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THE 
 
 
 DRAINAGE OF LAND, 
 
 AND ITS 
 
 NECESSITY IN THE PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 AGRICULTURAL INTERESTS OF CANADA. 
 
 A PAPER 
 
 READ BEFOilE THE CITY OP TORONTO ELECTORAL DIVISION 
 AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
 12th march, 1859. ' 
 
 - -v-^.-v^^-^" ^- 
 
 BY H. J. BOULTON, ESQ., OF HUMBERFORD. 
 
 \^ 
 
 TORONTO: 
 
 RE-PRINTED FROM THE JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS OF THE 
 '' BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 
 
 Thompson & Co., Ppinters, 77 King Sxrket East. 
 
LAND DRAINAGE. 
 
 The exceedingly depressed condition of every interest of the Province of Canada 
 must be a matter of great anxiety to every one interested in it, cither as the coun- 
 try ot their birth, or of their temporary or permanent adoption ; and in seeking 
 for the cause of our destitution, we should look to the source of our wealth, and 
 enquire what is its condition. High authorities hold that the produce of the 
 tillage of the earth is the foundation of the wealth of all nations, and it surely 
 may be assumed without any elaboratiou of argument that the paramount inter- 
 est of Canada is its agriculture. Our population is thin and scattered, our 
 lands are more abundant than we can occupy and subdue, our very towns and 
 cities do not exclude from their limits, nay, almost centres, the occupations of 
 the country; yet, with all these circumstances surrounding us we have an abso- 
 lute scarcity of every article in the cojimonest demand for the support of both 
 roan and beast, and instead of drawing upon the fund of our agricultural pro- 
 ducts to pay for the luxuries or rather for the very necessaries of life, we are on 
 the eve ot having recourse to n foreign market for what should be produced in 
 excess of the demand at home. A paper relating, as this does, to the general 
 subject ot taming, may at first sight appear more suitable to be read before' an 
 associatioa of a rural district than one the majority of whose members probably 
 restiict their practical operations to the garden and the green house: but the 
 very liberal manner in which it is well known many of the townspeople of 
 loronto have supported some of the neighboring townshin societies, removes 
 any hesitation in addressing them on the subject. Indcpr ut of the fact that 
 farming ought, after all, to be gardening on a lar<?e scale, re is another in- 
 direct interest. A few days ago a friend was sneaking of R oster as he knew 
 her when the Geucsec valley poured its treasures of wheat into her mills, and 
 the diflerenco now, when one rarely sees a wagon load of wheat in the street.— 
 Hochestcr had her manufacturing power to fall back upon, but what will become 
 Ot our towns if the produce trade fails them. Here is a powerful incentive, 
 and the inhabitants of Toronto as the centre of perhaps the most influential 
 tarming district of the Province, should at once take up the subject of the pre- 
 sent tailing interest of agriculture, and discuss and devise and advocate mea- 
 sures for its relief. For many years past the very high price of wheat has 
 tempted the whole farming population almost to abandon every other article of 
 cultivation, and consequently the other grains, with all roots, vegetables, dairy 
 produce, hay and fodder, have become bo scarce as to have reached almost fabu- 
 lous prices, and now as an overwhelming misery comes the blight and failure of 
 what was expoctod to bo the "oldon harvest. 
 
 As the inhabitants of a young country, and a people who have, as a maiority, 
 carved out for themselves competence and comfort, we have too easily and Rcne- 
 rally given way to a practice of self gratulation, laudation and complacency, 
 which has been too readily encouraged in all addresses made to large gatherings 
 ot our people. A very little practical thought would teach us that we have yet 
 a vast deal to learn, and immense improvements to accomplish. Compare any 
 Jlingiish farm steading with our barn premises. In place of roofed buildings 
 
LAND DRAINAGE. 
 
 here, barely filled with the crop of whole farms, there one finda in a rick -yard, 
 dozens of stacks largo enough each to fill a moderately sized barn, and the straw • 
 when thrasbed, instead of being cast out to decay in the course of perhaps two 
 or more seasons, or at best thrown to bo partly eaten, partly trodden under foot 
 by a few half-starved cattle, is carefully preserved to absorb the liquid, and be 
 mixed with the solid manure produced by cattle fed on the richest and most 
 nutritive food. 
 
