HISTORY OF THE ART OF DRAINING.
Draining as Old as the Deluge.--Roman Authors.--Walter Bligh in
1650.--No thorough drainage till Smith of Deanston.--No mention of
tiles in the "Compleat Body of Husbandry," 1758.--Tiles found 100
years old.--Elkington's System.--Johnstone's Puns and
Peripatetics.--Draining Springs.--Bletonism, or the Faculty of
Perceiving Subterranean Water.--Deanston System.--Views of Mr.
Parkes.--Keythorpe System.--Wharncliffe System.--Introduction of
tiles into America.--John Johnston, and Mr. Delafield, of New York.
The art of removing superfluous water from land, must be as ancient as
the art of cultivation; and from the time when Noah and his family
anxiously watched the subsiding of the waters into their appropriate
channels, to the present, men must have felt the ill effects of too much
water, and adopted means more or less effective, to remove it.
The Roman writers upon agriculture, Cato, Columella, and Pliny, all
mention draining, and some of them give minute directions for forming
drains with stones, branches of trees, and straw. Palladius, in his _De
Aquae Ductibus_, mentions earthen-ware tubes, used however for aqueducts,
rather for conveying water from place to place, than for draining lands
for agriculture.
Nothing, however, like the systematic drainage of the present day, seems
to have been conceived of in England, until about 1650, when Captain
Walter Bligh published a work, which is interesting, as embodying and
boldly advocating the theory of deep-drainage as applied by him to
water-meadows and swamps, and as applicable to the drainage of all other
moist lands.
We give from the 7th volume of the Journal of the Royal Agricultural
Society, in the language of that eminent advocate of deep-drainage,
Josiah Parkes, an account of this rare book, and of the principles which
it advocates, as a fitting introduction to the more modern and more
perfect system of thorough drainage:
"The author of this work was a Captain Walter Bligh, signing
himself, 'A Lover of Ingenuity.' It is quaintly entitled, 'The
English Improver Improved; or, the Survey of Husbandry Surveyed;'
with several prefaces, but specially addressed to 'The Right
Honorable the Lord General Cromwell, and the Right Honorable the
Lord President, and the rest of the Honorable Society of the
Council of State.' In his instructions for forming the flooding and
draining trenches of water-meadows, the author says of the
latter:--'And for thy drayning-trench, it must be made so deep,
that it goe to the bottom of the cold spewing moyst water, that
feeds the flagg and the rush; for the widenesse of it, use thine
own liberty, but be sure to make it so wide as thou mayest goe to
the bottom of it, which must be so low as any moysture lyeth, which
moysture usually lyeth under the over and second swarth of the
earth, in some gravel or sand, or else, where some greater stones
are mixt with clay, under which thou must goe half one spade's
graft deep at least. Yea, suppose this corruption that feeds and
nourisheth the rush or flagg, should lie a yard or four-foot deepe;
to the bottom of it thou must goe, if ever thou wilt drayn it to
purpose, or make the utmost advantage of either floating or
drayning, without which the water cannot have its kindly operation;
for though the water fatten naturally, yet still this coldnesse and
moysture lies gnawing within, and not being taken clean away, it
eates out what the water fattens; and so the goodnesse of the water
is, as it were, riddled, screened, and strained out into the land,
leaving the richnesse and the leanesse sliding away from it.' In
another place, he replies to the objectors of floating, that it
will breed the rush, the flagg, and mare-blab; 'only make thy
drayning-trenches deep enough, and not too far off thy floating
course, and I'le warrant it they drayn away that under-moysture,
fylth, and venom as aforesaid, that maintains them; and then
believe me, or deny Scripture, which I hope thou doust not, as
Bildad said unto Job, "Can the rush grow without mire, or the flagg
without water?" Job viii. 12. That interrogation plainly showes
that the rush cannot grow, the water being taken from the root; for
it is not the moystnesse upon the surface of the land, for then
every shower should increase the rush, but it is that which lieth
at the root, which, drayned away at the bottom, leaves it naked and
barren of relief.'
"The author frequently returns to this charge, explaining over and
over again the necessity of removing what we call bottom-water, and
which he well designates as 'filth and venom.'
"In the course of my operations as a drainer, I have met with, or
heard of, so many instances of swamp-drainage, executed precisely
according to the plans of this author, and sometimes in a superior
manner--the conduits being formed of walling stone, at a period
long antecedent to the memory of the living--that I am disposed to
consider the practice of deep drainage to have originated with
Captain Bligh, and to have been preserved by imitators in various
parts of the country; since a book, which passed through three
editions in the time of the Commonwealth, must necessarily have had
an extensive circulation, and enjoyed a high renown. Several
complimentary autograph verses, written by some imitators and
admirers of the ingenious Bligh, are bound up with the volume. I
find also, not unfrequently, very ancient deep drains in arable
fields, and some of them still in good condition; and in a case or
two, I have met with several ancient drains six feet deep, placed
parallel with each other, but at so great a distance asunder, as
not to have commanded a perfect drainage of the intermediate space.
