might be cut a little 
way into the bank, to lead in the fprings that are above 
it, if boring oppolite to them has not that effect. The 
bottom of thefe drains muff be higher than that of the 
open cut, to prevent its water flowing back into them. 
In thefe alfo the auger, muff be tiled to tap the fprings, 
if the depth of this level does not reach the ftrathm con¬ 
taining the water. 
The principles of Mr. Elkington’s fyftem have hither¬ 
to been confined to the draining of land only ; but there 
is no doubt that it might be equally iifeful in mines and 
quarries, by diminilhing the quantity, of water that is 
frequently found in the courfe of working them, arid 
which very much obftrufts, and even fo.metime's puts a 
flop, to the work altogether. Thus, in finking a pit for 
coal, or any other mineral, near the bottom of a lull or 
high ground, a bed of quickfand is met with, fo full 
of water, that to pafs through it becomes a very difficult 
and expenfive operation ; and as this water proceeds from 
the porous ground above, it may in many cafes be prac¬ 
ticable to intercept the greater part of that water, before 
it reach the fand-bed in the pit, and by mean's of tap¬ 
ping at the tail of the fand-bank (provided the ground 
naturally declines lower than where the fand is found in 
the pit), the whole of’ the water may be extracted from 
it, at a comparatively fmall expence with what is ufed 
as the common remedy in like cafes. At prefent, the 
water that is found in the bottom of the pit, or what 
proceeds from the rocks, &c. in the cotirfe of working 
the mine, is got rid of by means of an engine pump ; to 
aflift in working which, the water obtained by means 
of the drains already deferibed, may be very ufefiil, 
where the ftream for that purpofe is deficient ; and may 
fave the great expence of working it by fleam. It may, 
however, in fome cafes, be removed by the auger ; as 
the following inftance will il ew : “ The water was 
raifed by a fleam engine about fixty yards, from a col¬ 
liery in Yorklhire, which had been wrought fevCraL 
years; the proprietors bored down to the depth of ten 
yards farther, to afeertain the thicknefs of a learn of coal, 
which was fuppofed to lie below thofe then wrought; 
the workmen bored from the bottom of the pit next the 
engine pit, and when they had bored to the above depth, 
and taken out the auger, the water from, the works, 
which ufually ran acrols the bottom of this pit to the 
engine pump, ran down-the hole they had then made. 
As 
