drink more, evacuate more excrement, and, in all probability, spend considerably more food in respiration. Whilst the 17.60 lbs. per day dry matter in 20 lbs. of hay are found adequate for the maintenance of a cow in a store state, the six cows in milk have eaten on the average 21.37 lbs. solid matter per day during the 27 weeks. When I have fattened cattle together with a number of milch cows of similar size, which gave on an average 8 quarts of milk per day, the whole being fed with moist steamed food, and receiving the same allowance of green food, I have found the fattening cattle refuse water, whilst the milk cows on the average drank upwards of 40 lbs. per day of water given separately. The 8 quarts of milk contain only about 17.58 lbs. of water; still in several analyses of excrement I have noticed little difference in the percentage of moisture in that from the fattening animals as compared with that from cows giving milk.

"These facts would seem to show that upwards of 20 lbs. more water were given off from the lungs and pores of the skin of a milking than of a fattening animal."

Another branch of the inquiry of the greatest practical value is the comparative real value of the dung of oxen when kept on different kinds of food. In elucidation of this most important inquiry, we have here two experiments of Mr. Horsfall, and two analyses by Mr. Way. These were made with eight cattle, the experiment being commenced in March, 1855. Mr. Horsfall tells us that "for the first six weeks after they were tied up, their food consisted of chopped straw, shells of oats, and bean straw in about equal proportions; 4 lbs. of rape-cake, 1 lb. bean-meal, lb. linseed, and 1⁄2 lb. wheat ground together, and 30 lbs. swedes per day. The straw, &c., were cooked by steaming. On this food two of the heifers had gained 9lbs. each in the month's weighing, the others 16 lbs. and 18 lbs. each per week; the average being somewhat more than 14 lbs. per week. A sample of the excrement was sent on the 26th of March to Professor Way for analyses. It contained :Moisture

tons per year; value, 8s. 6d. per ton; or 1s. 7d. per week for each.

"My store of turnips being exhausted with March, an additional proportion of bean-straw, with the above-mentioned allowance of rape-cake, beanmeal, linseed, and wheat ground together, was supplied till the 24th of May, when a portion of meadow-grass was mixed with the straw, and by degrees the straw was discontinued; when mown grass, together with the same allowance of extra food, was given till the close of June, when the lot were of prime quality, and sold for the top market price. Up to the close of May their gain averaged over 14 lbs. per week; during June they gained something less than 14 lbs. per week. On the 29th of June a sample of excrement was sent to Professor Way, who reported its contents :Moisture 84.90 lbs. Organic matter. 11.94 Sand..... Phosphate of lime Common salt

....

...

Sulphate of soda and potash.

.86

1.33

.24

.76

100.00

Nitrogen .94 1.14 ammonia.

"The yield of excrement was at the rate of 9 tons per year, and its value in ammonia and phosphate of lime may be computed at 15s. per ton, being at the rate of 28. 104d. per week for each, to which the sulphate of potash will be an appreciable addition."

It is impossible to assign an adequate value to inquiries such as these; they will lead to other and still more minute investigations as to the chemistry of food—a subject whose importance has only of late years been felt by the practical farmer. Great indeed, although slow, have been the advances made in this way since those days of the witches and the shrew-mouse to which I have referred, and the present time. And if we take the experience of the last two centuries as our guide, there appears little chance of the advancing progress of agriculture being stayed. The advance made only in the present century, in the breeding and rearing of our live stock, indicates this. Few farmers now survive who remember the times of Francis Duke of Bedford, and the institution in 1798 of the Smithfield Club; but we may learn from other sources of information the fact that what was then deemed perfection in the breed and management of our live stock, would be now little regarded by the present and-far-better-informed race of England's "The yield of excrement is at the rate of about 9 agriculturists.

83.81 lbs.
13.44

.93

.64

Organic matter

Sand, &c.

Phosphate of lime

Common salt

.18

Sulphate of soda and potash....

