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Drainage (From clover turnips and hay)

from clover, turnips, and hay, consumed on a farm, is included in the general stock, will be something more than four tons; consequently, any farm of decent soil may be manured at the rate of twelve tons per acre, every third year, from its own produce, provided the corn crops are cut with accuracy and the straw manufactured into dung in a husbandman-like manner.

Straw as applicable to Thatching.

For many ages straw was the common material for roofing farm-buildings and cottages, and was formerly made use of even in towns. The expense of a thatched roof is not great, in so far as respects labor; and the value of the straw is, to the grower, either the price he could obtain for it, or that of the dung that could be made from it, as the kind used for thatch is seldom used as fodder. Where economy must be attended to in the building of cottages, straw is taken as the least costly material; but in these days, when manure is so extremely valuable, as little straw as possible should be spared for other purposes.

The durability of a thatched roof is likewise maintained. A good coat of thatch will need very little repair during an ordinary lease. But care must be taken that the straw is very clean threshed. If it is not, the grain left will soon spring, and introduce putrefaction and encourage vermin. The threshing-mill renders straw less fit for thatch than when it is threshed by the flail.

In Great Britain, wheat is seldom threshed with the straw, but the ears are cut off, and the straw, bound in sheaves, and tied very light, is used for thatching.

Miscellaneous Uses of Straw.

It is well known that various articles are manufactured from straw, such as bonnets, and other ornaments for the ladies. Even in remote counties in England, the straw manufacture is carried on. The straw is prepared in London, and the plait is returned to that market. Straw-plaiting is the principal manufacture in Bedfordshire. The quantity thus used is very considerable, and it furnishes employment for numbers of persons who might otherwise with difficulty find the means of subsistence.

In some districts straw mixed with clay is used for building the walls of houses or gardens, and with the same mixture for the roofs of houses, instead of the common mode of thatching.

In districts on the sea-shore, it is common for experienced farmers to keep in reserve a considerable proportion of their wheat or barley straw, and to make it into a dunghill, alternately with the sea-ware, stratum upon stratum, till both are exhausted. This is an excellent plan where the sea-weed cannot be immediately applied, but it is the best system to plough it in, when obtained.

In some places great quantities of bean-haum, as well as common straw, are bought up at potash manufactories, and burnt for the ashes.

Straw is als used for stuffing beds. For this purpose the chaff of oats is found to be a material not much inferior to ordinary feathers; and being so much cheaper, chaff beds are almost universally used by the lower orders in Scotland. Another purpose to which straw is applied, is that of packing; and it is proper to observe that the quantity used in packing china and stoneware, in the districts where these manufactories prevail, is found to be a serious injury to the farmer.

Rev. James Hall has ascertained that every bean-stalk, according to its size, contains from twenty to thirty-five filaments, which are of a nature among the strongest and most durable hitherto discovered. He calculates that on an average there are about 200 lbs. weight of such filaments on an acre, capable of being applied to various useful purposes, where durability and strength, rather than fineness and delicacy, are required. A tolerable paper is now made of straw. To under-drain Clay Lands.

This operation is always best performed in spring or summer, when the ground is dry.

Main drains ought to be made in every part of the field where a cross-cut or open drain was formerly wanted; they ought to be cut four feet deep, upon an average. This completely secures them from the possibility of being damaged by the treading of horses or cattle, and being so far below the small drains, clears the water finely out of them.

In every situation, pipe-turfs for the main drains. if they can be had, are preferable. If good stiff clay, a single row of pipe-turf; if sandy, a double row. When pipe-turf cannot be got conveniently, a good wedge drain may answer well, when the subsoil is a strong, stiff clay; but if the subsoil be only moderately so, a thorn drain, with couples below, will do still better; and if the subsoil is very sandy, except pipes can be had, it is in vain to attempt under-draining the field by any other method. It may be necessary to mention here that the size of the main drains ought to be regulated according to the length and declivity of the run, and the quantity of water to be carried off by them. It is always safe, however, to have the main drains large, and plenty of them; for economy here seldom turns out well.

Having finished the main drains, proceed next to make a small drain in every furrow of the field, if the ridges formerly have not been less than fifteen feet wide. But if that should be the case, first level the ridges, and make the drains in the best direction, and at such a distance from each other as may be thought necessary. If the water rises well in the bottom of the drains, they ought to be cut three feet deep; and in this case would dry the field sufficiently well, although they were from twenty-five to thirty feet asunder; but if the water does not draw well to the bottom of the drains, two feet will be a sufficient deepness for the pipedrain, and two and a half feet for the wedge-drain. In no case ought they to be shallower where the field has been previously levelled. In this instance, however, as the surface water is carried off chiefly by the water sinking immediately into the top of the drains, it will be necessary to have the drains much nearer each other - say from fifteen to twenty feet. If the ridges are more than fifteen feet wide, however broad and irregular they may be, follow invariably the line of the old furrows, as the best direction for the drains; and, where they are high-gathered ridges, from twenty to twenty-four inches will be a sufficient depth for the pipe-drain, and from twenty-four to thirty inches for the wedge-drain. Particular care should be taken in connecting the small and main drains together, so that the water may have a gentle declivity, with free access into the main drains.

