D R A I 
lowing is a defcription r AB, the beam of the plough, 
C D, ‘the handles. E, the fliare or fock. F, the coul¬ 
ter, or firfl cutter of the fod ; which coulter is fixed to 
the fliare. G, the other coulter, or fecond cutter, which 
feparates the fod from the land, and direffs it through 
the open fpace betwixt F and G. This coulter is con- 
netted with the (hare and the beam. HI, the (heath of 
the plough. K, the bridle or muzzle, to which the 
fwingle-tree is to be fixed. LM, two wheels of cad 
iron, which may be railed or lowered by ferews at N, 
preding upon the flat irons O O, to which the axis of 
each wheel is fixed. Thefe wheels regulate the depth 
which the (hare is to penetrate into the earth. P, a 
chain with an iron pin, to move the ferews at O. 
Another invention for draining land is thus deferibed 
in the “ Annals of Agriculture,” and in the agricul¬ 
tural report of the county of Eflex :—“ The author of 
this experiment has conflrufted, and ufes, a draining- 
wheel of call iron, that weighs about four hundred 
weight ; it is four feet in diameter ; the cutting 
edge, or extreme circumference of the wheel, is half an 
inch thick, which increafes in thicknefs towards the 
nave or centre, and will, at fifteen inches deep, cut a 
drain half an inch wide at the bottom, and four inches 
wide at the top. This wheel is fo placed in a frame, 
that it may be loaded at pleafure, and be made to ope¬ 
rate to a greater or lefs depth, according to the refiflance 
made by the ground. The trenches are thus cut in the 
winter, and are then either filled with draw-ropes, and 
lightly covered, or left to crack wider and deeper dur¬ 
ing theenfuing fummer. The drains are then filled with 
twilled draw or bulhes, and covered lightly with earth 
mod conveniently at hand. Thus hollow drains are 
formed at little expence, and which, upon trial, have 
been found to anfwer extremely well. Twelve acres 
have been drained with this wheel in one day. 
With refpett to the formation of drains, and the ma¬ 
terials for filling them up, the farmer mud be guided by 
circumdances of fituation, &c. The materials mod 
commonly ufed, are done, wood, bruflnvood, draw and 
dubble, heath or ling, or bricks made for the purpofe. 
If the drain is to be made fquare at the bottom, the 
trench mud be wide enough to contain two fide-dones 
about (ix inches al'under, and the fame in height, with 
a flat done laid over, which covers and fecures the ca¬ 
vity through which the water is dedined to flow. Thefe 
drains are more expenfive than when the dones are thrown 
in promifeuoudy, but are the only conductors applicable 
to fprings, which are to be prevented from injuring large 
traCts of land. A feCtion of this drain is lliown in the 
Draining-plate, II. fig. 2. 
In fituations where the foil is loofe, or fubjeCt to give 
way at the bottom of the trench, a method of laying 
the drain has been recommended by fir Henry Fletcher, 
bart. member of the Board of Agriculture, whereby this 
evil may be overcome. He directs three fquare dones to 
be ufed, of a thin, flat, form, two of which are to be 
placed againd the Tides of the drain, meeting at bottom, 
and the third laid over on the top, thus forming a hollow 
triangular fpace, through which the water will flow 
without impediment. Stones, from their weight, are al¬ 
ways liable to fink; and, where the foil is loofe, they are 
dill more apt to give way, and thus occafion doppages in 
the drain. But when the dones are fixed in the above 
triangular pofition, if the foil gives way, the work will 
fublide regularly with it, and dill keep its form, preferv- 
ing conflan'tly a patfage for the water. A feCtion of this 
drain is reprefented in the engraving at fig. 3. In many 
cafes where, the foil is firm and adhelive, and the flow of 
water not very confiderable, it is quite fufficient to make 
the drain by throwing in field-dones promifeuoudy, with 
a turf laid on the top, grafs-fide downwards, or covered 
•over with draw, heath, ling, rufiies, See. The water will 
always trickle through the crevices of the dones, while 
Vql. VI. No. 331. 