 Our productions in the aggregate have been very great, but the extent of 
 the lands from which they have been drawn has been generally unknown, and 
 their gradual fall from fertility to impoverishment has been unnoted. By the 
 census return of the year 1851, (which was before our wheat was attacked by 
 the ills with which it seems at present threatened,) it appears that the yield of 
 wheat in fourteen counties in Upper Canada, varied from 16 to 20 bushels per 
 acre. The County of Bruce, in which the total yield was small, averaging 
 20 2-60 bushels, while among the older counties. Brant, Halton, York, Oxford, 
 Kent and Peel, ranged next in the order in which they are placed, from 19 2-60 
 bushels down to 18 3-60 bushels ; the total average of Upper Canada being 
 16 14-60 bushels per acre, while in Lower Canada it is 9 50-60 bushels, and in 
 Ohio 12, about the same period. While for Scotland for the year 1854, the 
 average is no less than 28 56-60, and in England, I believe, the average is set 
 down at the same period by Mr. Caird at 3 J quarters or 30 bushels. ^ While 
 dwelling upon these figures it may not be uninteresting to state the relative pro- 
 portion of land occupied in England and Canada in the growth of grain and 
 root crops, which will easily be seen in the following tables : 
 
 Root aud green crops. Grain. Grasses. Pasture. 
 
 England, acres, 3,069,21.5 8,476,C92 2,820,066 8,874,946 
 
 ¥pper Canada, ' 96,285 1,593,482 693,727 1.361,346 
 
 The proportion of the first two columns being for England, about as 1 to 3 ; 
 for Canada, as I to 16. The tables from which the above statements are col- 
 lected, set down the acreage under tillage, irrigated meadows, and permanent 
 pasture. 
 
 England 17,484,144 
 
 Upper Canada 3,702,783 
 
 These remarks are not applicable solely to Canada. In a late paper, {Leader, 
 3rd March) was published an extract from an Ohio agricultural journal, showing 
 that the same results are to bo observed there. Although from the year 1840 
 till 1850, there had been a large addition to the number of acres under wheat, 
 yet there had at the same time been an actual diminution in the amount of the 
 pro'luce, to the enormous extent of over 2,000,000 of bushels. """ "-i— ^-J 
 
 This is attributed 
 
 by the Ohio editor to bad farming, but the remarks upon the extract doubt this, 
 throw all the blame upon the soil, and express an opinion that while all the 
 west and so many acres of wild lands remain open for cultivation high fiu-ming 
 
 does not pay. , . i • i 
 
 In the first place, I would ask, how many and where are the instances m which 
 high farming has been tried in this country, and where are the returns on 
 which to ground the assertion that it does not pay ? As a second question : is 
 the mission of civilization in this continent to pass over the face of the country 
 from east to west, like a desolating cloud of locusts, te exhaust the natural rich- 
 ness of the soil, and leave nothing behind but a barren and profitless waste. It 
 would be far easier to husband and sustain the strength of our lands than resus- 
 citate it after once sufl^ering it to sink. 
 
 This unfjvtunately has been the too common course, but is not to be attributed 
 entirely to the improvidence of our farmers. In many, nay, almost all cases, they 
 
LAND DRATNAGE. 5 
 
 have had to struggle with the disadvantage of empty pocket?, if not indebted for 
 their very lands, and attention has been paid necessarily only to those things which 
 would bring an immediate remuneration, therefore the bulk of their timber has 
 been early disposed of, and the riches of their lands drained by continual crops of 
 what formed the most ready source of a money return, no attempt at the same 
 time being made to sustain the once teeming earth with those manures which 
 should have been accumulated in reserve for its refreshment, and no rest being 
 afforded by that judicious rotation of crops which the power of landlord has 
 long enf jrced upon the tenant farmer of the old countries. There, in addition to 
 the great efforts which have been made by private individuals, the Government 
 have not and do not think it beneath their notice to discuss in all its bearings 
 every question connected with agriculture in the halls of the legislature, and from 
 discussion to proceed t) action, to encourage and assist and impel the farmer to 
 improvement. 
 