The author from whom I have so largely quoted, is the earliest
known to me, who has had the sagacity to distinguish between the
transient effect of rain, and the constant action of stagnant
bottom-water in maintaining land in a wet condition."
Dr. Shier, editor of "Davy's Agricultural Chemistry," says, "The history
of drainage in Britain may be briefly told. Till the time of Smith, of
Deanston, draining was generally regarded as the means of freeing the
land from springs, oozes, and under-water, and it was applied only to
lands palpably wet, and producing rushes and other aquatic plants."
He then proceeds to give the principles of Elkington, Smith, Parkes, and
other modern writers, of which we shall speak more at large.
The work published in England, not far from Captain Bligh's time, under
the title "A Complete Body of Husbandry," undertakes to give directions
for all sorts of farming processes. A Second Edition, in four octavo
volumes, of which we have a copy, was published in 1758. It professes to
treat of "Draining in General," and then of the draining of boggy land
and of fens, but gives no intimation that any other lands require
drainage.
Directions are given for filling drains with "rough stones," to be
covered with refuse wood, and over that, some of the earth that was
thrown out in digging. "By this means," says the writer, "a passage will
be left free for all the water the springs yield, and there will be none
of these great openings upon the surface."
He thus describes a method practiced in Oxfordshire of draining with
bushes:
"Let the trenches be cut deeper than otherwise, suppose three foot
deep, and two foot over. As soon as they are made, let the bottoms
of them be covered with fresh-cut blackthorn bushes. Upon these,
throw in a quantity of large refuse stones; over these let there be
another covering of straw, and upon this, some of the earth, so as
to make the surface level with the rest. These trenches will always
keep open."
No mention whatever is made in this elaborate treatise of tiles of any
kind, which affords very strong evidence that they were not in use for
drainage at that time. In a note, however, to Stephen's "Draining and
Irrigation," we find the following statement and opinion:
"In draining the park at Grimsthorpe, Lincolnshire, about three
years ago, some drains, made with tiles, were found eight feet
below the surface of the ground. The tiles were similar to what are
now used, and in as good a state of preservation as when first
laid, although they must have remained there above one hundred
years."
ELKINGTON'S SYSTEM OF DRAINAGE.
It appears, that, in 1795, the British Parliament, at the request of the
Board of Agriculture, voted to Joseph Elkington a reward of L1000, for
his valuable discoveries in the drainage of land. Joseph Elkington was a
Warwickshire farmer, and Mr. Gisborne says he was a man of considerable
genius, but he had the misfortune to be illiterate. His discovery had
created such a sensation in the agricultural world, that it was thought
important to record its details; and, as Elkington's health was
extremely precarious, the Board resolved to send Mr. John Johnstone to
visit, in company with him, his principal works of drainage, and to
transmit to posterity the benefits of his knowledge.
Accordingly, Mr. John Johnstone, having carefully studied Elkington's
system, under its author, in the peripatetic method, undertook, like
Plato, to record the sayings of his master in science, and produced a
work, entitled, "An Account of the Most Approved Mode of Draining Land,
According to the System Practised by Mr. Joseph Elkington." It was
published at Edinburgh, in 1797. Mr. Gisborne says, that Elkington found
in Johnstone "a very inefficient exponent of his opinions, and of the
principles on which he conducted his works."
"Every one," says he, "who reads the work, which is popularly
called 'Elkington on Draining,' should be aware, that it is not
Joseph who thinks and speaks therein, but John, who tells his
readers what, according to his ideas, Joseph would have thought and
spoken."
Again--
"Johnstone, measured by general capacity, is a very shallow
drainer! He delights in exceptional cases, of which he may have met
with some, but of which, we suspect the great majority to be
products of his own ingenuity, and to be put forward, with a view
to display the ability with which he could encounter them."
Johnstone's report seems to have undergone several revisions, and to
have been enlarged and reproduced in other forms than the original, for
we find, that, in 1838, it was published in the United States, at
Petersburg, Virginia, as a supplement to the _Farmer's Register_, by
Edmund Ruffin, Esq., editor, a reprint "from the third British Edition,
revised and enlarged," under the following title:
"A Systematic Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Draining Land,
&c., according to the most approved methods, and adapted to the
various situations and soils of England and Scotland; also on sea,
river, and lake embankments, formation of ponds and artificial
pieces of water, with an appendix, containing hints and directions
for the culture and improvement of bog, morass, moor, and other
unproductive ground, after being drained; the whole illustrated by
plans and sections applicable to the various situations and forms
of construction. Inscribed to the Highland and Agricultural Society
of Scotland, by John Johnstone, Land Surveyor."
Mr. Ruffin certainly deserves great credit for his enterprise in
republishing in America, at so early a day, a work of which an English
copy could not be purchased for less than six dollars, as well as for
his zealous labors ever since in the cause of agriculture.
