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harvest, when it will be of such consequence to make | machine since Meikle's time chiefly affect the drum. Meikle diligent use of every available hour for pushing on the tillage.

The kind of fixed engine most approved for farm-work in the north of England and south of Scotland is the overhead crank engine, attached by direct action to the spurwheel, and sometimes even to the drum shaft of the thrashing-machine. Their cheapness, simplicity of construction, easy management, and non-liability to derangement, fit these engines in an eminent degree for farm-work.1

Section 19.-Thrashing-Machines.

It is now sixty-five years since an ingenious Scotch mechanist, Andrew Meikle, produced a thrashing-machine so perfect that its essential features are retained unaltered to the present day. Indeed, it is frequently asserted that, after all the modifications and supposed improvements of the thrashing-machine which have been introduced by various parties, the mills made by Meikle himself have not yet been surpassed, so far as thorough and rapid separation of the grain from the straw is concerned. The unthrashed corn is fed evenly into a pair of slowly revolving fluted rollers of cast-iron, by which it is presented to the action of a rapidly revolving cylinder or drum armed with four beaters, which are square spars of wood faced with iron, fixed parallel to its axis, and projecting about four inches from its circumference. The drum is provided with a dome or cover, and the corn being partly held by the fluted rollers as it passes betwixt the drum and its cover, the rapid strokes of the beaters detach the grain from the ears, and throw the straw forward upon slowly revolving rakes, in passing over which the loose grain is shaken out of the straw, and falls through a grating into the hopper of a winnowing and riddling machine, which rids it of dust and chaff, and separates the grain from the unthrashed ears and broken straw, called roughs or shorts. The grain and roughs are discharged by separate spouts into the apartment below the thrashing-loft, whence the corn is fed into the rollers, and the thrashed straw falls from the rakes into the straw barn beyond. Since Meikle's time further additions have been made to the machinery. In the most improved machines driven by steam or a sufficient water power, the grain is raised by a series of buckets fixed on an endless web into the hopper of a double winnowing-machine, by which it is separated into clean corn, light, whites or capes, and small seeds and sand. The discharging spouts are sufficiently elevated to admit of sacks being hooked on to receive the different products as they fall. When barley is thrashed, it is first carried by a separate set of elevators, which can be detached at pleasure, into a "hummeller," in which it is freed from the awns, and then raised into the second fanners in the same manner as other grain. The hummeller is a hollow cylinder, in which a spindle fitted with transverse blunt knives revolves rapidly. The rough grain is poured in at the top, and, after being acted upon by the knives, is emitted at the bottom through an opening which is enlarged or diminished by a sliding shutter, according to the degree of trimming that is required. A large set of elevators is usually employed to carry up the roughs to the feeding-board, that they may again be subjected to the action of the drum. The roughs are emptied, not directly on the feeding-board, but into a riddle, from which the loose grain passes by a canvas funnel direct to the winnower in the apartment below, and only the unthrashed ears and short straw are allowed to fall upon the board.

The alterations that have been made upon the thrashing

1 See article on "Comparative Advantages of Fixed and Portable Steam Power for the Purposes of a Farm," by Robert Ritchie, Esq., C.E., Edinburgh, in Transactions of Highland Society for March 1852, p. 281.

himself tried to improve upon his beaters by fixing a projecting ledge of iron on their outer edges, so as to give them a scutching action similar to that of flax-mills. This strips off the grain from oats or barley very well when thinly fed in; but its tendency is to rub off the entire ears, especially of wheat, and also to miss a portion of the ears, whenever there is rapid feeding in. More recent trials of drums on the scutching principle show them to be on the whole inferior to the plain beater.

We have already referred to the general use of portable thrashing-machines in the eastern counties of England. These, for the most part, have drums with six beaters upon a skeleton frame, which revolve with great rapidity (about 800 times per minute, hence often called high-speed drum), within a concave or screen, which encloses the drum for about one-third its circumference. This screen consists alternately of iron ribs and open wire-work, and is so placed that its inner surface can be brought into near contact with the edges of the revolving beaters, and admits of this space being increased or diminished by means of screws. No feeding-rollers are used with this drum, the unthrashed corn being introduced directly to it.