 If this course has been considered advantag'ious and necessary in a country 
 where the control of, and the motive to amelioration, is centralised to a certain 
 degree as it were in the hands of a few large landed proprietors, who certainly have 
 in England most nobly fuliilled their duty, how much more imperative should 
 be the necessity for our Canadian legislature to take a leading part in the same 
 direction, in a country cut up and divided amongst a population personally 
 independent of and uncontrolled by any mutual bond or united action. In the 
 early settlement of the country, it was well, in fact it was useless and impossible 
 to do otherwise than, to leave the hard working and skilled pioneer to reclaim 
 in his rude way the virgin soil from the gloom of the forest ; for in this 
 early stage of the earth's subjugation, and for many years after, there was no 
 scope for the application of^tho niceties or the science of agriculture. Time 
 alone was necessarily the matn agent for the removal of the deep rooted stumps, 
 that imperturbable obstacle to the refinements of the art. Tillage crops could not 
 be thought of among the wide spreading roots, and t\w only resource was the 
 bare fallow and the cultivation of grasses. Here consequently was no field for 
 the capitalist or the man of science, all was to be accomplished by simple labor, 
 and the exercise of frugal patience ; and a large portion of our farming popula- 
 tion have commenced their agricultural career," placin- inre reliance in, and in 
 many cases having more knowledge of the use of thu , xe, than perhaps the 
 plough, or the hoe, or the spade. Many even of those who came to their new 
 homes accustomed to the labor and practice of farming in the old countries, from 
 force of the entirely different nature of the new from the old sphere of action, 
 being compelled to abandon tifeir accustomed method of working, have apparent- 
 ly lost sight of their ancient usages, or cannot now realize that with land in the 
 same condition, at all simiiur systems are necessaiy or applicable to the two 
 countries ; and, after them, newly arrived colonists either fall into the same course 
 of husbandry as their predecessors, or failing to appreciate the points of difer- 
 ence between their new circumstances and what they have been accustomed to, 
 fail of success, and so serve to discourage any attempt at changing the prevail- 
 ing course. 
 
 This, however, might have been attended with better results, had greater 
 attention been bestowed on surface drainage, and more care and seed been used 
 in the laying down of meadows, and by abstaining from too soon breakins; thcin 
 up for tho^jareless and hasty growth of grain crops. As a counterpoise'^to thig 
 faulty system of management, the earth had not yet lost its youthful strength, 
 nor that free and permeable state which can easilv be imagined to have existed 
 in its primeval forest days. This natural condition no di ubt may be reckoned 
 among the principal sources of the fertility of newly cleared land. In the un- 
 broken forest, although the water may be retained by natural encumbrances of 
 
LAND DUAINAGB. 
 
 fallen tiiabci- and leaves, tlio soil is not subject to that rapiJ cviiporation which 
 takes place when ouce exposed to the scorching sun uiid no less scorchiog wind. 
 A largo portion of water which does not escape over the surface, is taken up 
 by the roots and fibres of the trees, and so consumed, while the remainder 
 sinks to a much greater depth into the soil, iu its natural liglit and open stato, 
 than it does iu cleared lands. Those, as soon as the timber is removed, are 
 thereby exposed to the sun and wind, and jastly to tlie trciidiiig of cattle, both 
 at pasture and iu the ordinary operations of culture, until tiie subsoil is at last 
 reduced, at least iu the strong and heavy soils, to a state of consolidation, alike 
 inapenetrable to the roots of crops sought to be grown upon ttie surface, and 
 hostile to the feitilizing elTocts whidp would otherwise be produced by the 
 percolation of rains through thcni. j^ 
 
