Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1864-07-26
agricultural.
From .ha Country Gentleman aud Cultiysor.l
The Experience Of the Last Three Years as to
Under-Drains.

Under-Drans.
Under the above heading we Gnl 10 one OF
our foreign exchanges reports OF discussion
at recent meeting OF the Central Farmers
Club (London), In the course OF which tho
several speaker confined Il emselves mainly to
making statements OF their experience in drain
age during the last three or five years. As
drainage is an expensive and responsible under.
taking and US all who undertake il will gladly
avail themselves Of all the light and information
within their reach, and especially Of the light
derivable from the most recent experience, IL
seems proper that we should give the readers Il
this journal an opportunity OF ascertaining what
new light the experience OF our brethren IN
Great Britain has developed during recent
years As might be expected, there has been
some progress in knowledgo on this subject
many minds having been all the while giving
close attention to tne observation Of the work
IDg OF drains different Depths IN different
soils, at different distances apart, &c, and also
to the making OF experiments to determine sOnu
yet unsettled questions. With 50 many minds
at work, and with all their faculties whetted
and sharpened by large amounts Of capital at
ftake il could not hardly be otherwise than that
some new discoveries should be made, and that
some improvement and progress should be ST.
cured. That this has actually occurred, anu
thar new discoveries have been n AIDE, old notions
corrected, and better views aud processes IN
PRODUCED, will be esident, We ihiDk, from the
abstract herewith submitted, OF the mole ln.
portrait dasails VI experience occurring III the
reports referred 10.
rne geullelnau who introduced the subject
or opened the discussion ut the meeting relerrrd
to, commenced by remarking, in reply to an
objection which be supposed might be made,
namely, that the subject had been worn thread.
bare and that every farmer knows, or ought TO
know, all that can be said upon the .bJecI by
this time, that while he sees lands Of very slmil
descriptions, and sick with very similar COM
plant, dropsy Of the soil, treated IN such
variety vi ways, he could not avoid the coz
vlction that there is great occasion yet Tor lue
upon line, and precspt upon precept' relating
to this foundation work Tor good harm ny. lie
said that wrong views aud wrong practices were
still quite prevalent as to the draining oi re.
tentive cayey soils especially. Notwltnstaud-
ing the lessons oil wisdom taught by the ex-
perlence OF Mr. Mechi, and others, 10 the effect
that comparatively shallow drains at small
distances apart, sometimes ut only twelve feet
intervals, were altogether better than deeper
drains at wider inlery ais, still hundreds VI acres
of retentiye clays are all the while being trained
ut immoderate depths aud distances A case
was then related IN which par, Of clayey field
was drained by drains two feet eight inches
deep, and i've and one halt yards apart, while
another portion Of It was drained four feet deep.
and eleven yards apart. One obvious dlHereace
between the one and the other OF these portions
is, that the shallower and more frequent drains
can bs worked that is, Is ht tor beng worked
several days earlier than with the deeper and
more distant drains. Another case was men
toned In winch three hundred acres have been
drained by FOWLER s,eam drain pillow, IN It's
mole pow form only, worked by six morse
power, making the drains two ieet SIX inches
deep, and sixteen ieet apart, and costing on the
average only sixteen sniliings and slxpence (OI
Little over four dollars) per acre, and that
after making ample allowance Tor wear anu
tear OF the engine aud implements. The dralL,
thus made With mole pillow are said to h v,
been quite effective, and lew heavy land iarml
appear Us well or US dry as that thus drained
leading the narrator Of these details to the con
cluslon that some clays can b. thus draine.
much more chesply than IN any other way
Some OF these drains had been open for twent,
!yeArs.
I One speaker, the soil Of whose iarm, he said
was u strong one had tried various depths ant
distances, and was In the end best satisfied witt
draips Of about three feet 10 depth. lie hut
found ,ha, the laod between deeper and NOR
distant drains did not dry out as soon us tina
moru Immediately over the drains, and that tn,
crops did not ripeu as quickly ON the midd,
portion Of the land between the drains US owe
and near them. On clayey soils therefore
frequency could not be sacrificed u dpth. In
deed, on the whole, even If drains were the sam,
distance apart, ho would prefer three feet I,
four. I" Ii stood to reason he said, :" tia
water would peicClate quicker three eet of sol
than through four teet, and thai system tpd
best that dried he land the soonest" BY goinJ
down four feet in clay the expense is OF cours
much increased, while there is no materia
benefit and often q disadvantage of slowe
porcolation and drying of the soil. "As re
garded the most porous soils. he did not doub
that deep drainage, with Ices frequency o
drains. answered perfectly well but it wa
not 80 in the case OF clays"
Mr.. Fisher Hobbs, director OF a genera
land-dralnage company, said be felt perfectl
persuaded that year by gear, the experience .
both the owners and Occupiers OF the soil wa
such as TO show the superiority Of deep owe
shallow drainage " Every practical man mu'
admit that when drains we're placed at dep'
Vi four feet or an approximation to that depth
they were in better position Tor avoidin
obstruction from the roots Of trees md plants
vermin, aud other obstacles, than they woul
a BE- ut q les depth. But, al The same time
M. II. admitted hat 90 strong clays both sid
Intervals and small pires Of esr than two inehe
IN diameter, or what were SOME years ago Gallo
5ieehis peoeil-cascs, were now thrown aside