.95

99.95

Nitrogen .51 ammonia .62.

THE LONDON, OR CENTRAL FARMERS' CLUB.

THE MECHANICAL AND CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES APPLICABLE TO DRAINAGE. THE NESBIT TESTIMONIAL.

The concluding meeting for the present year, took place at the Club House, Bridge-street, Blackfriars, on Monday evening, December 7.

Mr. Owen Wallis presided, supported by a very large attendance of members, and subscribers to the Nesbit Testimonial. Amongst others present were Messrs. R. Baker, W. Bennett Joseph Pain, Rev. T. C. James, W. Bullock Webster, T. Hat

field, J.J.Mechi, T. E. Pawlett, J. Thomas (Bletsoe), J. Thomas (Lidlington), J. B. Spearing, L. A. Coussmaker, H. Shotter, J. Grove, G. Wilshir, J. Marshall, T. Chandler, T. Congreve, B. E. Ward, S. Sidney, C. Stokes, J. Tyler, W. Gray, G. P. Tuxford, J. Bailey Denton, C. M. Bidwell, J. Wood (Sussex), J. Wood (Croydon), J. Brown, W. Brown, J. Ploughman, W. Shaw (Coton), J. Smith (Rye), J. A. Yowl,

On the table, in front of the Chairman, were placed a service of silver plate and a microscope, purchased by the promoters of the fund raised for the purpose of presenting a Mr. NESBIT, who on rising was very cordially received, testimonial to Mr. Nesbit, for the services which he has ren- spoke as follows: Mr. Chairman and gentleman, I assure dered to the cause of agriculture. The service of plate- you it is with very considerable difficulty that I can even atwhich whether for beauty of design or excellence of workman-tempt to tell you how deeply I appreciate the kind and muniship has not often been excelled by testimonials of a similar character-consisted of the following: A tea and coffee service, a very large salver, two smaller salvers, a cake-basket, an eggframe, a butter-cooler, four tankards, a mahogany case containing twelve pairs of silver and dessert knives and forks with carved pearl handles, and about a hundred spoons and forks. The whole was supplied by Mr. Durrant, of No. 40, Cheapside. On the principal salver is engraved the following inscription, explanatory of the object of the presentation :

nutritious properties. [Mr. Nesbit here illustrated the fact of the retention of heat in soils by pouring heated water on some soil in a glass vessel. The hot water, after passing through eighteen inches of soil, issued therefrom quite cold, the heat of the water being retained in the soil.] It is quite clear that, in such a case, the heat left in the soil must have warmed the roots of the plants growing in that soil. I am obliged of course to use, in performing this experiment, a rather coarse species of soil, because I must make, as it were, a week's rain pass through in a very short space of time. In the soils themselves to which I have been referring, the action is, of course, not so rapid; but the principle is the same.

Mr. MECHI: The fall of rain in the first instance expels the air?

Mr. NESBIT: When water falls on dry and porous soils, it first, as it descends, drives out the air, and is then itself followed by air from above. The question of deep and shallow drainage is one which you will have to determine, in each case, upon its own merits (Hear, hear). The experiments which I have to exhibit will, however, evince clearly that there is no one decided depth, and no one decided width, at which it can be laid down as a rule that all draining should be carried on, but that draining must vary according to the circumstances and condition of the soil (Hear, hear). What I wished to do was to illustrate the fact that when water is heated at the surface, and then passes downwards to a drain below, it issues, in spring and summer, very much cooler.