 One of the most important oporatiom in husbandry, is the provision of ade- 
 quate and advantageous means for the escape of superfluous water from the 
 soil, and, for the most part, and until comparatively late years, even iu England, 
 this was considered to be fully accomplished by large open drains at the bottom 
 of each field, into which the water was discharged by open furrows between the 
 ridges into which the land was formed. This open furrow is intended not 
 only to receive the water which flows over the surface, but being ploughed sli'jrhtly 
 lower than the depth to which the ridges are tilled, should sjJso prevent the ac- 
 cumulation and consequent stagnation of water under the surface of and through 
 the stratum of ploughed soil. It is then, in proportion as the bed upon which 
 this cultivated soil lies is shaped so as to promote the escape of water into the 
 open furrow, that ploughing may be to a certain extent, deemed good or bad, 
 and in order to attain this object all the furrow slices should be of the same 
 thickness, which, of course will ensure the ploughing to be of the same depth, 
 and the surface level, or perhaps rather higher in the centre. Instead of this 
 shape being given, we often see lands formed with the borders thrown up higher 
 than the portion immediately within, and perhaps level with what should be 
 the crown of the ridge, and thus an obstacle presented to the ready flow of the 
 water from the seed bed. This perfection, however, could not be expected to 
 be attained where land is encumbered with such obstacles as the roots and 
 stumps of trees, but should never be wanting in lands free from such impedi- 
 ments ; and it is for this reason that wheel ploughs have been adopted, even in 
 England, where, although the best of ploughmen are to bo found, there is not 
 perfect certainty of getting workmen who are capable, or at least careful enough 
 to accomplish this most important requisite of good plougliing. Another point 
 to be observed in the laying out of the ridgesMn a field, is the direction in 
 which they should bo drawn, in order to afford the greatest facility for the col- 
 lection of the water. It will easily be seen that if the furrow be ploughed 
 across the slope of the land, the water can only be drawn from the land on the 
 upper side of the open furrow, and consequently will have to find its way across 
 the whole ridge, whereas if the lauds be layed out as near as pos-sible in the 
 direction of the greatest fall of the surface, the water will naturally be drawn 
 from the centre only of the lands on each side of the open furrow. When 
 these objects are not or cannot be attended to, in many cases there have been 
 and will be constant failures and disappointments of the results sought after 
 with much other careful and well bestowed labor. The finer the tilth to which 
 Bome soils may be reduced, the more injurious will be the effects of the accu- 
 mulated rains stagnating in ihe finely powdered mass, which will then 
 run together and become consolidated into a substance more fitted ti resist the 
 pressure of a well loaded waggon-wheel than to afford a medium thmuirh which 
 the buried seed should send forth its delicate germ, or the utruggling plant 
 should penetrate its tender rootlet in tearch of nourishment. The water being 
 
LAKD DRAINAOB. 
 
 now collcot2d, ready to bo discharged from each indivuliial field, or It luuy be 
 the whole property of ono owner, wo couie to a point when the asslHtunco of 
 the legislature is ubsolntely necessary in this couutrji, where, as has been remarked 
 before, no man is constrained by any force but that of his own will, to advance 
 the interests cither of himself or his neighbotliood, which are so closely con- 
 nected. There are at the present moment and have been for years, thousands 
 of acres of the best lands in tiio Province ilinost valueless for want of proper 
 regulations for general drainage, either bappnning outlets where necessary, or 
 by the disencumbering and keeping cl^ of natural courses for the flow of 
 the water. In the municipal corporation acts, to be .sure, a hint has been as 
 it were casually made at the subject, am the remedy pointed at has been di- . 
 rected to eonimenee at the wrong end. ffhe clause to which I allude asserts that 
 when drainage is rc(|uired, the land miich lies at the highest level is to be 
 drained first, and then the drainage of tlie lower level may be compelled by cer- 
 tain round-about means. A 8ubse(|ueut enactment (22 Vic, ch. 99, s. 271) 
 provides that where a majority in number of resident owners of property in 
 any part of a township, petition for the drainage of the property, the council 
 shall have power to pass a by-law to carry out their wishes. Now, in a matter 
 of such great public utility, it should not be left to the judgment or discretion 
 of the unthinking, careless, and unenterprising majority of a community, if 
 Buch happen to bo their character, to exist, by their simple via inci-tia;, a.s 
 a bar to the exevtions and progress of their more energetic and improving 
 neighbours, who, unfortunately, may form the minority. Facilities for drainage 
 arc necessarily an advantage and profit to every portion of every neighborhood, 
 and when the natural fall of water lies from one farm or piece of land through 
 or across another, and this full is required to be made by the owner of the 
 higher land, the proprietor of the land on t)ic lower level should be compelled 
 to construct an out-fall of the requisite depth to afford efficient drainage, from 
 that on the higher level ; and as this should be done between individuals, the 
 eame regulations might be applicable between municipalities. A few days ago 
 some resolutions were introduced into parliament by Mr. Malcolm Cameron, to 
 authorise municipalities to impose special rates for certain local improvements; 
 perhaps they were intended among others, to touch this particular case, and to 
 no more important measure could the attention of th? parliament, the munici- 
 palities, and tho public be called. In no other work connected with the im- 
 provement of land ^> >■■ general unity of action so absolutely necessary as in 
 that which is now vixier discussion. Individual labor to a great extent is 
 unavailing, if not assisted ; but on the contrary, perhaps, counteracted by idleness, 
 inactivity and neglect around. Well would it be then if the attention of our 
 legislators could be enlisted for this subject, and as they have been sent to make 
 iitws for the general good, let them think for the thoughtless, force action upon 
 the indolent, and compel the careless to provide as well for his own as the 
 public good. 
 