N I N G. 61 
the upper foil is prevented from choaking them up. A 
feCtion of this drain is given in the plate, at fig. 4. 
Upon the fubjeCt of filling drains with wood, lord Pc-- 
tre thus expredes his opinion: “ The drains filled wi<h 
wood, and covered as ufual with draw or ruflies, before 
the top mould is put on, are preferable to dones or any 
other kind of materials ; the reafon is, as the wood de¬ 
cays, the water continues to pafs. When filled with 
dones, and the drains dop up, which mud be expeCted to 
take place in time, the earth becomes quite folid round 
the dones, and, as they do not decay, the filtering of the 
water is for ever obdruCted : not fo when bulhes or wood 
are ufed ; continual filtering and draining are then for 
ever to be perceived; and by repeating the operation a 
fecond time, cutting the drains tranfverfely of the old 
ones, the benefit of the filterings through the rotten wood 
is fecured, and the fpewingupof old broken and damaged 
drains corrected and carried off. Moreover, as bulhes 
form a much greater number of cavities than either dones 
or poles, they are lefs able to dop up, and encourage 
filtering more than larger and more folid bodies.” For 
this purpofe fome perfons prefer black-thorn budtes to 
every other material for filling. There is alfo a method 
of filling with wood, by fufpending the budies upon 
flakes or billets fet crodways in the bottom of the drain. 
This kind of drain is much recommended by the writer 
of the Agricultural Report of the County of Caermar- 
then, who fays, “The completed method is to cut the 
dronged ends of alder, willow, or other aquatic wood, 
into lengths of about twenty inches, and place them al¬ 
ternately in the drain, with one end againd one iide of the 
bottom, and the ether leaning againd the oppodte fide, 
forming, as it were, a St. Andrew’s crofs. Having placed 
the flakes or billets in this manner, about a foot apart, I 
fill the fpace left between them on the upper fide with 
the fmall brufhwood, laid as it were in faggots, longitu¬ 
dinally ; upon which a few ruflies or draw being laid, as 
before mentioned, the work is done. By this method 
there is a triangular open fpace at the bottom of the 
drain, and one on each fide. See the feCtion of this drain 
in the plate, at fig. 5. There is another method faid to 
be preferable to the above, and requiring lefs wood: it 
is to fix in at every foot didance a dick, bent in manner 
of a hoop, or femicircular arch ; and along thefe to day 
the poles or branches longitudinally. This will form a 
fecure vacuity below, and an arch capable of fupporting 
any weight of earth necedary above it. From its known 
durability in water, and being fuffiqiently pliant, the 
young branches of larch are well adapted for this purpofe ; 
as are alfo willow, beach, See. In fituations where quarry 
dones are at hand, we think after all, that no method ex¬ 
cels the common form of laying the drain with fuch 
dories, coupled like two tiles leaning againd each other, 
and forming a triangular fough for the water. The lec¬ 
tion of a coupled drain is (hewn in the plate at fig. 6. 
It is laid with great facility ; requires only a few common 
field (tones thrown in upon the couples, and then the 
earth or mould. 
RefpeCting filling drains with draw, the following ob- 
fervations by Mr. Vancouver, in his Report of the Eflex 
Hufbandry, merits attention : “"When the foil is a very 
dole and retentive clay, the drains (hould be made pro- 
portionably near to each other, diallow, and filled with 
draw only, it being totally unnecedary to ufe wood, or 
any more durable material, upon land where the Tides of 
the drains are not likely to crumble in. Upon a foil like 
this, the drains fliould feldom exceed the didance of three 
or four yards apart, and twenty inches deep, or fuch a 
depth as may be the mod conveniently obtained, by firft 
opening the drains with the plough, (hovelling the bot¬ 
tom of the lowed furrow, and then digging one fpit only 
with the land ditch fpade. Drains formed ,in this man¬ 
ner, in tough and retentive clays, will be found, in a 
fiiort time after the work is finilhed, to have formed over 
R the 