Another form of drum, acting on the same principle as that just referred to, but cased with plate-iron, and having for beaters eight strips of iron projecting about one-fourth of an inch from its surface, and which works within a concave which embraces it for three-fifths of its circumference, is in use when it is desired to preserve the straw as straight and unbroken as possible. These are made of sufficient width to admit of the corn being fed in sideways, and are called bolting machines, from the straw being delivered in a fit state for being at once made up into bolts or bundles for market. Although the term beaters is retained in describing these drums, it is evident that the process by which the grain is separated from the ears is rubbing rather than beating. This necessarily requires that only a narrow space intervene between drum and concave, and that the corn be fed in somewhat thinly. Such machines thrash clean, whether the ears are all at one end of the sheaf or not, and deliver the straw straight and uninjured; but it is objected to these by some that they are slower in their operation than those with the beating drum, are liable to choke if the straw is at all damp, that the grain is sometimes broken by them, and that they require greater power to drive them.

A further and more recent modification is the peg-drum. In this case the drum is fitted with parallel rows of iron pegs, projecting about 2 inches from its surface, which in its revolutions pass within one-fourth of an inch of similar pegs fixed in the concave in rows running at right angles to the drum. Great things were at first anticipated from this invention, which, however, it has failed to realise. But iron pegs have more recently been added to the common. beater-drum with apparent success. The beaters in this case are made one-half narrower than usual, and have stout iron pegs, formed of square rods, driven into their faces, angle foremost, and slightly reflected at the points. These act by a combination of beating and rippling, and are said to thrash clean and to be easily driven.

There is thus a great variety of thrashing-machines to be found in different parts of the country, the comparative merits of which are frequently and keenly discussed by agriculturists. The extraordinary discrepancies in the amount and quality of the work performed by different machines, and in the power required to effect it, are due quite as much to the varying degrees of skill with which their parts are proportioned and put together, as to varying merit in the respective plans of construction.

In the best examples of 6-horse power stationary steamengines and thrashing-machinery, as found in the Lothians,

fifty quarters of grain, taking the average of wheat, barley, and oats, are thrashed, dressed, and sacked up ready for market, in a day of ten hours, with a consumption of 7 cwt. of good coals, and a gross expenditure for wages, value of horse labour, fuel, and wear and tear of machinery, of 9d. per quarter.

The exigencies of the labour market are giving a powerful stimulus to the use of labour-saving contrivances of all kinds; and hence the recent introduction of straw elevators, to be worked either by horse-power or by the same steamengine that is driving the thrashing-machinery. The latter plan finds most favour in England, where it has already been adopted to a considerable extent.

The Royal Agricultural Society of England has done much towards ascertaining the real merits of the various thrashing-machines now in use, by the carefully conducted comparative trials to which it has subjected those which have been presented in competition for its liberal prizes. The accuracy of these trials, and the value of the recorded results, have been much enhanced by the use of an ingenious apparatus invented by Mr C. E. Amos, consulting engineer to the Society, which is figured and described at p. 479 of vol. xi. of the Society's Journal. A pencil connected with this apparatus traces a diagram upon a sheet of paper, recording every variation of the power employed during the experiment to work the machine under trial. For reasons already stated, we regard it as unfortunate that the patronage of this great Society has hitherto been so exclusively bestowed upon portable machines.

Section 20.-Winnowing-Machines.

We have already referred to the fanners, which, except in portable machines, are almost invariably found in combination with thrashing-machinery, so as to deliver the grain into the corn-chamber in a comparatively clean state; and we have also noticed the further contrivances by which, when there is a sufficient motive power at command, the complete dressing of the grain goes on simultaneously with the thrashing. The winnowers used in such cases do not differ in construction from those worked by hand. Indeed, it is usual to have one at least that can be used in either way at pleasure. In these machines the separation of the clean from the light grain, and of both from dust, sand, and seeds of weeds, or other rubbish, is effected by directing an artificial blast of wind upon a stream of grain as it falls upon a riddle. There is thus a combination of fanning and sifting, which is used in different degrees according to the views of the mechanist. In some forms of this machine the benefit of the artificial blast is in a great measure lost through an injudicious application of it.

Section 21.-Corn-Bruiser and Grinding-Mill. The now frequent use of various kinds of grain in the fattening of live stock creates a necessity for machines to prepare it for this purpose, either by breaking, bruising, or grinding. A profusion of these, to be worked by hand, is everywhere to be met with. Such machines are always most economically worked by steam or water power. When that can be had, a set of rollers for bruising oats or linseed, and millstones to grind the inferior grain of the farm, form a most valuable addition to barn machinery.