many gentlemen now present are at least as well acquainted
as myself with what I am now about to state; but never-
theless I must, for the purpose of clearing the ground, com-
mence by laying down elementary principles. Now what
is the difference, chemically, between a drained and an un-
drained soil? An undrained soil is, I apprehend, not
simply a soil in which water is present, but a soil in which
water is present to an abnormal extent-to an extent that
will injure the vegetation. The question then arises, how
does an excess of water injure the condition of the soil? If
you have a large quantity of water very near the surface of
the soil, that water by its evaporation produces cold; the
land is, in consequence of being undrained, very much colder
than it otherwise would be; in other words, the average
temperature of the soil, throughout the year, is very much
lower than it would be, if the water did not approach so
near the surface. That is one case. We will take an-
other-that in which the water-level does not come to
the top of the land, but so near to it, that the mere capil-
lary attraction of the soil will bring the water to the
surface. Here you have a second case of injury from ex-
cess of water, though not so bad a one as the first. Now,
in order to illustrate what I mean by "capillary attrac-
tion," I will just set at work a little instrument which I
have on the table, the action of which will proceed while I
am speaking. I have here, in a glass tube, a quantity of
dry sand. The bottom of the tube is covered with a small
piece of linen, to retain the sand in the tube. I have also
a little cup containing water. I will now insert the bottom
of the glass tube in the vessel of water. You will observe
that the water rises through the pores of the sand much
higher than the level of the water in the cup. The power
which causes the water to rise is called "capillary attrac-
tion"-that is, the attraction of minute tubes. [The water
rose in the tube many inches above the level of the water
in the cup.] Now, what is styled "capillary attraction" is
simply the power which all soil has, under certain circum-
stances, of taking up water by attraction beyond the ordinary
level, into the pores of the soil itself. Capillary attraction has a
very important bearing on the question of drainage,as respects
both the depth and distance of collateral drains. I wish to
impress upon you this point-that, where the soil is exceed-
ingly fine, where the pores of the soil are very minute,
capillary attraction will raise the water much higher than
it will where the soil is of a gravelly and coarse character.
In the more porous soils, water will not rise so high as in
soils of an opposite description. It is a well-known fact
-a fact which might be exhibited by means of glass tubes
drawn out to different degrees of fineness-that the
finer the tubes or pores, the higher water will ascend in
them. It must, therefore, be borne in mind that the ca-
pillary attraction of the soil will necessarily exert a consi-
derable influence on its condition. This ought to affect
the judgment of every man who puts a drain into the land,
because, in proportion as the capillary attraction of different
soils varies in force and amount, so the modes of draining g
those soils properly and effectually must vary likewise.
Another point of considerable importance is this-that, in
drained land, not only have you got rid of the evaporation
of the water from the surface of the soil, but the soil at the
surface, being warmed by the rays of the sun and by the
diffused heat of day, warms the water that falls on the
soil; and that water, in passing downwards, leaves its heat
in the soil. You see, therefore, that, if a soil be capable of
deep drainage, the deeper the drain, within certain limits,
the greater will be the amount of soil heated by the water
that comes from the surface. There is a very important
point relating to the distance of drains, upon which I shall
say a few words hereafter. Another effect presents itself
here-namely, that, after the water has entered the soil,
the air must follow it. So that you have two courses of
action. You have the water heated, particularly in
summer weather, passing downwards, and warming the
soil; and you have the warm air following afterwards, and
also warming the soil. Besides that, the drainage has a
distinct action in disintegrating the mineral matters of the
soil for the purposes of the plant, and in oxidizing the
vegetable matters, and furnishing means by which the pro-
cess of vegetation may take place more rapidly than it
otherwise would do. Thus good drainage replaces rank
weeds and grasses by grasses of finer quality and more

A MEMBER: Is that regular soil?

Mr. NESBIT: It is a gravelly soil. You see, then, very clearly that, so far as chemical principles are concerned, we have here the passage of the water through the soil and the alternative passage of air; and thus we have the irrigation and the aëration of the soil accomplished in the most beneficial manner by means of drainage. If you now look to this illustration of capillary attraction, you will see that the water has risen some four or five inches, in apparent opposition to the principle of gravitation. Well, now, before I proceed to speak of simple, regular drainage at so many feet distant, such drainage as uniformly-pervious soils must require, let me refer to a few facts in connection with the drainage of springs, and of certain particular soils in various localities. The case of the drainage of springs is one that ought, perhaps, to be considered separately from that of the ordinary gridiron draining, as it has been termed; but it is very often found that, by one or two drains, one can set free a very large tract of land from the water that comes in from a higher level. I have here [referring to some diagrams suspended against the wall] illustrations of a few cases to which I wish to allude. The first case to which I shall allude is the most ordinary one. It is one which very frequently occurs in the West of England.