There is, in this work of Johnstone, a quaintness which he, probably,
did not learn from Elkington, and which illustrates the character of his
mind as one not peculiarly adapted to a plain and practical history of
another man's system and labors. For instance, in speaking of the
arrangement of his subject into parts, he says, in a note, "The subject
being closely connected with _cutting_, _section_ is held as a better
_division_ than chapter!"
Again, he speaks of embanking, and says he has some experience on that
head. Then he adds the following note, lest a possible pun should be
lost: "An embankment is often termed a 'head,' as it makes head, or
resistance, against the encroachment of high tide or river floods."
There is some danger that a mind which scents a whimsical analogy of
meaning like this, may entirely lose the main track of pursuit; but
Johnstone's special mission was to ascertain Elkington's method, and
his account of it is, therefore, the best authority we have on the
subject.
He gives the following statement of Elkington's discovery:
"In the year 1763, Elkington was left by his father in the
possession of a farm called Prince-Thorp, in the parish of
Stretton-upon-Dunsmore, and county of Warwick. The soil of this
farm was so poor, and, in many places, so extremely wet, that it
was the cause of rotting several hundreds of his sheep, which first
induced him, if possible, to drain it. This he begun to do, in
1764, in a field of wet clay soil, rendered almost a swamp, or
_shaking_ bog, by the springs which issued from an adjoining bank
of gravel and sand, and overflowed the surface of the ground below.
To drain this field, which was of considerable extent, he cut a
trench about four or five feet deep, a little below the upper side
of the bog, where the wetness began to make its appearance; and,
after proceeding with it in this direction and at this depth, he
found it did not reach the _principal body of subjacent water_ from
which the evil arose. On perceiving this, he was at a loss how to
proceed, when one of his servants came to the field with an _iron
crow_, or bar, for the purpose of making holes for fixing sheep
hurdles in an adjoining part of the farm, as represented on the
plan. Having a suspicion that his drain was not deep enough, and
desirous to know what strata lay under it, he took the iron bar,
and having forced it down about four feet below the bottom of the
trench, on pulling it out, to his astonishment, a great quantity of
water burst up through the hole he had thus made, and ran along the
drain. This led him to the knowledge, that wetness may be often
produced by water confined farther below the surface of the ground
than it was possible for the usual depth of drains to reach, and
that an _auger_ would be a useful instrument to apply in such
cases. Thus, chance was the parent of this discovery, as she often
is of other useful arts; and fortunate it is for society, when such
accidents happen to those who have sense and judgment to avail
themselves of hints thus fortuitously given. In this manner he soon
accomplished the drainage of his whole farm, and rendered it so
perfectly dry and sound, that none of his flock was ever after
affected with disease.
"By the success of this experiment, Mr. Elkington's fame, as a
drainer, was quickly and widely extended; and, after having
successfully drained several farms in his neighborhood, he was, at
last, very generally employed for that purpose in various parts of
the kingdom, till about thirty years ago, when the country had the
melancholy cause to regret his loss. From his long practice and
experience, he became so successful in the works he undertook, and
so skillful in judging of the internal strata of the earth and the
nature of springs, that, with remarkable precision, he could
ascertain where to find water, and trace the course of springs that
made no appearance on the surface of the ground. During his
practice of more than thirty years, he drained in various parts of
England, particularly in the midland counties, many thousand acres
of land, which, from being originally of little or no value, soon
became as useful as any in the kingdom, by producing the most
valuable kinds of grain and feeding the best and healthiest species
of stock.
"Many have erroneously entertained an idea that Elkington's skill
lay solely in applying the auger for the _tapping of springs_,
without attaching any merit to his method of conducting the drains.
The accidental circumstance above stated gave him the first notion
of using an auger, and directed his attention to the profession and
practice of draining, in the course of which he made various useful
discoveries, as will be afterwards explained. With regard to the
use of the auger, though there is every reason to believe that he
was led to employ that instrument from the circumstance already
stated, and did not derive it from any other source of
intelligence, yet there is no doubt that others might have hit upon
the same idea without being indebted for it to him. It has
happened, that, in attempts to discover mines by boring, springs
have been tapped, and ground thereby drained, either by letting the
water down, or by giving it vent to the surface; and that the auger
has been likewise used in bringing up water in wells, to save the
expense of deeper digging; but that it had been _used in draining
land, before Mr. Elkington made that discovery, no one has ventured
to assert_."
Begging pardon of the shade of John Johnstone for the liberty, we will
copy from Mr. Gisborne, as being more clearly expressed, a summary
explanation of Elkington's system, as Mr. Gisborne has deduced it from
Johnstone's report, with two simple and excellent plans:
"A slight modification of Johnstone's best and simplest plan, with
a few sentences of explanation, will sufficiently elucidate
Elkington's mystery, and will comprehend the case of all simple
superficial springs. Perhaps in Agricultural Britain, no formation
is more common than moderate elevations of pervious material, such
as chalk, gravel, and imperfect stone or rock of various kinds,
resting upon more horizontal beds of clay, or other material less
pervious than themselves, and at their inferior edge overlapped by
it. For this overlap geological reasons are given, into which we
cannot now enter. In order to make our explanation simple, we use
the words, gravel and clay, as generic for pervious and impervious
material.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.]