Section 22.-Cake-Crushers.

Machines for breaking linseed-cake into large pieces for cattle, or smaller ones for sheep, are now in general use. The breaking is performed by passing the cakes between serrated rollers, by which it is nipt into morsels. These are usually driven by hand; but it is always expedient to have a pulley attached to them, and to take advantage of mechanical power when available.

Section 23.-Chaff-Cutters.

The use of this class of machines has increased very much of late years. Fodder when cut into lengths of from half-an-inch to an inch is somewhat more easily masticated than when given to animals in its natural state; but the chief advantages of this practice are, that it prevents waste, and admits of different qualities-as of hay and straw, straw and green forage, or chaff and pulped roots-being so mixed that animals cannot pick out the one from amongst the other, but must eat the mixture as it is presented to them. Such cut fodder also forms an excellent vehicle in which to give meal or bruised grain, either cooked or raw, to live stock. This applies particularly to sheep feeding on turnips, as they then require a portion of dry food, but waste it grievously when it is not thus prepared. Chaff-cutters are constructed on a variety of plans; but the principle most frequently adopted is that of radial knives bolted to the arm of a fly-wheel, which work across the end of a feeding-box fitted with rollers, which draw forward the straw or hay and present it in a compressed state to the action of the knives. A machine on this principle, made by Cornes of Barbridge, has gained the first premium in its class at recent meetings of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. Gillets' guillotine chaff-cutter is an exceedingly ingenious and efficient machine, performing its work with great accuracy, and without frequent sharpening of its one double-edged knife. These machines are most economically worked by the power used for thrashing. The most convenient site for them is in the upper loft of the straw-barn, where the straw can be supplied with little labour, and the chaff either shoved aside, or allowed to fall as it is cut through an opening in the floor into the apartment below, and at once conveyed to other parts of the homestead. The practice on some farms where there is a fixed steam-engine, is to thrash a stack of oats in the forenoon, and to cut up the straw, and bruise or grind the grain simultaneously, in the afternoon.

Section 24.-Turnip-Cutters.

Cattle and sheep which have arrived at maturity are able to scoop turnips rapidly with their sharp, gouge-like front teeth, and so can be fattened on this kind of food without an absolute necessity of slicing it for them. Even for adult animals there is, however, an advantage in reducing turnips to pieces which they can easily take into their mouths, and at once get between their grinders without any preliminary scooping; but for young stock, during the period of dentition, it is indispensable to their bare subsistence. It is largely through the use of slicingmachines that certain breeds of sheep are fattened on turnips, and got ready for the butcher at fourteen months old. It seems to be admitted on all hands that Gardener's patent turnip-cutter is the best that has yet been produced for slicing roots for sheep. It is now made entirely of iron, and is an exceedingly useful machine.

In cattle feeding it is not usually thought necessary to divide the roots given to them so minutely as for sheep. A simple machine, fashioned much on the principle of nut-crackers, by which, at each depression of the lever handle, one turnip is forced through a set of knives which divide it into slices each an inch thick, is very generally used in Berwickshire for this purpose. Many persons, however, prefer to have the turnips put into the cattle-troughs whole, and then to have them cut by a simple cross-bladed hand-chopper, which at each blow quarters the piece struck by it. The mode of housing fattening cattle largely determines whether roots can be most conveniently sliced before or after being put into the feeding-troughs.

Section 25.-Turnip-Pulpers.

An opinion now obtains, and is on the increase, that it is advantageous to rasp roots into minute fragments and mix them with chaff before giving them to cattle, as this not only facilitates mastication, but in wintry weather prevents the chilling effects of a bellyful of such watery food as turnips are when eaten alone. This system is peculiarly appropriate when it is desired to give a few roots to store cattle which are being fed mainly upon straw or coarse hay. When a few turnips or mangolds are put down in their natural state there is a scramble for the better food, in which the stronger cattle get more than their share, and the weaker are knocked about. But by pulping the roots and mixing them with a full allowance of chaff, every animal gets its fill, and there is nothing to quarrel about. At the Carlisle meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society a premium was offered for machines to perform this kind of work, under the somewhat inappropriate designation of "pulping-machines." The prize was awarded to Mr Philips for his machine, which reduces roots to minute fragments by means of a series of circular saws. We learn from parties who have made trial of most of the machines of this class yet brought out, that they give the preference to that made by Bentall of Maldon in Sussex.

