THE CULTIVATOR. 
187 
examine the mouths and outlets of all the drains, and make any necessary 
repairs as he proceeds. Such an arrangement, I am convinced, would 
be very beneficial, and is highly necessary, as I have often found drains 
completely stopped in a year or two after they were made, and the land 
beginning to be wet again from this cause alone. Managers of landed 
property ought to be very particular in this department of rural economy; 
indeed a clause ought to be inserted in every lease, binding both proprie¬ 
tor and tenant to keep the mouths and outlets of drains in proper-order at 
their mutual expense. 
Rumbling Drains .—These are well adapted for removing water from 
alternate beds of clay and sand ridges, and also water confined in porous 
soils with an impervious bottom, as well for receiving surface water from 
clayey soils. Their depth, in the two former cases, is generally about 
four feet, and twelve inches wide at the bottom; they are filled with 
stones, broken to the size of coarse road metal, to within ten or twelve 
inches of the surface of the ground, and, in clayey soils, the remaining 
space with porous earth. Wood is sometimes used in drains of this de¬ 
scription instead of stones; but, as it is liable to decay soon, and the 
drains will consequently be destroyed, it cannot be recommended when 
stones, gravel, smithy danders, or even coarse sand can be procured. 
Indeed, whenever my opinion has been asked with regard to making 
drains with wood, my uniform answer has been against such a practice, 
having had experience of so many instances in which wood had been em¬ 
ployed, although stones might have been procured in the same field, of 
the land having to be drained again within a few years; and, consequent¬ 
ly, I could not consider myself acting candidly towards my employers in 
advising it. An instance of this occurred at Wall-house, Linlithgowshire, 
a few years ago, in which I was called on to make a plan to drain the 
grounds immediately around the mansion-house, and having examined it, 
I found that tbe whole had been drained some years before, and the 
drains filled with thorns and other brushwood, which had decayed, and, 
the clay having fallen in, springs were formed in many places in the"lines 
of all the drains. What surprised me was to find them laid off in such a 
manner that there was no occasion to alter any of the old lines; and hav¬ 
ing inquired who was the engineer, I was answered, your late brother. 
Being, however, aware that he never recommended drains to be filled 
with wood, if stones could possibly be procured, and more especially that 
he would not have done so in draining pleasure ground, where, in most 
cases, no expense is spared to do the work in the most substantial man¬ 
ner, I suspected that the work had not been executed according to his 
plan, and, upon making further inquiry, I found that my suspicions were 
correct, his specification having directed them not only to be made with 
stones, but also to have been from two to three feet deeper, wffiich was 
exactly what I caused to be done, whereby a complete drainage was ob¬ 
tained. 
Tile Drains .—These are best calculated for removing surface water, 
and are made just wide enough to let the tiles be put easily into them; 
they are, in most cases, about twenty inches deep, but tile? may be used 
at any depth, provided the drain is filled with broken stones, or- other 
open materials, to nearly the surface of the ground. The tiles should al¬ 
ways be well burnt, and laid on soles, as whenever this is neglected, 
which is too often the case where tile draining is now practised, their du¬ 
ration will unquestionably be very short, whereas hard burnt tiles will 
last for almost any length of time without mouldering down.* The expe¬ 
diency of using tiles instead of stones depends entirely on circumstances; 
for, if stones are to be found, whether by collecting on the surface or quar¬ 
rying within the lands that are to be improved, or even if they can be pro¬ 
cured within a mile of the operations, tiles should never be used. Stones 
are preferable to tiles in making drains in all kinds of soils, provided a 
sufficient quantity are used, but where only a few inches of broken stones 
are used in a drain, well burnt tiles laid on thick soles, and covered with 
turf or any other porous substance, would answer the purpose better; and 
in porous soils, where the water is found at or near the bottom of the drain, 
if six or eight inches of broken stones were used in packing and covering 
them, a more substantial drain would be formed. In clayey or mixed 
soils, where the water enters the drain at different depths, stones, gravel, 
or smithy danders, are the only materials that can be used with advan¬ 
tage; in,any case, however, where tiles are used, the space above them 
must be filled to the surface of the ground with some porous material, 
otherwise the drains will be useless, and the undertaking will prove a 
complete failure. 
In the preceding pages, I have endeavored to set before the reader, in 
as plain a manner as nature of the subject w'ould allow, a short practical 
detail of the principles required to be applied in draining the different de¬ 
scriptions of land, in all its diversified variety of soils, strata, and inequali¬ 
ties of surface, and I hope will, in some measure, convince landed pro¬ 
prietors and those engaged in agriculture, of the folly of supposing that 
* In draining the park at Grimsthorpe, Lincolnshire, about three years ago, 
some drains made with tiles were fouud eight feet below the surface of ihe 
ground; the tiles were similar lo what are now used, and in as good a slate or 
preservation as when first laid, although they must have remained there above 
one hundred years. 
any single rule can be applicable to every case, without being modified to 
the particular circumstances to which it is to be applied. 