 Let us now return to an earlier point in the discussion of our subject, A de- 
 scription has been given of what for a long time was the only method adopted 
 for the carrying away o: superfluous moisture. Is this method then efl'eetual, 
 or unattenilod by inconvenience or loss in its operation ? In the heavier classes 
 of soils which, on their reclamation from a state of nature, have become greatly 
 consolidated and compressed below in course of cultivation, the water may per- 
 haps be too soon and easily gathered in tlio water furrows, and led off before it 
 has had time to sink into the impervious substratum ; but in lighter soils a large 
 portion of moisture will at once be absorbed beneath the surface, out of reach of 
 the influence of the shallow water furrow, unless the soil has been previously 
 charged with water, and then of course the superfluity must escape over the but- 
 
LAND DRAINAGE. 
 
 fac 
 
 e. In the latter case this may be caused bj the superficial strata b 
 
 derlaid by an imporvioiis Huhstraiuui, { 
 
 uriiiing a barrier below which the 
 
 cuig un- 
 
 canuot pGnotrate: and that portion con.eque.Ttiyrecmuer'rtagnanT^nd cuf oulv 
 escape by evaporation. Hero are at once two c'onditions most detrimental to and 
 destructive ot vegetation The well known ellect of evaporation is produc 
 tion ot cold, or, ratlur, the reu)ovaI of heat fron. the bidy which .'ivefoft' hs 
 moisture bytnsmeanH; and tht most active stimulant ot-yegotabCs of 
 other «row h is heat. It is indispensably necessary to decompose, and therebv 
 prepare and assimilate for food, those matters which are contained in the soil and 
 
 Ia;"bv ih ; I'^r ''' T fr' ""l*- '■•'■^" '" P^«'""^° «" -'^'^"^ circulation o" the 
 . sap, by whicl. alone a healthy condition can bo maintained, and the body of the 
 
 plant supplied with its sources of increase, liy the retention and .tu-^nation of 
 waer again the earth becomes soured, and at'the same time the pores ? the 
 sod being thus obstructed, and the air excluded from the roots ot^he cror, 
 from all these united causes vegetation languishes or entirely ceases, decay en- 
 sues, and the sower is disappointed of the fruits of his labour. ^ 
 