Section 26.-Steaming Apparatus for Cooking Cattle Food. We have several times alluded to the cooking of food for cattle. This is performed either by boiling in a common pot, by steaming in a close vessel, or by infusion in boiling water. Varieties of apparatus are in use for these purposes. A convenient one is a close boiler, with a cistern over it, from which it supplies itself with cold water by a selfacting stop-cock. This is alike suitable for cooking either by steaming or infusing.

Section 27.-Weighing-Machines.

It is of course indispensable for every farm to be provided with beam and scales, or other apparatus, for ascertaining the weight of grain, wool, and other commodities, in quantities varying from 1 lb. to 3 cwt. But, besides this, it is very desirable to have a machine by which not only turnips, hay, manures, &c., can be weighed in cart-loads, but by which also the live weight of pigs, sheep, and bullocks can be ascertained. Such a machine, conveniently placed in the homestead, enables the farmer to check the weighing of purchased manure, linseed-cake, coal, and similar commodities, with great facility. It affords the means of conducting various experiments for ascertaining the comparative productiveness of crops, the quantities of food consumed by cattle, and their periodic progress, with readiness and precision. To persons unable to estimate the weight of cattle by the eye readily and accurately, such a machine is invaluable.

Section 28.-Concluding Remarks on Implements. We have thus enumerated, and briefly described, those machines and implements of agriculture which may be held to be indispensable, if the soil is to be cultivated to the best advantage. The list does not profess to be complete; but enough is given to indicate the progress which has recently taken place in this department. We have already referred to this department of the proceedings of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, and would earnestly recommend to all engaged in agriculture the careful study of the reports on implements contained in the ninth and subsequent volumes of their Journal. The care with which they have selected their judges, and the skilful manner in which those entrusted with the difficult and responsible office have discharged their duties, are truly admirable. A few extracts from these reports will serve to show the

extent and value of this department of the Society's labours. In the report for 1849, Mr Thomson of Moat-Hall says— "The Society's early shows of implements must be viewed chiefly in the light of bazaars or expositions. Neither stewards nor judges had yet acquired the experience requisite for the adequate discharge of their office, so that such men as Messrs Garrett, Hornsby, Ransome, and a few others, would have laughed in their sleeves had they been told that they could learn anything in the Society's showyard. In spite, however, of a creditable display on the part of a few leading firms, the majority of the implements exhibited at these early shows were of inferior construction and workmanship, and the general appearance of the exhibitions meagre and unsatisfactory.

"The attention of some of the leading members of the Society (especially of the late lamented Mr Handley) was earnestly directed to the improvement of this department, and they soon perceived that little was gained by collecting implements in a show-yard for people to gaze at, unless an adequate trial could be made of their respective merits. To attain this end great exertions were made, and every improvement in the mode of trial was followed by so marked an increase in the number and merit of the implements brought forward at subsequent shows, as to prove the strongest incentive to further effort.

"At the Cambridge and Liverpool meetings, when these trials were in their infancy, their main attraction consisted of ploughing-matches on a large scale, which gratified sightseers, but gave no results that could be depended upon, and therefore disappointed all practical men. It would occupy time unnecessarily to trace the gradual changes which have led to the discontinuance of these showy exhibitions, and the substitution in their place of quiet, business-like trials, in the presence of stewards and judges alone. Suffice it to say, that what they have lost in display, they have gained in efficiency, and consequently in favour with those classes for whose benefit they were designed. At the York meeting, the improved mode of trying the thrashing-machines supplied a deficiency which, until that time, had been much felt, viz., the absence of any means of ascertaining the amount of power expended in working the machines under trial; and it may now be asserted, with some confidence, that, with the exception of an occasional error or accident, the best implements are uniformly selected for prizes.

"It now remains to answer the question proposed for consideration, viz., to what extent the great improvement made of late in agricultural implements is due to the exertions of this Society; and with this view a tabular statement is subjoined, which shows the relative extent and importance of the Society's two first and two last shows of implements:

No. of Exhibitors.

23

36

146

145

Awards.

