its generally imperishable character, first presents itself, but it is manifest that its use must be entirely dependent upon having it sufficiently near the work, and in some sort of a suitable description. With these favouring circumstances, I most fully concur in all that its great advocate, Mr. SMITH, (of Deanston,) has advanced in its support; and it has moreover this very material advantage, it can be used with perfect safety in all situations of considerable declivity, without danger of silting up, and without its being necessary to modify the fall of the drain; as Mr. Smith says, 'carry your drain right down the hill, it will not choke;"-in fact, the fall in a stone drain cannot well be too great. When, however, drainage is to be done in a comparatively flat district, we shall find that stone is out of the question, and that, even could it be obtained, the work done with it would be useless. It is manifest, therefore, that the great bulk of the drainage of this country must be done with Tiles, and if well and suitably constructed, they will be found not only the cheapest, but the most durable and effective. I say WELL and SUITABLY constructed because I consider that, until very recently, this branch of the subject has been most unaccountably neglected.

Every practical drainer knows that in most subsoils, if work is to be permanent, it is absolutely necessary that the tiles ordinarily in use should be laid upon an artificial foundation or flat, of the same material as the tile, and made for the purpose at a cost, usually, of about half the price of the tile; the object of these is to prevent the sharp edges of the tile from sinking with the superincumbent weight, and thus stopping the drain. It is manifest, therefore, that one great desideratum in the shape of a tile is to carry along with it its own foundation, so that, in ordinary strata at least, it shall stand sufficiently firm without any other base than what itself affords. And that this is practicable, I have the

satisfaction of offering to your notice a specimen which I think you will admit combines every requisite for its purpose:-

Now the sale price of this tile, where clay is to be had of tolerable quality, and coals at a reasonable rate, ought not to exceed eighteen shillings per thousand, the length being from fifteen to sixteen inches, as it may be found to stand in burning. See. therefore, the saving at once effected by the use of such a tile, as compared with what are usually laid down. Take as a data an average distance of seven yards apart for your drains, and a statute acre will require of the present tiles (about thirteen inches long)—

But of these tiles (requiring no flats) 1600 will do

1 9 0

the same length, at 18s.......

Shewing a difference in favor of improvement of £1 17 0

or about fifty per cent; which will be increased again by the cost of leading and laying the flats on the one hand, and on the other by the fact that a man will lay as many of the longer tiles in a given time as of the shorter, and thus do a greater length of work

I cannot but think, too, that a due regard is not usually had in the cutting of the drains, so as to economize the labour consistently with full efficacy of operation. I allude especially to their being cut much wider than is necessary, considering that tiles of a very much smaller area than are ordinarily used would be quite as

* "Mr. Thomas Hammond, of Penshurst, now uses no other size for the parallel drains than the inch tile, and it may be here stated that the opinion

effective; at all events, the higher extremity of each drain might be laid with them, and the size be increased in regular gradation as you descend to the outfall. It does not require to have a regular grove in your flesh to make it bleed, a simple cut is enough,-and just so with the soil-only divide it ever so little, and keep the sides of that incision asunder, the water will flow without converting your drain into a ditch. I think this point for many cogent reasons, deserving of the most serious consideration, and I therefore beg your especial attention to it ;-depend upon it experience will prove it to be practically correct, and if so an additional saving of cost. *

of all the farmers who have used them in the weald is, that a bore of an inch area is abundantly large. A piece of nine acres now sown with wheat was observed by the writer, thirty-six hours after the termination of a rain which fell heavily and incessantly during twelve hours, on the 7th of November. This field was drained in March, 1842, to the depth of thirty to thirty-six inches, at a distance of twenty-four feet asunder, the length of each drain being two hundred and thirty-five yards. Two or three of the pipes had now ceased running, and, with the exception of one which tapped a small spring and gave a stream about the size of a tobacco-pipe, the run from the others did not exceed the size of a wheat straw. The greatest flow had been observed by Mr. Hammond at no time to exceed the half-bore of the pipes.

"Not, however, being confident as to the soil having already become so porous as to dispense entirely with the surface-drains, Mr. Hammond had drawn two long water-furrows diagonally across the field. On examining these, it appeared that very little water had flowed along any part of them during these twelve hours of rain; no water had escaped at their out-fall; the entire of the rain had permeated the mass of the bed and passed off through the inch pipes; no water was perceptible on the surface, which used to carry it throughout. The subsoil is a brick clay, but it appears to crack very rapidly by the shrinkage consequent to Drainage."—Report on Drain-Tiles and Drainage, by Mr. Parkes. Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, Vol. 4, Part 2, page 375.

"It must also be considered as a discovery of no slight national importance, that experience has proved a very much smaller area of drain to suffice

I know that draining is associated in the minds of many with an expense of something like £8 and £10 per acre, (and not perhaps, hitherto, without reason) thereby at once preventing their ever entertaining a hope of its accomplishment-acting as a perfect prohibition to all improvement. But the time I trust is near at hand, when these notions and their causes shall be banished, and the agricultural body be enabled to effect so essential an operation at a cost compatible with farming prospects, and, at the same time, a due regard to the best interests of all concerned.

When population was comparatively scanty, not only did a limited produce suffice, but the best land only was selected from whence to grow it, as offering the readiest and cheapest return; and when long-protracted war had drafted off large masses of the industrious classes, and the price of food had become, from a combination of circumstances, so enhanced as to require but little labour, and less skill, in order to ensure a profit from its production, then was there neither inducement or opportuntity for agricultural improvement :—that has been reserved for our more peaceful days, and as I would fain believe, for the prosperity and happiness of our vastly "increased and increasing millions," by providing, under the blessing of Providence, for years to come, remunerating and steady employment, not only for the Labour of the productive, but also for the Capital of the consuming classes.

"Agriculture has certainly of late been greatly raised in its character, and those principles of inductive philosophy which have been applied to the improvement of other sciences, are now being

for passing the water filtrating through an acre of land than has hitherto been imagined; for it is mainly owing to the substantiation of this fact that the pipe-tile of the eastern counties can be applied with such remarkable economy in comparison with the old tile, and with most other materials hitherto employed in drainage."-Ibid.

adopted with regard to it; careful experiments are making over the whole country; periodical publications recording the results are extensively circulated; colleges are endowed with Professorships for initiatory instruction; and at no distant day, we may see the study and practice of agriculture esteemed one of the most noble, as assuredly it is one of the most useful, and healthy branches of knowledge to which the human intellect can be devoted. There has been no want of zeal in the study of the productions of the soil,-trees, flowers, and rare plants have occupied the attention of the learned and the wise; the discovery of a new genus in the meanest class has been hailed as an important addition to knowledge; but the Soil, the mighty mother of all rarity, and all beauty, has been comparatively neglected. Whilst the manufacturer, the miner, the navigator, the engineer, the physician, are daily employing the various inestimable discoveries to quicken their industry, production, and utility, shall those processes, by which man wrests from the earth his daily bread be left exclusively to the rude and uneducated tillers of the soil; and the suggestions of those unconnected with the actual operations of farming and ploughing, be looked upon as savouring in some degree of presumption" by the patrimonial prejudices of those whose duty and truest interest it is—to live and learn?

It is only comparatively of recent date that thorough-draining, as the exclusive basis of every improvement in the condition of the soil, has been either understood or practiced; and the innumerable ramification of benefits, both national and individual, which its more general extension is directly calculated to promote, is even yet, I conceive, but very imperfectly appreciated. The work, however, has begun in a spirit of earnest determination, and thanks to the example of many influential Proprietors, as well as to the energy of several eminent Occupiers, we have not now to discuss