[28 3

richeſt crops of corn and graſs now cover the ſurface, where a /Arighland poney could not formerly ſet his hoof without a certainty of being dogged: His Grace's lands ap- pear alſo to be greatly"improved by well condutted ſurface- drains."

The greateſt improvement in the Carſe, or wet clay Jands, has been accompliſhed by wel direded ditches, com- municating with one another, and emptying themſelves into (mall ſtreams, which diſcharge their contents into the Forth. In plowing the Carſe lands alſo a great improvement has lately been effetted, by leveling the old ridges, which were high raiſed, broad and crooked; by making them perfedtly ſtraight, and of a moderate breadth, from 15 to 24 feetz and by lowering the head-lands, or ridges, by which means the water in the furrows flows freely over theſe bead-lands into the ditches, and the ground is kept conſiderably drier

than formerly. The pernicious cuſtom of allowing daw/ks, or narrow ftrips of graſs, to remain between the ridges is now entirely aboliſhed; and theſe baulks are now plowed into, and form a part of the adjoining lands. In old times the ridges in the Carſe were often from 30 to 509 feet broad; and the crown or ſummit, in many caſes, Was raiſed to the height of 4 feet above the level of the furrow. It was imagined that, without ſuch an enormous elevation, the land could not poflibly be kept dry. The preſent height ;s limited to that of two gatherings in plowing; fo that when the land is under ſummer fallow, the ridges may be plowed perfe&ly flat; then croſs plowed, and afterwards properly dreſſed.

Several intelligent gentlemen are anxiouſly looking for an explanation of the new method of under-ground drain- ing, introduced ſo ſucceſsfully in the central counties of Eng- Jand, by Mr Elkington, and other genjuſes in that way. Drains in this. county, wherever covered ones have been introduced, are generally formed of ſmall pebbles gathered from the land, and filled up to Ihe height of 2 feet, with a

ſultciency