"Our drawing is an attempt to combine plan and section, which will
probably be sufficiently illustrative. From A to T is the overlap,
which is, in fact, a dam holding up the water in the gravel. In
this dam there is a weak place at S, through which water issues
permanently (a superficial spring), and runs over the surface from
S to O. This issue has a tendency to lower the water in the gravel
to the line M _m_. But when continued rains overpower this issue,
the water in the gravel rises to the line A _a_, and meeting with
no impediment at the point A, it flows over the surface between A
and S. In addition to these more decided outlets, the water is
probably constantly squeezing, in a slow way, through the whole
dam. Elkington undertakes to drain the surface from A to O. He cuts
a drain from O to B, and then he puts down a bore-hole, an Artesian
well, from B to Z. His hole enters the tail of the gravel; the
water contained therein rises up it: and the tendency of this new
outlet is to lower the water to the line B _b_. If so lowered that
it can no longer overflow at A or at S, and the surface from A to O
is drained, so far as the springs are concerned, though our section
can only represent one spring, and one summit-overflow, it is
manifest that, however long the horizontal line of junction between
the gravel and clay may be, however numerous the weak places
(springs) in the overlap, or dam, and the summit-overflows, they
will all be stopped, provided they lie at a higher level than the
line B _b_. If Elkington had driven his drain forward from B to
_n_, he would, at least, equally have attained his object; but the
bore-hole was less expensive. He escapes the deepest and most
costly portion of his drain. At _x_, he might have bored to the
centre of the earth without ever realizing the water in this
gravel. His whole success, therefore, depended upon his sagacity in
hitting the point Z. Another simple and very common case, first
successfully treated by Elkington, is illustrated by our second
drawing.
[Illustration: Fig. 2.]
"Between gravel hills lies a dish-shaped bed of clay, the gravel
being continuous under the dish. Springs overflow at A and B, and
wet the surface from A to O, and from B to O. O D is a drain four
or five feet deep, and having an adequate outlet; D Z a bore-hole.
The water in the gravel rises from Z to D, and is lowered to the
level D _m_ and D _n_. Of course it ceases to flow over at A and B.
If Elkington's heart had failed him when he reached X, he would
have done no good. All his success depends on his reaching Z,
however deep it may lie. Elkington was a discoverer. We do not at
all believe that his discoveries hinged on the accident that the
shepherd walked across the field with a crow-bar in his hand. When
he forced down that crow-bar, he had more in his head than was ever
dreamed of in Johnstone's philosophy. Such accidents do not happen
to ordinary men. Elkington's subsequent use of his discovery, in
which no one has yet excelled him, warrants our supposition that
the discovery was not accidental. He was not one of those prophets
who are without honor in their own country: he created an immense
sensation, and received a parliamentary grant of one thousand
pounds. One writer compares his auger to Moses' rod, and Arthur
Young speculates, whether though worthy to be rewarded by millers
on one side of the hill for increasing their stream, he was not
liable to an action by those on the other for diminishing theirs."
Johnstone sums up this system as follows:
"Draining according to Elkington's principles depends chiefly upon
three things:
"1. Upon discovering the main spring, or source of the evil.
"2. Upon taking the subterraneous bearings: and,
"3dly. By making use of the auger to reach and _tap_ the springs,
when the depth of the drain is not sufficient for that purpose.
"The first thing, therefore, to be observed is, by examining the
adjoining high grounds, to discover what strata they are composed
of; and then to ascertain, as nearly as possible, the inclination
of these strata, and their connection with the ground to be
drained, and thereby to judge at what place the level of the spring
comes nearest to where the water can be cut off, and most readily
discharged. The surest way of ascertaining the lay, or inclination,
of the different strata, is, by examining the bed of the nearest
streams, and the edges of the banks that are cut through by the
water; and any pits, wells, or quarries that may be in the
neighborhood. After the _main spring_ has been thus discovered, the
next thing is, to ascertain a line on the same level, to one or
both sides of it, in which the drain may be conducted, which is one
of the most important parts of the operation, and one on which the
art of draining in a scientific manner essentially depends.
"Lastly, the use of the auger, which, in many cases, is the _sine
qua non_ of the business, is to reach and tap the spring when the
depth of the drain does not reach it: where the level of the outlet
will not admit of its being cut to a greater depth; and where the
expense of such cutting would be great, and the execution of it
difficult.
"According to these principles, this system of draining has been
attended with extraordinary consequences, not only in laying the
land dry in the vicinity of the drain, but also springs, wells, and
wet ground, at a considerable distance, with which there was no
apparent connection."
DRAINAGE OF SPRINGS.