Here you have the rocks themselves upon which the vegetable soil rests stratified very nearly vertically (as represented in Diagram No. 1); you have a pan g, g, almost impervious to water; and upon that pan you have vegetable earth. Now, instead of this soil requiring to be drained in the ordinary way, the subsoil plough is, in fact, all that is wanted. If the line g g be cut through by the subsoil plough or otherwise, at proper intervals, the land will be drained by the percolation of the water through the fissures of the rock. It must be recollected that the plough must pass transversely to the stratification. You just plough the subsoil, so as to break the pan; and if my friend Mr. Robert Smith were here, he would tell you that a very considerable portion of Exmoor has been drained by him in this manner. Where the upper surface of the nearly vertically-stratified rock is too deep to be touched by the subLoil plough, the simple breaking-up of its outcrop at suitable

[Diagram No. 2].

racter, with a valley consisting of clay, and the water continually running over the edge of the clay where it abuts upon the gravel or other porous soil at the point F, as represented in diagram No. 2. Now the plan of Elkington was simply to make an outlet in the bottom of the valley, to cut towards the hill, and at the proper point to bore down until he tapped the porous soil g. The water immediately issued forth, the level was reduced below the junction F, and the whole land between F and d was consequently laid dry. His great point was to hit the porous gravel at the point b, as he might have bored to any depth at d without any effect. By operations of this kind he often succeeded in laying dry very considerable tracts of land. Take another case diagram No. 3 represents a porous soil resting on clay.

the

Here is a stratum of gravel or porous soil, resting
on clay. All the water which falls between
points g and m issues at m, and makes the subjacent
land beyond m wet and swampy. A cutting at the point
d, simply into the clay, where there is an outfall, will cut
off all the water between g and d. If there be a porous
stratum below the clay, even without an outfall, the land
can be drained by cutting through the clay to the porous
subsoil, into which the water will empty itself. I believe
I could point to gentlemen in this room, who have adopted
this plan of proceeding in many instances. Many similar
cases of juxtaposition of porous and retentive soils, where
similar means may be made use of, will occur to every gen-
tleman present. We now come to general, ordinary drain-
age. And the first question which here presents itself is,
whether the drains ought to be on the greatest slant, or
horizontal, or at some angle between. I have here two dia-
grams which will serve to illustrate this point. Diagram No. 4

[Diagram No. 5.]

est descent-that drain will act upon the whole of the hill, from the top to the bottom. So that it is perfectly clear that you apply your labour and time and money to the greatest advantage when you drain on the line of quickest descent. There may, however, be some exceptional cases where a deviation at some angle from the line of quickest descent may, owing to local peculiarities, be necessary. These cases cannot affect the general rule. These are principles which I am attempting to lay down distinctly for consideration. Of course they are open to discussion; and I hope myself to obtain a great deal of information, though I think that what I have said is for the most part sufficiently simple. Another question to be considered is, What should be the distance of the drains apart? On this point, I wish to illustrate that the different capillary attraction of various soils, and their rates of resistance to the passage of a certain amount of water in a given time, must be distinctly taken into account, not only in regulating the depth of drains, but also their distance. This applies more particularly to porous soils, which have a water-level more or less near the surface. It does not equally apply to water-level, which, in fact, give no trace of water, even those real clay or other retentive soils having no real when penetrated to the depth of fifty or one hundred

