The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-12 00:00:00

POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION.

A lecture on agricultural draining was delivered yester-
day at this establishment, by Dr. Bullock Webster, illus-
trated by a number of tiles, pipes, and other means for
drawing off from the surface water which now generally
impedes the fertility of a large portion of the soil of the
United Kingdom.
In the course of his observations, the lecturer insisted
on the folly of deep draining, especially on strong and
tenacious soils. His impression was, that a
drain of four or five feet in depth was
quite sufficient to render the land within
twenty feet on either side of it sufficiently dry to
fit it for the best crops. He insisted especially on the
advisability of filling up whatever excavations might be
made with porus stuff instead of with the orignal soil.
The small pipes lately employed were, in Dr. Webster's
opinion, totally useless for anything like an effectual
drainage, for their joints might be dislocated either by
the contraction or by the upheaving of a clay soil, and,
in his opinion, the better plan would be to substitute a
pipe of one-and-a-half by two-and-a-half inches, divided
longitudinally, so that the upper half of the pipe might
be placed midway over the joints of the lower half, and
thus dislocation would be altogether prevented, and the
water allowed free course. The best system of drainage
is that which allows the supertlin,us water to be drawn off,
and secures the whole of the ammonia and other nutri-

,ous qualities of the moisture which falls from the clouds.
By the use of a proper tile that would be effected.
The Romans made open water courses, and then
laid in them bones, horns, and bushes, but all these
substances are subject to decay and require renewal,
while, on the other hand, for an extra expense of
about 10s., an acre effective tiles might be obtained. In
some parts of the country peat is used as well as bushes,
and the lecturer would allow that, where the landlord
would not permit tile draining, either might be a good
substitute. Again, in other parts, fir poles, and
heath, and stones, are used, and though any of these
might do a here the work was well done, they aro all
objectionable; stone drainage especially, though the best
of the three, is, in Dr. Webster's opinion, more expensive
than tiles. One great obstacle also, which is experienced
by tenant-farmers, arises from the presence of ash trees,
which are apt to-thrust their roots into the drains and stop
them. At the request of the Duke of Richmond, the
lecturer exhibited part of the root of an ash tree, about
the size of a man's arm, which he had taken out of a
drain at Strathfieldsaye. An evil of such a kind, his
Grace conceived, is only to be remedied by extirpating
every ash tree upon every estate in the kingdom. There is
also a great objection to iron pipes, on account of the
same tendency to fill up through the deposits of car-
bonate of iron ; and the best plan to obviate that diffi-
culty is to cut out pieces in both sides of one
end of a portion of iron, pipe, and then bend
them together, so as to give it the appearance of a snake's
mouth. That plan would prevent the deposit of car-
boniferous matter, as well as keep out rats and other
vermin. He was led to make this observation from
having seen the mischief extensively exhibited on Sir
Robert Peel's estate at Drayton.
After showing the various forms of tiles used for
drainage, the lecturer observed that no one plan could be
adopted for every country, for the nature of the subsoil
is in every respect to be considered; but in all the books
that had been published, and in all his consultations with
the most eminent men in different parts of the coun-
try, he found that deep draining in stiff soils is always
injudicious. The lecturer had a numerous and attentive
audience, and was loudly and repeatedly cheered through.
out his observations.

A FEW Tunics TO AVOID.—A bottle of wine at a
public dinner ; a short cut when you are iu a hurry ;
metaphysics at five o'clock in the morning ; walking
between two umbrellas on a pouring wet day ; a man
who carries bill-stamps in his pocketbook ; " just an-
other glass before you go ;" taking a pocket telescope
or oranges to the Opera, or asking for a bill of the pla) ;
sitting next to the orchestra when they are playing one
of Halevy's light operas ; going into a church without a
shilling ; being the mediator of a quarrel between a man
and his wife ; bowing to a lady from the top of an om-
nibus ; and taking a new hat to an evening party.—
Almunack of the Month.
The officers of the Cape Mounted Riflemen are
about to erect a monument over the grave of their
brother officer, Captain Sands, who was killed by a body
of liafirs while riding alone from Victoria Town, but
not before he had either slain or wounded ten of their
number.
We understand that Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Gas-
pard le Merchant will succeed the lion. Frederick Bruce
as Lieutenant-Governor of Newfoundland. Sir Gaspard
is at present in command of the Nth Light Infantry at
Limerick,—Times.