Wherever, from any cause, water bursts out from a hill's side, or from
below, in a well defined spring, in any considerable quantity, the
Elkington method of cutting a deep drain directly into the seat of the
evil, and so lowering the water that it may be carried away below the
surface, is obviously the true and common-sense remedy. There may be
cases where, in addition to the drain, it may be expedient to bore with
an auger in the course of the drain. This, however, would be useful only
where, from the peculiar formation, water is pent up upon a retentive
subsoil in the manner already indicated. Elkington's method of draining
by boring is illustrated in the following cut.
In studying the history of Elkington's discovery, and especially of his
own application of it, it would seem that he must have possessed some
peculiar faculty of ascertaining the subterranean currents of water, not
possessed or even claimed by modern engineers.
Indeed, Mr. Denton, who may rightly claim as much skill as a draining
engineer, perhaps, as any man in England, expressly says, "It does not
appear that any person now will undertake to do what Elkington did sixty
years back."
[Illustration: Fig. 3.]
In the Patent Office Report for 1851, at page 14, may be found an
article entitled, "Well-digging," in which it is gravely contended, and
not without a fair show of evidence, that certain persons possess the
power of indicating, by means of a sort of divining rod of hazel or
willow, subterraneous currents or springs of water. This power has been
called Bletonism, which is defined by Webster to be, "the faculty of
perceiving and indicating subterraneous springs and currents by
sensation--so called from one Bleton, of France, who possessed this
faculty."
Under the authority of Webster, and of Mr. Ewbank, the Commissioner of
Patents, in whose report the article in question was published by the
Government of the United States, it will not be considered, perhaps, as
putting faith in "water-witchery," to suggest that, possibly, Elkington
did really possess a faculty, not common to all mankind, of detecting
running water or springs, even far below the surface. We have the high
authority of Tam o' Shanter for the opinion, that witches cannot cross a
stream of water; for, when pursued by the "hellish legion" from
Kirk-Alloway, he put his "gude mare Meg" to do her "speedy utmost" for
the bridge of Doon, knowing that,
"A running stream they darena cross."
If witches are thus affected by flowing water, there is no reason to
doubt that others, of peculiar organization, may possess some
sensitiveness at its presence.
It would not, probably, be useful to pursue more into detail the method
of Mr. Elkington. The general principles upon which he wrought have been
sufficiently explained. The miracles performed under his system seem to
have ceased with his life, and, until we receive some new revelation as
to the mode of finding the springs hidden in the earth, we must be
content with the moderate results of a careful application of ordinary
science, and not be discouraged in our attempts to leave the earth the
better for our having lived on it, if we do not, like Elkington, succeed
in draining, by a single ditch and a few auger holes, sixty statute
acres of land.
THE DEANSTON SYSTEM; OR, FREQUENT DRAINAGE.
James Smith, Esq., of Deanston, Sterlingshire, in Scotland, next after
Elkington, in point of time, is the prominent leader of drainage
operations in Great Britain. His peculiar views came into general notice
about 1832, and, in 1844, we find published a seventh edition of his
"Remarks on Thorough Draining." Smith was a man of education, and seems
to be, in fact, the first advocate of any system worthy the name of
thorough drainage.
Instead of the few very deep drains, cut with reference to particular
springs or sources of wetness, adopted by Elkington, Smith advocated and
practiced a systematic operation over the whole field, at regular
distances and shallow depths. Smith states, that in Scotland, much more
injury arises from the retention of rain water, than from springs; while
Elkington's attention seems to have been especially directed to springs,
as the source of the evil.
The characteristic views of Smith, of Deanston, as stated by Mr. Denton,
were:
"1st. _Frequent_ drains at intervals of from ten to twenty-four
feet.
"2nd. _Shallow_ depth--not exceeding thirty inches--designed for
the single purpose of freeing that depth of soil from stagnant and
injurious water.
"3rd. '_Parallel drains at regular distances_ carried throughout
the whole field, without reference to the wet and dry appearance of
portions of the field,' in order 'to provide frequent opportunities
for the water, _rising from_ below and falling on the surface, to
pass freely and completely off.
"4th. _Direction of the minor drains_ 'down the steep,' and that of
the mains along the bottom of the chief hollow; tributary mains
being provided for the lesser hollows.
"The reason assigned for the minor drains following the line of
steepest descent, was, that 'the stratification generally lies in
sheets at an angle to the surface.'
"5th. _As to material_--Stones preferred to tiles and pipes."
Mr. Smith somewhat modified his views during the last years of his life,
especially as to the depth of drains, and, instead of shallow drains,
recommended a depth of three feet, and even more in some cases; but
continued, to the time of his death, which occurred about 1854, to
oppose any increased intervals between the drains, and the extreme depth
of four feet and more advocated by others. The peculiar points insisted
on by Smith were, that drains should be near and parallel. His own words
are:
"The drains should be parallel with each other and at regular
distances, and should be carried throughout the whole field,
without regard to the wet and dry appearance of portions of the
field--the principle of this system being the providing of frequent
opportunities for the water rising from below, or falling on the
surface, to pass freely and completely off."