feet. In diagram No. 6, S represents the surface-soil, a a the subsoil, d d the drains, and C C the water-bearing soil beneath the drains. According to the varying degrees of fineness of the particles of the soil, and consequently the resistance to the passage of the water, so will the water rise higher in the soil between the drains; the waterlevel in drained lands not being a horizontal plane, but an undulating or curved surface, the height of which, above and between the drains, must vary according to the mechanical fineness and condition of the soil. The light line passing the drains represents the water-level. From these facts it would appear that the greater the distance of drains apart, the higher will be the water-level between them; and that this ought to be taken into consideration by prac tical men in their practice of drainage, in respect to both depth and distance. The amount of the resistance of different soils to the passage of water in a given time has, in my opinion, not yet been taken into sufficient account. In conrepresents a section of a hill, with drains running horizon. tinuation: I mentioned before that if the water came near

the surface, and evaporated, it must produce cold. Well
now, gentlemen, suppose you had to drain a piece of land,
and this [pointing to the light line in the diagram] was the
water-level, where actual water existed as water, the land
would take up by capillary attraction many inches of
water that would not run out of it afterwards. It is quite
clear that that would bring it within a certain distance
from the surface; but it is equally clear that, if this water
comes too near the surface, and evaporates, it will produce
cold. The consideration of the proper depth of the
drains, then, appears to depend partly on the degree of
power of the soil to raise the water beyond the water-
level; and, in order that a soil may be a workable soil,
the consideration of the proper depth of the drains
must be determined with reference to the force which
the soil exerts in raising the water from
low, as well as to the resistance, in time, which it offers
Now there
to the passage of the water through it.

be

clay-land had been drained at one foot depth and at two feet depth, it is apparent that, under the condition of a rapid and heavy fall of rain, the drain at one foot deep would have run the first, and that, besides, a considerable quantity of water would have also escaped by simply running over the surface of the land into the nearest ditches. The effect of varying amount of rain-fall in a given time is easily illustrated. I have here a glass vessel filled with soil, having three apertures -one near the bottom, one in the middle, and one some distance from the top. If I pour in water at such a rate that the pores of the soil will permit it to percolate through them as fast as I pour in, the water will descend to the bottom, will then rise, and will issue from the lowest opening first. If I pour in more water than the lowest aperture or drain can discharge, the water will rise in the soil, and at length issues at the middle drain. If I continue still to pour in an increasing quantity, the water will rise to the top drain; and all three will discharge their respective quantities of water. If I now discontinue pouring in water, you will observe that the upper drain first ceases, then the middle one, and subsequently the last [Experiment performed]. This is the ordinary state and condition of porous soils. It is, however, as before stated, different in those soils which offer greater resistance to the passage of water through their pores. Even with this same soil, in which you have seen the lower drain run first, the fact would be reversed if I were to pour in water faster than the soil could permit it to percolate. I will now four in the water with some rapidity, when you will see the upper drain run first [Experiment performed] (cheers). This last case is strictly analogous to the results obtained by my friend Mr. Hatfield, where he observed that the heaviest rain issued at the shallowest depth. It is, therefore, a question of the rapidity with which water will percolate through the soil; and I state it to be my deliberate opinion that, unless you pay sufficient attention to the time which water will occupy in going through the soil, you cannot drain upon scientific principles. There is another point, gentlemen, which I wish to introduce. It is one that I approach with great diffidence; but I must say that it is just possible to have a mania for drainage, and it has often occurred to me that in some cases it would be well if instead of further draining there were irrigation (Hear, hear). I would suggest that there is such a thing as natural overdrainage; that I have seen such a thing, in such soils as the sands resting on chalk, in the district between Bury St. Edmund's and Brandon in Suffolk. Has there been no such thing as overdraining artificially? I would submit for the consideration of practical farmers the inquiry, whether there be not many cases in which the land of this country is drained too much. It is a wellknown fact-I cannot doubt that it is well known to most present that if you have a piece of fallow land exposed to the action of the atmosphere, and have another piece of land under crop (say vetches or winter tares), when you come to plough them up you will find the latter quite dry and hard, compared with the former (Hear, hear). This difference is accounted for by the fact that every leaf of the vetch has its little root or tube with ramifications running downward into the soil, and that all the moisture of the soil is brought up by the roots to the surface, where it evaporates by the leaves of the plant. This may perhaps account for the difficulty often experienced in getting a good crop of turnips after tares. But does not the evaporation from the leaf and the absorption likewise of water by the roots of the plants, as in the case of grass and meadow lands, seem to point to the necessity of more water than in ordinary arable land? And in the case of the constant evaporation from grass-land by the leaves and roots, may not the water level, without danger of injury from stagnant water, be allowed to approach a little nearer the su.face than in arable-land? It is the opinion of many practical men, and I submit it to you with great diffidence, that some grasslands may have been over-drained-that the water has been taken away too deeply from them. It is one thing to remove an excess of water; it is another thing to take away what is necessary for crops; and therefore any invariable depth-any depth, that is, like the laws of the Medes and Persians, to be observed in all cases, and in all varieties of soil-is, in my judgment, founded in error (Hear, hear). Well, gentlemen, it was not my intention to deliver a long lecture this evening, but simply to present the points which I have laid before you. I have spoken of the rate at which water will descend through the soil. That is a question which must be determined by