To drain land effectually,, and at the least expense, must surely be the 
desired object of those who engage in it; but how can they ever expect 
to attain this, if the work is executed without any consideration of the 
cause from which the wetness proceeds, as is too often the practice in this 
country. Thus, when a field is injured by wetness, no matter from 
whence it comes, all that is thought necessary to dry it, is lo make drains 
straight to the wettest place, and through the hollowest part of it, and if 
these have not the desired effect, others are added, and the work-people 
are bound to make them a fixed depth, and, after cutting and carving in 
all directions, the land is partially dried, and, in some instances, com¬ 
pletely, but at three' times the expense it would have been if they had 
een properly directed. The person engaged in this arduous undertaking 
believes himself a complete drainer, and fells his master that there is no 
occasion for employing a professional man to lay off the drains, for he can 
do it as well as any man, and at half the expense; the master believes him, 
and being glad he has.such a clever person in his employment, gives or¬ 
ders to commence operations, which are carried on for two or three years, 
when, after having spent a considerable sum of money to little or no pur¬ 
pose, a professional man has to be sent for to investigate the cause of the 
bad success and provide a remedy, which has generally to be a complete 
renewal of the operations upon other principles. Besides the-instance at 
Castle Strathallan, already mentioned, .of land having to be drained anew, 
another case occured in which I was employed near Lanark, where the 
person acting as land-steward having prevailed on the proprietor to let him 
drain two fields with a number of small drains, the result was, after spend¬ 
ing considerable time and capital, the land still continued very wet. 
When I was called upon, I found that not only much deeper drains were 
necessary to remove the evil, but also considerable alterations were re¬ 
quired in their directions; which being executed, has proved completely 
effective in drying the land. 
A similar case occurred at Dargill, in Perthshire, the property of Lord 
Willoughby de Eresby; the soil of the field is of a light nature, with a 
sub-soil composed of a mixture of. gravel and clay, from four to seven feet 
deep, under, which lies the stratum, composed of sand and gravel, which 
contained the water. The former tenant spent a great deal of money in 
attempting to drain it, but with no effect, as the drains were not deep 
enough to reach the cause of the wetness, on which account the field lay 
nearly waste for several years. His lordship being anxious to bring it into 
cultivation, I was desired to getjt drained: and, accordingly, I found it 
necessary to deepen the outlet, and to have it covered, on account of its 
great depth: the conduit was made twelve inches wide and two feet high, 
which not only gave the necessary fall for the drains in this field, but also 
for others connected with it. It was also necessary to make three new 
drains in this field, instead of the numerous small drains which were made 
by the former tenant, one four feet, one five feet, and the other seven 
feet deep, which completely answered the purpose, and made it nearly as 
valuable as any other part of the farm. I could point out many other such 
instances, but I consider that those already stated are sufficient to put it 
beyond doubt, that if any drainage is executed without due attention to 
the quality of the soil and the nature and inclination of the strata, a failure 
will most probably be the result. Accordingly, every precaution ought to 
be taken before any operations are commenced in an undertaking on 
which the whole success of every other branch of agriculture depends; 
-and, therefore, every circumstance of the art must be weighed and strict¬ 
ly observed, otherwise landed proprietors will most assuredly be led into 
serious mistakes. To obviate this as far as lies in my power, I have been 
induced to draw up this practical essay, with the view of its being the 
means of introducing a more perfect knowledge of the principles neces¬ 
sary to be applied in draining every kind of land; and which I have found, 
during thirty years’ practice,* to be uniformly successful in every case 
where the plans and spefiCication were strictly attended to. This will 
not, however, be the case if alterations are made, as is frequently done, 
with the plans of professional men, and which I have sometimes experi¬ 
enced myself, in the drains not being made either the depth nor filled 
with the same quantity or quality of materials as prescribed, and even, in 
some instances, the lines of the drains have been altered, consequently 
the land has been imperfectly drained, whereby the system has come into 
disrepute, as not answering the soil, or on some other frivolous pretence. 
Too much cannot be said in.favor of draining, which, particularly when 
conducted on proper principles, must be beneficial to all parties concern¬ 
ed. Whatever, therefore, may be the defects of this essay, I hope it will 
call the attention of agriculturists to this system, as first practised by El- 
kington, and which has proved so useful, notonly in our own country, but 
also in others, as will be seen by the report of the Archbishop of Sweden 
to the Royal Agricultural Society at Orebro, which will be found in ano¬ 
ther part of this work; and I trust that what I have said will shew that it 
* During the above period, many hundred miles of covered drains, averag¬ 
ing five feet deep, have been made, under my direction, in this qountry and 
Sweden. On the Perth estate alone, ten miles have been made annually for 
several years past, which, in every instance, has been attended with success. 