 In the instance of clay and the heavier soils, and whenever the water escanes 
 over the surface whether during periods of heavy rain or rapid thaw, the water 
 becomes filled with the soluble portions of the soil, the more rapid its escaprthc 
 niore injurious its effects the land becomes furrowed with deep irregula 'chan 
 nels, through which aie hurried into the ditch-ultimately, perhaps, fo the mdn 
 water course of the d.stric-t. at any rate away from the field they were intended 
 to ennch-many natural fertilizing substances, and, perhaps, also many which 
 have been co lected and incorporated by much care and labour with the^S- 
 In a climate hko that in which we live, these effects are more particularly observ- 
 able, ,n he spring of the year. The ground being thoroughly soaked by the 
 autumnal rams, the frost takes a deeper and firmer fold on it° and many inches 
 in some cases it may be said feet, are thereby reduced to a solid and perfectly 
 impenetrable substance. On the approach of spring the immediate^urS 
 passes into an almost liquid state, in consequence of no portion of the thawed 
 snow or falling rain being able to penetrate the soil beneath, and if there be any 
 chance for the flow of the water this destructive process commences, and the 
 earth then loses its most valuaole soluble ingredients. Besides the inconveni- 
 ence produce , by the accession of larger quantities of water than are immedi- 
 ately required, or are beneficial either by the fall of rains or from other tempo, 
 rary sources, another is met with by difierent strata of the earth coming irregu- 
 larly to the surface, through which water is brought down from a higher level and 
 perpetually oozes over the lower lands. To remedy all these evils difftrent methods 
 have from time to time been ingeniously devised for preventing this water 
 from coming to the surface and by laying dry the earth to the depth of some 
 feet, to leave an opportunity for the surface water to be conducted below at 
 once instead of injuriously flowing over the top. These methods have been ap- 
 plied and attended with varying expense and success; but at last, in England 
 Scotland and Ireland, a system has grown up and been perfected, which seems 
 to maet with universal approbation, and is now confidently adopted in all cases 
 1 mean the s;, stem of deep drainage by pipe tiles. To describe the growth of 
 tais system, 1 can do no better than quote from an article on the " Procress of 
 ?"°1':J:, ^'oS''"!^^:" ^'"'^'^ ^'" be found in the Lcufon Quarterly Jievieu,, 
 IZ ^'i- :1- ^o^ '"'.^'''''' '^>' =~" ^"empts to drain have been made from 
 the earliest times. Specimens may be seen of very clever workmanship more 
 than a hundred years old ; but the when it should be done, and the why and the 
 how, had never been reduced to rule. Lord Bacon, who had a large collection 
 ot works on agriculture hud them one day piled up in the court yard and set on 
 ore, tor, said he, • In all these works I find no principles; they can, therefore 
 
LAND DRAINAOI. 
 
 9 
 
 be of no use to any man.' This was just the deficiency with respect to drainage, 
 and It could not therefore progress until Josiah Parks, in 1843, expounded the 
 ' principles,' and in 1845 made suggestions which led to the manufacture of the 
 steel tools which were necessary for farming the deep cuttings, and the cheap 
 pipes which were essential .to carrying off the water from them when formed.— 
 Up to 1843, little was done beyond tapping springs, or endeavouring to convey 
 away the rain which fell on the surface, by drains so shallow that the plough 
 frequently spoiled them, it being the popular belief that water would not pene- 
 trate through retentive clay beyond twenty or thirty inches. By experiments 
 •ontinued for several years, M-. Parks found t:,at a deep drain began to run af- 
 ter wet weather, not from the water above, but from the water rising from the 
 subterranean accumulations below, and that by drawing away the stagnant -mois- 
 ture from the three or four feet of earth next the surface, it was rendered more 
 friable, easier to work, more penetrable by the rain which then carried down 
 air and manure, and much warmer and more suitable for the nourishment of the 
 roots of crops. He came to the conclusion that the shallow draining advocated 
 by Smith, of Deanston, was a vital error; and that four feet, which left a suffici- 
 ent layer of dry warm surface earth, after allowing for the rise of /.ic water by 
 capillary attraction above the water level of the drain, should be the minimum 
 depth. 
 
 " In 1843, at the Derby Show of the Royal Agricultural Society, John Read, 
 a gardener by trade, a self-taught mechanic, exhibited cylindrical clay pipes 
 with which he had be2n in the habit of draining the hot beds of his master.— 
 His mode of constructing them was to wrap a lump of clay round a mandril 
 and rub it smooth with a piece of flannel. Mr. Parks showed one of theye pipes 
 to Earl Spencer, saying, ' My Lord, with this pipe I will drain all England.'— 
 The work from that time went rapidly forward. Drain-cutting implements were 
 brought to perfection, and tile-making machines have been invented which now 
 make pipes rapidly and cheaply. In 18' r,, Sir Robert Peel, whose management 
 of his own property had made him thoroughly alive to the national importance 
 of the subject, passed the act by which four millions sterling were appropriated 
 towards assisting land owners with loans for draining their land, with leave to 
 repay the advance by instalments extending over 22 year.<. Nearly the whole 
 of the first loan was absorbed by canny Scotch proprietoi-s, before Englishmen 
 had made up their minds to take advantage of it. When it is remembered that 
 the principle on which these results depend was not enunciated till 184.3, it will 
 be seen how rapid and mighty has been the recent progress in agriculture. A 
 second public loan of four millions was graoted in 1856, and it has been esti- 
 mated that in the ten previous years upwards of sixteen millionshad been invested 
 by the nation, and by private companies and individuals in thorough drainage." 
 