Mr. Smith called it the "frequent drain system," and Mr. Denton says,
that, "for distinction sake, I have ventured to christen this ready-made
practice, the _gridiron system_," a name, by the way, which will,
probably, seem to most readers more distinctive than respectful.
Whatever may be the improvements on the Deanston method of draining, the
name of Mr. Smith deserves, and, indeed, has already obtained, a high
place among the improvers of agriculture.
VIEWS OF MR. PARKES.
About the year 1846, when the first Act of the British Parliament
authorizing "the advance of public money to promote the improvement of
land by works of drainage" was passed, a careful investigation of the
whole subject was made by a Committee of the House of Lords, and it was
found that the best recorded opinions, if we except the peculiar views
of Elkington, were represented by, if not merged into, those of Smith,
of Deanston, which have already been stated, or those of Josiah Parkes.
Mr. Parkes is the author of "Essays on the Philosophy and Art of Land
Drainage," and of many valuable papers on the same subject, published in
the journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, of which he was
consulting engineer. He is spoken of by Mr. Denton as "one whose
philosophical publications on the same subject gave a scientific bearing
to it, quite irreconcilable with the more mechanical rules laid down by
Mr. Smith."
The characteristic views of Mr. Parkes, as set forth at that time, as
compared with those of Mr. Smith, are--
"1st. _Less frequent drains_, at intervals varying from twenty-one
to fifty feet, _with preference for wide intervals_.
"2nd. _Deeper drains at a minimum depth of four feet_, designed
with the two-fold object of not only freeing the active soil from
stagnant and injurious water, but of converting the water falling
on the surface into an agent for fertilizing; no drainage being
deemed efficient that did not both remove the water failing on the
surface, and 'keep down the subterranean water at a depth exceeding
the power of capillary attraction to elevate it to near the
surface.'
"3rd. _Parallel arrangement of drains_, as advocated by Smith, of
Deanston.
"4th. _The advantage of increased depth_, as compensating for
increased width between the drains.
"5th. _Pipes of an inch bore, the 'best known conduit'_ for the
parallel drains. (See Evidence before Lords' Committee on Entailed
Estates, 1845, Q. 67.)
"6th. _The cost of draining uniform clays should not exceed L3 per
acre._"
The most material differences between the views of these two leaders of
what have been deemed rival systems of drainage, will be seen to be the
following. Smith advocates drains of two to three feet in depth, at from
ten to twenty-four feet distances; while Parkes contends for a depth of
not less than four feet, with a width between of from twenty-one to
fifty feet, the depth in some measure compensating for the increased
distance.
Mr. Parkes advocated the use of pipes of _one_ inch bore, which Mr.
Smith contemptuously denominated "pencil-cases," and which subsequent
experience has shown to be quite too small for prudent use.
The estimate of Mr. Parkes, based, in part, upon his wide distances and
small pipes, that drainage might be effected generally in England at a
cost of about fifteen dollars per acre, was soon found to be far below
the average expense, which is now estimated at nearly double that sum.
The Enclosure Commissioners, after the most careful inquiry, adopted
fully the views of Mr. Parkes as to the _depth_ of drains. Mr. Parkes
himself, saw occasion to modify his ideas, as to the cost of drainage,
upon further investigation of the subject, and fixed his estimates as
ranging from $15 to $30 per acre, according to soil and other local
circumstances.
It has been well said by a recent English writer, of Mr. Parkes:
"That gentleman's services in the cause of drainage, have been
inestimable, and his high reputation will not be affected by any
remarks which experience may suggest with reference to details, so
long as the philosophical principles he first advanced in support
of deep drainage are acknowledged by thinking men. Mr. Parkes'
practice in 1854, will be found to differ very considerably from
his anticipations of 1845, but the influence of his earlier
writings and sayings continues to this day."
THE KEYTHORPE SYSTEM.
Lord Berners having adopted a method of drainage on his estate at
_Keythorpe_, differing somewhat from any of the regular and more uniform
modes which have been considered, a sharp controversy as to its merits
has arisen, and still continues in England, which, like most
controversies, may be of more advantage to others than to the parties
immediately concerned.
The theory of the Keythorpe system seems to have been invented by Mr.
Joshua Trimmer, a distinguished geologist of England, who, about 1854,
produced a paper, which was published in the journal of the Royal
Agricultural Society, on the "Keythorpe System." He states that his own
theory was based entirely on his knowledge of the geological structure
of the earth, which will be presently given in his own language, and
that he afterwards ascertained that Lord Berners, who had no special
theory to vindicate, had, by the "tentative process," or in plain
English, by trying experiments, hit upon substantially the same system,
and found it to work admirably.
Most people in the United States have no idea of what it is to be
patronized by a lord. In England, it is thought by many to be the thing
needful to the chance, even, of success of any new theory, and
accordingly, Mr. Trimmer, without hesitation, availed himself of the
privilege of being patronized by Lord Berners; and the latter, before he
was aware of how much the agricultural world was indebted to him for his
valuable discoveries, suddenly found himself at the head of the
"Keythorpe System of Drainage."