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£5

4

0

7

230

21

364

13

1839 Oxford 1840 Cambridge 1848 York 1849 Norwich "From this it will be seen that at Cambridge, where the trial of implements was confined to one day, and was, in other respects, so immature as to be of little practical value, the number of exhibitors was only thirty-six, and the judges, in whom a certain discretionary power was vested, awarded no money and but seven medals, in consequence of the scarcity of objects deserving of reward; whilst at York, eight years after, when trials lasted several days, and had attained a considerable degree of perfection, the number of exhibitors had increased four-fold. The additional amount offered in prizes at the later meetings has undoubtedly assisted in creating this great increase of competition, but it cannot be considered the principal cause, since the implo

ment-makers are unanimous in declaring that, even when most successful, the prizes they receive do not reimburse them for their expenses and loss of time. How, then, are the increased exertions of the machine-makers to be accounted for? Simply by the fact that the trials of implements have gradually won the confidence of the farmer, so that, when selecting implements for purchase, he gives the preference to those which have received the Society's mark of approval. This inference is corroborated by the makers themselves, who readily admit that the winner of a prize, for any implement of general utility, is sure to receive an ample amount of orders, and that the award of a medal is worth on an average £50."

In reporting upon the agricultural implement department of the Great Exhibition, Mr Pusey says—“The yearly shows and trials of the Royal Agricultural Society have certainly done more in England for agricultural machines within the last ten years, than had been attempted anywhere in all former time. . . . It seems proved that since annual country shows were established by Lord Spencer, Mr Handley, and others yet living, old implements have been improved, and new ones devised, whose performances stand the necessary inquiry as to the amount of saving they can effect. To ascertain that amount precisely is difficult; but, looking through the successive stages of management, and seeing that the owner of a stock-farm is enabled, in the preparation of his land, by using lighter ploughs, to cast off one horse in three, and by adopting other simple tools to dispense altogether with a great part of his ploughing, that in the culture of crops by the various drills, horse labour can be partly reduced, the seed otherwise wanted partly saved, or the use of manures greatly economised, while the horse-hoe replaces the hoe at one-half the expense,-that in harvest the American reapers can effect thirty men's work, whilst the Scotch cart replaces the old English waggon with exactly half the number of horses,-that in preparing corn for man's food, the steam thrashing-machine saves two-thirds of our former expense, and in preparing food for stock, the turnip-cutter, at an outlay of 1s., adds 8s. a-head in one winter to the value of sheep; lastly, that in the indispensable but costly operation of draining, the materials have been reduced from 80s. to 15s.-to one-fifth, namely, of their former cost, it seems to be proved that the efforts of agricultural mechanists have been so far successful, as in all these main branches of farming labour, taken together, to effect a saving, on outgoings, of little less than one-half." Since these reports were made, the demand for improved agricultural implements and machinery has increased enormously, so much so that the manufacture of them is now a most important and a rapidly increasing branch of our national industry, and we quite anticipate that in a short time there will be such a general appreciation of the benefits of cultivation by steam power, and such a demand for engines and tackle to carry it out, as the makers and manufacturers will find it difficult to satisfy.

lessened by recent improvements in the implements of husbandry, and in the details of farm management, is greater than many are aware of. It seems to be in this direction mainly that the farmer must look for a set-off against the steadily increasing cost of land and labour. If by further improvements in his machinery and implements he is enabled | to keep fewer horses, to get his deep tillage performed by steam power, and his mowing and reaping accomplished by the ordinary forces which he requires throughout the year, the reduction upon the prime cost of his produce will be really important. A hopeful element in this anticipated progress is that it tends directly to elevate the condition of the rural labourer. Every addition to the steam power and labour-saving machines used upon the farm implies an increased demand for cultured minds to guide them, a lessening of the drudgery heretofore imposed upon human thews and sinews, an equalising of employment throughout the year, and a better and steadier rate of wages. Believing, as we do, that on every farm enormous waste of motive power-mechanical, animal, and manual-is continuously going on through the imperfection of the implements and machines now in use, we would urge upon all concerned to look well to this; for, with all our improvements, there is undoubtedly yet a large margin for retrenchment here. Besides the bulky and costly implements now enumerated, every farm must be provided with a considerable assortment of hand-implements and tools, all of which it is of consequence to have good of their kind. Although not individually costly, they absorb a considerable capital in the aggregate. When not in use, they require to be kept under lock, and at all times need to be well looked after. Without waiting to describe these in detail, let us now see how the work of the farm is conducted.

