draining was the first necessary step to be taken. With this view I made an open cut or ditch, of five to seven feet deep or more, in the lowest part of the bog, to.let out the stagnated water, and ascertain with precision the cause that produced it. Having obtained the lowest possible fall by the open cut or ditch, I caused other cuts to be made to the heads of different springs which fed the land, occasionally boring with the auger, that no spring might be passed over; and I then laid the open cuts or drains with stones from three to twelve feet below the surface, according to cir cumstances, to carry off the water, observing always to keep the level. At the highest ground I found rocks, under which the Principal principal springs lay at the distance of at least fifteen feet, springs. and thence an immensity of water gushed out, which was easily passed off through the drains, and I had the satisfaction to find, that in the course of two years the whole waste became perfectly dry, and so continued. The extent of land thus drained being great, the cost of Cost. course is very considerable, and amounts to the sum of £338 2s. 11d. During this I grubbed the greatest part of the land, Expense of which from the stems of oak and other timber that had grubbing. formerly grown there, as well as the alder, furze, and some timber standing at the time I made the purchase, was no inconsiderable work, and cost for each oak stem uinepence, and for the soil on which the alders and furze grew, sixpence per rod, amounting in the whole to the sum of £95. The ground being now cleared, I ascertained, by the Prepared for means of a water level, the position of a little brook which irrigation, ran through the waste land, and found that it was practicable to turn water over thirty acres of it. This being an object of the first consequence, I spared neither pains nor expense to accomplish it. I removed the high banks round the fish ponds, which contained some thousand loads of soil; filled up very deep ditches and stew ponds, and laid several acres on an inclined plane; burnt the roots and rubbish, and prepared, by levelling and making water carriages, thirty acres for irrigation, of which sixteen acres, though H2 Cost. Pared and burned. oats. though rough and some pasture as before described, had by draining and feeding began to improve considerably; and in the spring of 1806, I was enabled to turn the water over such sixteen acres, from which I derived a tolerable crop of hay in that summer. Feeding it harder afterward, and watering it the following winter, there was a good supply of feed for sheep till the latter end of April; when it was laid up and watered as before, but with far better success, as the crop was not only greatly improved in quality, but likewise in quantity, producing more than two tons to an acre throughout the sixteen acres. The residue of the thirty acres prepared for irrigation as before stated, formerly fish ponds and other rough lands, but lately levelled and sown with perpetual grasses, is now looking remarkably well, and will certainly be in readiness to receive the water, as soon as the land is firm enough for this purpose: In accomplishing this work I had the assistance of Joseph Trigger, who lived with and managed the water meadows of the late Mr. Bakewell of Dishley for more than twenty years; and it would be an act of injustice to him not to say, that the said land is prepared for a water meadow in a masterly style. This cost me not less than £223. As soon as I perceived the effect of my drains on the bog, which was composed of a good deep peat, I pared by hand thirteen acres of it, which I burnt, and spread the Sowed cole- ashes; then ploughed the land once, and sowed it with cole seed, seed in the month of July. The crop turned out very good, and fed one hundred and sixty two-shear hogs (Leicester) and next white for two months; after which I ploughed it once only, and sowed it with white oats in the month of April 1807. At first the oats appeared sickly, but receiving a few warm showers in May, they recovered and flourished exceedingly, making a most excellent appearance, to the astonishment of the neighbourhood; for when reaped, they were estimated at from ten to thirteen quarters per acre, some parts being preferable to others, but the whole good; and I have no doubt, for at present they are not threshed, that the crop will amount to its estimate. In the course of last year I pared seven acres more of the said bog, and burnt and spread the ashes in a similar way to the former, and sowed it with cole seed from one ploughing in July last, which likewise turned out a most excellent crop, and supported seventy-two large sheep on it for more than two months. The expense of paring and burning the twenty acres came Expense. to £29 10s. The remaining waste land being a lighter peat, mixed Part fallowed more with sand, I did not think it advisable to pare and for turnips, burn, but contented myself with fallowing it for turnips, with which it was sown last summer; but from the indifference of the season, the crop did not prove abundant, yet as much so as I had any reason to expect; and I have no doubt, by proper management of it, though by far the worst of the waste, it will shortly become very useful land, and produce in succession good turnips, barley, and seeds. On a review of the foregoing statement, it will appear General statethat the expense attending the improvement of the waste ment of expense & profit. has been great; but it will be recollected, that the quantity of land reclaimed is very considerable, the greatest part of which has been drained and grubbed, and the face of it entirely changed; that on the comparison I now submit, I feel great satisfaction in being enabled to assert, in the judgment of able men, that at the time I made the purchase, the waste land was not worth more than 5s. per acre per annum on an average, which amounts to £16 7s. 6d. and that it is now worth and let as follows: Sixteen acres of water meadow, £3 per acre By the year £. 3. d. 48 0 0 42 0 0 40 0 0 15 10 0 £145 10 0 I have not pointed out minutely every step that has been taken to drain, to irrigate, or improve the said waste lands, because the subject is generally so well understood; but I trust I have stated sufficient to prove, that the soil, thus reclaimed, is turned to a great and lasting benefit. J. BUTLER. *VI. Some Observations on an Insect that destroys the Wheat, sup- The wireworm THE insect which is the subject of the following memoir not known. ( has never, I believe, been noticed or described by any entomologist or agriculturift; its depredations are the annual topic of conversation with the latter, yet few know what insect it is, that destroys the wheat in the months of October P and November, under the denomination of the wireworm. Many suppose it to be a scolopendra, others a species of iulus, and some the larva of a tipula, or of the scarabæus melolontha of Linnæus. I supposed it to be one of the above, till I found two insects in the very act of destroying the wheat, as represented in the annexed figure (Pl. IV. fig. 3, u.). These I believe to be the insects commonly, although very improperly, called the wireworms in Essex and Suffolk: they appear to me larvae of one of the coleopcoleopterous terous tribe; but to what genus they belong can at present insect, only be conjectured. The projecting jaws somewhat resem"ble those of a lucanus. The two jointed bristles, and the "cylindrical tail, give it an affinity to staphylinus; but the tarva of this insect is supposed to be carnivorous, and not graminivorous. I fear, therefore, that the genus of this insect cannot be determined, till it is traced to its perfect Larvæ of a Dis very of the insect. state. I shall now proceed to relate the discovery of the insect, and to detail the injury supposed to be done by it. In October 1802, having occasion to call upon an agri, culturist †, whose skill and judgment in farming are rarely equalled, he informed me, that his green wheat was dying and losing plant yery much, the reason of which he could not comprehend. I immediately suspected, that it was oc cafioned by the wireworm; but what kind of insect it was, Trans. of the Linnean Society, vol. IX, p. 156. I could |