His lordship was probably as much surprised to ascertain that he had
been working out a new system, as some man of whom we have heard, was,
to learn that he had been speaking _prose_ all his life! At the call of
the public, however, his lordship at once gave to the world the facts in
his possession, making no claim to any great discovery, and leaving Mr.
Trimmer to defend the new system as best he might. The latter, in one of
his pamphlets published in defence of the Keythorpe system, states its
claims as follows:
"The peculiarities of the Keythorpe system of draining consist in
this--that the parallel drains are not equidistant, and that they
cross the line of the greatest descent. The usual depth is three
and a half feet, but some are as deep as five and six feet. The
depth and width of interval are determined by digging trial-holes,
in order to ascertain not only the depth at which the bottom water
is reached, but the height to which the water rises in the holes,
and the distance at which a drain will lay the hole dry. In sinking
these holes, clay-banks are found with hollows or furrows between
them, which are filled with a more porous soil, as represented in
the annexed sectional diagram.
[Illustration: Fig. 4.
_a_ _a_ Trial-holes.
_b_ Clay-banks of lias or of boulder-clay.
_c_ A more porous warp-drift filling furrows between the
clay-banks.]
"The next object is to connect these furrows by drains laid across
them. The result is, that as the furrows and ridges here run along
the fall of the ground, which I have observed to be the case
generally elsewhere, the sub-mains follow the fall, and the
parallel drains cross it obliquely.
"The intervals between the parallel drains are irregular, varying,
in the same field, from 14 to 21, 31, and 59 feet. The distances
are determined by opening the diagonal drains at the greatest
distance from the trial-holes at which experience has taught the
practicability of its draining the hole. If it does not succeed in
accomplishing the object, another drain is opened in the interval.
It has been found, in many cases, that a drain crossing the
clay-banks and furrows takes the water from holes lying lower down
the hill; that is to say, it intercepts the water flowing to them
through these subterranean channels. The parallel drains, however,
are not invariably laid across the fall. The exceptions are on
ground where the fall is very slight, in which case they are laid
along the line of greatest descent. On such grounds there are few
or no clay-banks and furrows."
It would seem highly probable that the mode of drainage adopted at
Keythorpe, is indebted for its success at that place, to a geological
formation not often met with. At a public discussion in England, Mr. T.
Scott, a gentleman of large experience in draining, stated that "he
never, in his practice, had met with such a geological formation as was
said to exist at Keythorpe, except in such large areas as to admit of
their being drained in the usual _gridiron_ or parallel fashion."
It is claimed for this system by its advocates, that it is far cheaper
than any other, because drains are only laid in the places where, by
careful examination beforehand, by opening pits, they are found to be
necessary; and that is a great saving of expense, when compared with the
system of laying the drains at equal distances and depths over the
field.
Against what is urged as the Keythorpe system, several allegations are
brought.
In the first place, that it is in fact _no system_. Mr. Denton, having
carefully examined the Keythorpe estate, and the published statements of
its owner, asserts, that the drains there laid have _no uniformity of
depth_--part of the tiles being laid but eighteen inches deep, and
others four feet and more, in the same field.
Secondly, that there is _no uniformity as to direction_--part of the
drains being laid across the fall, and part with the fall, in the same
fields--with no obvious reason for the difference of direction.
Thirdly, that there is _no uniformity as to materials_--a part of the
drains being wood, and a part tiles, in the same field.
Finally, it is contended that there is no saving of expense in the
Keythorpe draining, over the ordinary mode, when all points are
considered, because the pretended saving is made by the use of wood,
where true economy would require tiles, and shallow drains are used
where deeper ones would in the end be cheaper.
In speaking of this controversy, it is due to Lord Berners to say, that
he expressly disclaims any invention or novelty in his operations at
Keythorpe.
On the whole, although a work at the present day which should pass
over, without consideration, the claims of the Keythorpe system, would
be quite incomplete in its history of the subject, yet the facts
elicited with regard to it are perhaps chiefly valuable, as tending to
show the danger of basing a general principle upon an isolated case.
The discussion of the claims of that system--if such it may be
called--may be valuable in America, where novelty is sure to attract, by
showing that one more form of error has already been tried and "found
wanting;" and so save us the trouble of proving its inutility by
experiment.
THE WHARNCLIFFE SYSTEM.
Lord Wharncliffe, with a view to effect adequate drainage at less
expense than is usual in thorough drainage, has adopted upon his estate
a sort of compromise system, which he has brought to the notice of the
public in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society.
Upon Fontenelle's idea, that "mankind only settle into the right course
after passing through and exhausting all the varieties of error," it is
well to advise our readers of this particular form of error also--to
show that it has already been tried--so that no patent of invention can
be claimed upon it by those perverse persons who are not satisfied
without constant change, and who seem to imagine that the ten
commandments might be improved by a new edition.