CHAPTER VII.

PREPARATION OF THE LAND FOR TILLAGE OPERATIONS.

Section 1.-When Required.

Before those simple tillage operations which are necessary in every instance of committing seeds to the earth can be gone about, there are more costly and elaborate processes of preparation which must be encountered in certain circumstances, in order to fit the soil for bearing cultivated crops. It is now only in exceptional cases that the British agriculturist has to reclaim land from a state of nature. The low-country farmer does occasionally meet with a patch of woodland, or a bank covered with gorse or brushwood, which he sets about converting into arable land. It is in the higher districts that, from the facilities now afforded for readily enriching poor soils by portable manures, the plough still frequently invades new portions of muir and bog, and transforms them into fields. The occupiers of land in these upland districts are accordingly still familiar with the processes of paring and burning, trenching, removing earthfast stones, and levelling inequalities of surface. In breaking up land that has been for a course of years under Scottish agriculturists, in reading these reports, will pro- pasturage, paring and burning are also frequently resorted bably note with self-gratulation, that some of the improve- to in all parts of the country. The grand improvement of ments referred to as of recent introduction in England, viz., | all, thorough underground drainage, is common to every two-horse ploughs and one-horse carts, have long been estab-district and class of soils. lished among themselves. Indeed, they will find graceful acknowledgment of the fact in these reports. Unless altogether blinded by prejudice, they will, however, see that our brethren south of the Tweed have already outstripped us in many particulars, and that unless our national Society, our mechanists, and farmers, exert themselves with corresponding judgment and zeal, we must henceforth be fain to follow, where we at least fancy that we have hitherto been leading. But we have more important motives and encouragements to exertion than mere national emulation. The extent to which the cost of production of farm produce has been

Section 2.-Draining.

From the moist climate of Britain, draining is undoubtedly the all-important preliminary operation in setting about the improvement of the soil.

To drain land is to rid it of its superfluous moisture. The rivers of a country with their tributary brooks and rills are the natural provision for removing the rain water which either flows directly from its surface, or which, after percolating through porous strata to an indefinite depth, is again discharged at the surface by springs. The latter may

Surface.

thus be regarded as the outlets of a natural underground by any of our modern writers, we here quote the following
drainage. This provision for disposing of the water that remarks:-
falls from the clouds is usually so irregular in its distribu-
tion, and so imperfect in its operation, that it leaves much
to be accomplished by human labour and ingenuity. The
art of the drainer accordingly consists—

1st, In improving the natural outfalls by deepening, straightening, or embanking rivers; and by supplementing these, when necessary, by artificial canals and ditches: and,

2d, In freeing the soil and subsoil from stagnant water, by means of artificial underground channels.

The first of these operations, called trunk drainage, is the most needful; for until it be accomplished there are extensive tracts of land, and that usually of the most valuable kind, to which the secondary process either cannot be applied at all, or only with the most partial and inefficient results. Very many of our British rivers and streams flow with a sluggish and tortuous course through valleys of flat alluvial soil, which, as the coast is approached, expand into extensive plains, but little elevated above the level of the sea. Here the course of the river is obstructed by shifting shoals and sand-banks, and by the periodic influx of the tides. The consequence is, that immense tracts of valuable land are at all times in a water-logged and comparatively worthless state, and on every recurrence of a flood are laid entirely under water. In a subsequent chapter on "Waste Lands" some account shall be given of the extent of this evil, and of the efforts that have been successfully devoted to its remedy. Some of these fen-land and estuary drainage works have been accomplished in the face of natural obstacles of the most formidable character, and constitute trophies of engineering talent of which the country may well be proud. Great as the natural difficulties are which have to be encountered in such cases, there are others of a different kind which have often proved more impracticable. It has been found easier to exclude the sea and restrain landfloods, than to overcome the prejudices and reconcile the conflicting interests of navigation companies, commissioners of sewers, owners of mills, and landed proprietors. Although all these classes suffer the most serious losses and inconveniences from the defective state of many of our rivers, it is found extremely difficult to reconcile their conflicting claims, and to allocate to each his proper share of the cost of improvements by which all are to benefit. A most interesting and instructive illustration of the urgent necessity for improving the state of our rivers, of the difficulties to he encountered in doing so, and of the incalculable benefits thus to be obtained, has been given in an essay on Trunk Drainage, by John Algernon Clarke, Esq., published in vol. xv. (part first) of the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. Mr Clarke, after some most important observations on trunk drainage, describes in detail works projected under powers granted in an Act of Parliament, passed in 1852, "constituting commissioners for the improvement of the river Nene and the navigation thereof."