 Knowing as we do the benefits and success of this system of drainage in Eng- 
 land, and the other old countries, it will only remain to examined whether the 
 same be adapted to the circumstances of this country, and I think it can be 
 shown that where it is beneficial in milder climates, 'it is doubly so in ours. — 
 What are, the evils which we have specially to encounter? In the first place we 
 are subject to loss by the young wheat plant, and even clover and other mature 
 grasses,being thrown out in the early spring. This, I believe, to be entirely 
 occasioned by the ground being at tins season saturated with moisture, which 
 renders it more susceptible of expansion and contraction by the alternate processes 
 of freezing and thawing. Secondly, at present our damp and compact earth is 
 frozen to such a depth, that before the frost is conquered by the warmth of 
 spring, the surface is robbed of its riches by the rushing flow of water liberated 
 by the thaw, but unable to find its way through the frozen mass beneath. Both 
 of these evils would be cured by the soil being kept dry underneath, especially 
 
10 
 
 LAND DRAINAGE. 
 
 vious to frost than that whTcht ? t f con? ''""•^''^^; '' "'"^'^ "'«'•'' i«"p«r- 
 time although the ground bo frozen yet if thpvo-'^ "'"^'/''"' "^"^ «* *''« ^^^^e 
 beneath, It a.s8umes and retains Ho^ous conHi. ' \'^'T ^?'' ^'^^ «'••'*«'• *« escape 
 tice admits of a most perfect filfrnHnl ^ <'°°'^'t'«n. ^ich I have found in nrae 
 the want of efficient d^aina'o en a ,--'''• -""^"^ '*' '^''^ °'"* ^^ "^^icl" 
 in the spring before th:tTf:'lfZZk t^^^^^^^^ 
 enough to promote vegetation R,SAi? " , *f ^"^ .usefully worked, or warm 
 
 dunng the temperate ^armtLf^jrso'rTohf^Kr T^ '^^"^^^'' «^ ^^'-"gth 
 through the so 1 in search of ni.„2i '^ ! ^ ^° ^^^^ *« Pu^^'i^a vit^orous rnof 
 refreshed by the dew, the 1 ot drvt,""'"*' '■ '^P'"^' '-^ ^^-^^^ healthytTf to 7* 
 bringing it [o a Imrried a^d Sp'oKr ^^wL^P"?, ''' ^'^^^^'"^^ ^^« ^-ow\h and 
 contrary, as so.on as the snow and in. '"f*""^^- % means of drainage, on the 
 ground would be iu a statoZmn r f, ^'''^PP^«»' «nd settled weather sets in thl 
 atojosphere. This woSd ™^^^^^^ ^""^ ^^ ^"-'«^ ^"^^-f th 
 
 n•gh^ at a most important period "tinfZv" ''"'? '^ '^'' y^' "^ J^"«t a fort! 
 and ensuring thorn strength to pa^s^Eit^^^^^^^ early development, 
 
 to a full and timely maturity ^Ind Tt "?uld nn?^'','^"'" V*^'^'^^ '^ ^'^^"^'"tion 
 that we might thus escape the scoi^r^o wrL,.- °/ ^''^''^' ^^ "^ ^«"> conjecture 
 namely, the wheat fly • for if hvtlt Z ' ""^ ""^ ^* P'-^^^-'t threatened 
 
 the extent even of ten days these n] «• M ' • "'" '''''''' «°"'^ ^e advanced to 
 do the plant or the fast r^p^e^ L^ 1 5^^™^;?? ^'"'^ "«^ *'^^» ^e ab e to 
 advantage remains to be mentL'ned tZTJZ ^T^"' ^'"^ °'«'-« -^"terial 
 tendency to attract frost, and conseoinfr- ,'° r^''"*'''' ^"'^ '"«''^t«re has a 
 these mconveniences, delicate crops wtThimJ'^^^^ ^'"'^^^ '^^^ «»bject to 
 
