508 Additions and Corrections

fmooth fides narrow at the bottom and diverging towards the furface-of the earth ¢ thorns and ftraw are then ftamped firmly in with the foot, and the drains are covered over with mould. Unlefs the foil be very{tiff and tenacious, the fides of the drains are very liable to be torn by. the force with which the thorns are prefléd in; and the channel, which ought to be preferved quite open at the bottom, often- times half choked by the loofe earth which crumbles in. Inftead, therefore, og forming the drains in the ordinary fhape, it 1s perhaps better to make a fhoulder for the thorns to reft on; thus, ac and dc reprefent the fmooth fides of an under-drain, as it is ufually formed:—rather than form the fides thus approaching to each other at the bottom, it is perhaps better to.cut down perpendicular the two| A

2 eee AS

dotted fides ad@and Ze, leaving the fides, and the fhoulders df and ge for the thorns to refion.. Below this fhoulder the water has an uninter-

rupted channel for its courfe. At the mouth of the drains, that is,. where a they difcharge themfelves into the ditches, it isadvifable to lay a fmall plank trans- verfely. Sheep in the fammer time run into ditches, and without fome fuch prefer- vative as this, they are likely to fcratch a quantity of mould into them,

The advantages of draining have been exhibited with fingular effe& in the neighbourhood of Eaft Devon. Mr. Munning informs us, that at Michaelmas, 1795, Mr. Salter of Winburgh entered upon the occupation of more than eight hundred acres. of heavy land, which had been fo entirely negle€ted by his prede+ ceflor, as to be almoft altogether what it ought zo¢ to have been.

Mr.Salter immediately faw, that unlefs he could get rid of the furface water all his Jabour muft be fruitlefs, and his money expended in vain; he therefore began his operations by cutting 342 rods(of 7 yards to the rod) of river through the centre of the farm, 7 feet wide and 6 feet deep perpendicularly, in order to obtain an outlet for the water to flow from his other works: he cut 2937 rods of new and old ditches, 6 fect and 5 feet deep perpendicularly; 1116 rods of open drains, of various widths and depths, from 4 to 5 feet wide, and from 31 to 41 feet deep perpendicularly; and he cut and filled up 4871 rods of under-draining, of which the leading drains were 36 inches, and the feeding drains to the fame 3o inches deep perpendicularly. The whole of this work was executed and completed in one year!) Mr, Salter has. continued to do a great deal every year fince 1795: between Michaelmas 1800 and Michaelmas 1801 he executed 4423 rods of under-draining of widths and depths as before exprefled; and he is now going on with the fpirit and the judgment ofan. experienced and an underftanding agriculturift. The effect has been, that on the