is one point of very considerable interest, the importance of which has I think been too much overlooked, viz., as to the depth to which water will penetrate into the earth or soil. Are there no limits either as to distance or time? What answer should we give to the question-" How far will water penetrate into soils ?" Upon a careful consideration of this question, I think that the following answer will, in terms sufficiently simple, express a general law which governs all cases: "Until the resistance to its downward passage equals the pressure from above." If the soil be porous, the water from above will pass down until it reaches the water-level; and when it reaches the water-level, it meets with opposition and begins to rise. But where is the point in a clay-soil-a homogeneous clay-soil-at which the water will issue? We cannot talk of a water-level in clays where no water can be found, even at a depth of fifty or sixty feet. But some soils like these are those precisely which most require draining from surface-water. There is a depth in these soils beyond which surface-water will not penetrate; and this depth will vary with the varying fineness and tenacity of the soil. These considerations ought, therefore, to exert their proper influence on the art of the practical drainer. Let me here observe that a vast variety of the soils which are called by farmers clay-soils, are not clay-soils. If you show me a soil which requires an admixture of forty or fifty per cent. of sand before it will make a brick, I will admit that to be a claysoil; but when a soil will make a brick without any admixture of sand, I cannot admit it to be a real clay-soil. The question of drainage therefore, we see, in depth and distance, depends on the fineness of the particles and pores of the soil; the amount of capillary attraction, and last, though not least, the amount of resistance a soil offers to the passage of a given quantity of water in a given time. Let me here remark that one great element appears to me to have been very much neglected in all discussions on drainage. I say this without intending any disparagement of the admirable lectures which we have had on this question. I mean that this element of time has not been sufficiently taken into consideration. A friend of mine, who is present, has tried some experiments for me, illustrating this subject. He has got a clay on the top of one of his hilly farms, in which he has sunk fifty feet without getting any water. At my request, some trial-holes five or six feet deep were sunk in this clay, the upper rim of the holes being a little raised, to prevent water entering directly at the surface. The object in view was to find where and when the surface-water would enter the pits, under rain-falls of different quantities. Under these conditious it was found that, when there fell a large amounts of rain in a short time, the water began to ooze into the pits about one foot from the surface, the resistance to the further passage of the water downwards being at that point sufficient to prevent its further descent with sufficient rapidity. On the other hand, when the rain-fall extended over a much greater length of time, and was consequently more gradual, the water was found to penetrate to the depth of two feet, which was the lowest depth observed. I think a fair deduction from these experiments must be allowed by all to be, that "the degree of resistance of a soil to the passage of a given quantity of water in a given time ought to have its proper influence in regulating both the depth and the distance of drains." Another conclusion which I think we must inevitably draw from these facts is, that the assertion that deep drains always run the first is not always correct. If this