When the drains are finished, the ridges are cleaved down upon the drains by the plough; and where they had been very high formerly, a second clearing may be given; but it is better not to level the ridges too much, for by allowing them to retain a little of their former shape, the ground being lowest immediately where the drains are, the surface water collects upon the top of the drains; and, by shrinking into them, gets freely away. After the field is thus finished, run the new ridges across the small drains, making them | fall of the field. When the land is very wet, or about nine or ten feet broad, and continue afterwards to plough the field in the same manner as dry land.

It is evident from the above method of draining that the expense will vary very much, according to the quantity of main drains necessary for the field, the distance of the small drains from each other, and the distance the turf is to be carried.

The advantage resulting from under-draining, is very great; for besides a considerable saving annually of water furrowing, cross cutting, etc., the land can often be ploughed and sown to advantage, both in the spring and in the fall of the year, when otherwise it would be found quite impracticable; every species of drilled crops, such as beans, potatoes, turnips, etc., can be cultivated successfully; and every species, both of green and white crops, is less apt to fail in wet and untoward seasons. To drain Lands.

Wherever a burst of water appears in any particular spot, the sure and certain way of getting quit of such an evil is to dig hollow drains to such a depth below the surface as is required by the fall or level that can be gained, and by the quantity of water expected to proceed from the burst or spring. Having ascertained the extent of water to be carried off, taken the necessary levels, and cleared a mouth or leading passage for the water, begin the drain at the extremity next to that leader, and go on with the work till the top of the spring is touched, which probably will accomplish the intended object. But if it should not be completely accomplished, run off from the main drain with such a number of branches as may be required to intercept the water, and in this way disappointment will hardly be experienced. Drains, to be substantially useful, should seldom be less than three feet in depth, twenty or twenty-four inches thereof to be close packed with stones or wood, according to circumstances. The former are the best materials, but in many places are not to be got in sufficient quantities; recourse, therefore, must often be made to the latter, though not so effectual or durable.

It is of vast importance to fill up drains as fast as they are dug out; because, if left open for any length of time, the earth is not only apt to fall in, but the sides get into a broken, irregular state, which cannot afterwards be completely rectified.

It also deserves attention, that a proper covering of straw or sod should be put upon the top of the materials, to keep the surface earth from mixing with them; and where wood is the material used for filling up, a double degree of attention is necessary, otherwise the proposed improvement may be effectually frustrated.

Pit Draining.

The pit method of draining is a very effectual one, if executed with judgment. When it is sufficiently ascertained where the bed of water is deposited, which can easily be done by boring with an auger, sink a pit into the place of a size which will allow a man freely to work within its bounds.

Dig this pit of such a depth as to reach the bed of the water meant to be carried off; and when this depth is attained, which is easily discerned by the rising of the water, fill up the pit with great land-stones and carry off the water by a stout drain to some adjoining ditch or mouth, whence it may proceed to the nearest river.

Mr. Bayley's directions for Draining Land. has not much fall, there should in general be two of these to a statute acre; for the shorter the narrow drains are, the less liable they are to accidents. The width of the trench for the main drains should be thirty inches at top, but the width at the bottom must be regulated by the nature and size of the materials to be used. If the drain is to he made of bricks ten inches long, three inches thick, and four inches in breadth, then the bottom of the drain must be twelve inches: but if the common sale bricks are used, then the bottom must be proportionably contracted. In both cases there must be an interstice of one inch between the bottom bricks and the sides of the trench, and the vacuity must be filled up with straw, rushes, or loose mould. For the purpose of making these drains the bricks should be moulded ten inches long, four broad and three thick, which dimensions always make the best drain. To construct Main Drains.

When the ground is soft and spongy the bottom of the drain is laid with bricks placed across. On these, on each side, two bricks are laid flat, one upon the other, forming a drain six inches high and four broad, which is covered with bricks laid flat. When stones are used instead of bricks, the bottom of the drain should be about eight inches in width; and in all cases the bottom of main drains ought to be sunk four inches below the level of the narrow ones, whose contents they receive, even at the point where the latter fall into them.

The main drains should be kept open or uncovered till the narrow ones are begun from them, after which they may be finished; but before the earth is returned upon the stones or bricks, it is advisable to throw in straw, rushes or brushwood, to increase the freedom of the drain. The small narrow drains should be cut at the distance of sixteen or eighteen feet from each other, and should fall into the main drain at very acute angles, to prevent any stoppage. At the point where they in, and eight or ten inches above it, they should be made firm with brick or stone. These drains should be eighteen inches wide at the top and sixteen at bottom.

To fill Drains.

The completest method yet known is to cut the strongest willows, or other aquatic brushwood, into lengths of about twenty inches, and place them alternately in the drain, with one end against one side of the bottom and the other leaning against the opposite side. Having placed the strong wood in this manner, fill up the space between them, on the upper side, with the small brushwood, upon which a few rushes or straw being laid, as before mentioned, the work is done.

Willow, alder, asp or beach boughs, are exceedingly durable if put into the drain green, or before the sap is dried; but if they are suffered to become dry, and then laid under ground, a rapid decay is the consequence.

As in some situations it is an object of great importance to save the expense of materials commonly used in filling drains, a variety of devices have, with that view, been adopted. One of these is of the following nature: - A drain is first dug to the necessary depth, narrow at bottom. Into the trench is laid a smooth tree or cylindrical piece of wood, twelve feet long, six inches in diameter at the one end and five at the other, having a ring fastened into the thickest end.

After strewing a little sand upon the upper side of the tree, the clay, or toughest part of the contents of First make the main drains down the slope or the trench, is first thrown in upon it, and after