There is not a district of the kingdom in which works similar in kind are not absolutely indispensable, before extensive tracts of valuable land can be rendered available for profitable cultivation by means of underground drainage. It is interesting to know that the necessity for trunk drainage, and the means of accomplishing it, were distinctly set before the public 200 years ago by a practical draining engineer, to whose writings the attention of the agricultural community has been frequently directed of late by Mr Parkes, Mr Gisborne, and others. From the third edition (1652) of The Improver Improved, by Walter Blithe, the author referred to, in which the true principles of land drainage are stated as distinctly, and urged as earnestly, as

"A strait water-course, cut a considerable depth, in a thousand parts of this nation, would be more advantageous than we are aware of, or I will task myself here to dispute further. And though many persons are interested therein, and some will agree, and others will oppose; one creek lyeth on one side of the river, in one lord's manor, and another lyeth on the other side, and divers men own the same; why may not one neighbour change with another, when both are gainers? If not, why may they not be compelled for their own good, and the commonwealth's advantage? I daresay thousands of acres of very rich land may hereby be gained, and possibly as many more much amended, that are almost destroyed; but a law is wanting herein for the present, which I hope will be supplied if it may appear advancement to the public; for to private interests it is not possible to be the least prejudice, when every man hath benefit, and each man may also have an equall allowance if the least prejudiced. "But a word or two more, and so shall conclude this chapterand it is a little to further this improvement through a great destruction (as some may say); it is the removing or the destroying of all such mills, and none else, as drown and corrupt more lands than themselves are worth to the commonwealth, and they are such as are kept up or dammed so high as that they boggyfie all the lands that lye under their mill-head. Such mills as are of little worth, or are by constant great charges maintained, I advise to be pulled down; the advance of the land, when the water is let run his course, and not impounded, will be of far greater value many times. But in case the mills should be so necessary and profitable too, and far more than the lands they spoil, I shall then advise, that under thy mill-dam, so many yards wide from it as may prevent breaking through, thou make a very deep trench all along so far as thy lands are putrefied, and thereinto receive all the issuing, spewing water, and thereby stop or cut off the feeding of it upon thy meadow, and carry it away back into thy back-water or false course, by as deep a trench, cut through the most low and convenient part of thy meads. But put case that thou shouldst have no convenient fall on that side thy mill-dam, then thou must make some course, or plant some trough under thy mill-dam, and so carry it under into some lower course that may preserve it from soaking thy meadows or pastures under it; and by this means thou maist in a good measure reduce thy land to good soundness, and probably wholly cure it, and preserve thy mill also.'

It is painful to reflect that after the lapse of two centuries, we should still see, as Blithe did, much "gallant land" ruined for want of those draining operations which he so happily describes.

A clear outfall of sufficient depth being secured, the way Subsoil. is open for the application of underground draining. And here it may be proper to state, that there is very little of the land of Great Britain naturally so dry as not to be susceptible of improvement by artificial draining; for land is not in a perfect condition with respect to drainage, unless all the rain that falls upon it can sink down to the minimum depth required for the healthy development of the roots of cultivated crops, and thence find vent, either through a naturally porous subsoil or by artificial channels. Much controversy has taken place as to what this minimum depth is. Suffice it to say, that opinion is now decidedly in favour of a greater depth than was considered necessary even a few years ago, and that the best authorities concur in stating it at from three to four feet. There are persons who doubt whether the roots of our ordinary grain or green crops ever penetrate to such a depth as has now been specified. A careful examination will satisfy any one who makes it, that minute filamentary rootlets are sent down to extraordinary depths, wherever they are not arrested by stagnant water. It has also been questioned whether any benefit accrues to crops from this deep descent of their roots. Some persons have even asserted that it is only when they do not find food near at hand that they thus wander. wander. But it must be borne in mind that plants obtain moisture as well as nourishment by means of their roots, and the fact is well known that plants growing in a deep soil resting on a porous subsoil seldom or never suffer from drought. It is instructive, too, on this point, to observe the practice of the most skilful gardeners, and see the importance which they attach to trenching, the great depth I.

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