Lord Wharncliffe states his principles as follows, and calls his method
the combined system of deep and shallow drainage:
"In order to secure the full effect of thorough drainage in clays,
it is necessary that there should be not only well-laid conduits
for the water which reaches them, but also subsidiary passages
opened through the substance of the close subsoil, by means of
atmospheric heat, and the contraction which ensues from it. The
cracks and fissures which result from this action, are reckoned
upon as a certain and essential part of the process.
"To give efficiency, therefore, to a system of deep drains beneath
a stiff clay, these natural channels are required. To produce them,
there must be a continued action of heat and evaporation. If we
draw off effectually and constantly the bottom water from beneath
the clay and from its substance, as far as it admits of
percolation, and by some other means provide a vent for the upper
water, which needs no more than this facility to run freely, there
seems good reason to suppose that the object may be completely
attained, and that we shall remove the moisture from both portions
as effectually as its quantity and the substance will permit.
Acting upon this view, then, after due consideration, I determined
to combine with the fundamental four-feet drains a system of
auxiliary ones of much less depth, which should do their work
above, and contribute their share to the wholesome discharge, while
the under-current from their more subterranean neighbors should be
steadily performing their more difficult duty.
"I accomplished this, by placing my four-feet drains at a distance
of from eighteen to twenty yards apart, and then leading others
into them, sunk only to about two feet beneath the surface (which
appeared, upon consideration, to be sufficiently below any
conceivable depth of cultivation), and laying these at a distance
from each other of eight yards. These latter are laid at an acute
angle with the main-drains, and at their mouths are either
gradually sloped downwards to the lower level, or have a few loose
stones placed in the same intervals between the two, sufficient to
ensure the perpendicular descent of the upper stream through that
space, which can never exceed, or, indeed, strictly equal, the
additional two feet."
There are two reasons why this mode of drainage cannot be adopted in the
northern part of the United States.
First: The two-foot drains would be liable to be frozen up solid, every
winter.
Secondly: The subsoil plow, now coming into use among our best
cultivators, runs to so great a depth as to be likely to entirely
destroy two-foot drains at the first operation, even if it were not
intended to run the sub-soiler to a greater general depth than eighteen
inches. Any one who has had experience in holding a subsoil-plow, must
know that it is an implement somewhat unmanageable, and liable to plunge
deep into soft spots like the covering over drains; so that no skill or
care could render its use safe over two-foot drains.
The history of drainage in America, is soon given. It begins here, as it
must begin everywhere, when practiced as a general system, with the
introduction of tiles.
In 1835, Mr. John Johnston, of Seneca County, New York, a Scotchman by
birth, imported from Scotland patterns of drain-tiles, and caused them
to be made by hand-labor, and set the example of their use on his own
farm. The effects of Mr. Johnston's operations were so striking, that in
1848, John Delafield, Esq., for a long time President of the Seneca
County Agricultural Society, imported from England one of Scragg's
Patent Tile machines. From that time, tile-draining in that county, and
in the neighboring counties, has been diligently and profitably pursued.
Several interesting statements of successful experiments by Mr.
Johnston, Mr. Delafield, Mr. Theron G. Yeomans of Wayne County, and
others, have been published, from time to time, in the "New York
Transactions." Indeed, most of our information of experimental draining
in this country, has come from that quarter.
Mr. Johnston, for more than twenty years, has made himself useful to the
country, and at the same time gained a wide reputation for himself, by
occasional publications on the subject of drainage.
In addition to this, his practical knowledge of agriculture, and
especially of the subject of drainage, has gained for him a competence
for his declining years. In this we rejoice; and trust that in these,
his latter years, he may be made ever to feel, that even they among us
of the friends of agriculture who have not known him personally, are not
unmindful of their obligations to him as the leader of a
most beneficent enterprise.
Tile-works have since been established at various places in New York, at
several places in Massachusetts, Ohio, Michigan, and many other States.
The first drain-tiles used in New-Hampshire, were brought from Albany,
in 1854, by Mr. William Conner, and used on his farm in Exeter, that
year; and the following year, the writer brought some from Albany, and
laid them on his farm, in the same town.
In 1857, tile-works were put in operation at Exeter; and some 40,000
tiles were made that year.
The horse-shoe tiles, we understand, have been generally used in New
York. At Albany, and in Massachusetts, the sole-tile has been of late
years preferred. We cannot learn that cylindrical pipes have ever been
manufactured in this country until the Summer of 1858 when the engineers
of the New York Central Park procured them to be made, and laid them,
with collars, in their drainage-works there. This is believed to be the
first practical introduction into this country of round pipes and
collars, which are regarded in England as the most perfect means of
drainage.
Experiments all over the country, in reclaiming bog-meadows, and in
draining wet lands with drains of stone and wood, have been attempted,
with various success.
Those attempts we regard as merely efforts in the right direction, and
rather as evidence of a general conviction of the want, by the American
farmer, of a cheap and efficient mode of drainage, than as an
introduction of a system of thorough drainage; for--as we think will
appear in the course of this work--no system of drainage can be made
sufficiently cheap and efficient for general adoption, with other
materials than drain-tiles.