 the jear such as Indian corn, pofatoes andT \ i "''*""^^ ""^ « ^^^^ ««««on of 
 enous damage from the early'aS utn fr "ts ^H'f *' '^^'^ ^'^^^^^'-^^ ^-^lo to 
 We Jilf ' '"f ^^'^'l^^ ^'^•^ «"S'° '>f the evil ^ ''""'^' ^'^'^ ^^"'^ ^« ^-d- 
 the.systt iHor c j; -e'ci lr^tl£' ''^''f T^ "^^ -P-- ^y which 
 cap.tal is deficient, we arc Lt' enabled o'S it' ""'''''' ^" '"^'^'^''y -'-- 
 Pr^^r Sir S t'^tSsiX ^^ -f - f ^^-.0 will apply here A 
 field and branches rurinto t att ' lanilVf::" f'' t"^^' therotlom of tl^ 
 communication of this nature would not .d . t ? f *'"'°»^''>«»t- The limits of a 
 variety of circumstances, of p^siln"" d ' , '^ "^' "•>'' ' -^'""^ '' "''^ ^'•^'^* 
 the distnbution of the dnins^ £d ail ^ f 7 "^ '?' "^^'''^^ -necessarily ^Ucr 
 would of Itself form a subject for a scntrfv.LP''?''^ '>''''^'" «f d'-^'D^ge 
 the cost at which the work can be done ^ ^ P"'' ^ "^^^ g'^« «» ^^^imate of 
 
 is from fivrto^ler^cSTt which? '^P*'-' «^ .^?- ^^^ »» average day's work 
 rod the latter price K'/jl o hHiL^'n?;'!- P''^-'^^.^^"" ^^ ^° 8c?sterl ng^p' r 
 and tenacious ^ealden clays of Sutf an^d O f u-.i;^'"^^ V' *'- ^^^ '>e-y S 
 and filling the drain, and laying the pine Tul '^''l' , ^''> ^»^''»^'es openir g 
 to he price of fuel and o.her ci?cumsE"e, Tj'trV^olV^'' ^'""'^^ •''^e^'-ding 
 and he d,ains being generally aS at a de^h of 4 ? ^f '"'f ^"'^ P^'" ''^"»«'"d! 
 Scotland m very heavv qml« q f.l j f ^ °* ^ ^eet, and 20 feet anart rin 
 
 «« l„ il,i,l,.iive dollars. ' !„ 1111,02™.?"°' "', '" "-"^ '""'"'J- '"" twont,: 
 thrty e, f„„ j<,||„, » "■« 7" 7 .'Yj''*.,>»'gl'' b« do»e at from 
 
 ■n this work ure from 2s to 2. (i 1.1.; J-'Ogldnii t lo daily wagos of men cii»a«d 
 work for .,,„,, laborers an *'teS-',:„tri«eai':f"''"-°'°"""'' '" f™" ' « 
 -n ".« .u^aior, a„d nooe i„ .ho^wMe^-a-tr^af^i o1 tZKi™Lt"beS 
 
1) it being a 
 more impw- 
 at the saiye 
 iter to escape 
 and in prac- 
 ^t evil which 
 hich elapses 
 id, or warm 
 of strength 
 igorous root 
 y leaf to be 
 growth and 
 age, on the 
 sets in, the 
 ?tate of the 
 least a fort- 
 vcloptnent, 
 vegetation 
 conjecture 
 hreatened, 
 Jvanccd to 
 be able to 
 •e material 
 ture has a 
 subject to 
 season of 
 y liable to 
 I be ward- 
 by wliich 
 try where 
 
 'icro. A 
 lu of the 
 nits of a 
 ■be great 
 rily alter 
 drainage 
 imate of 
 
 (s work 
 '"g, per 
 ivj stiff 
 )penir g 
 cording 
 lusind, 
 art, (in 
 raining 
 wenty. 
 t from 
 igaged 
 irovide 
 wages 
 3 done 
 
 LAND DRAINAGB. 
 
 11 
 
 at a no very great advance in prices, by taking proper precautions to enable it 
 to be done in the winter. For instance, the plon of drainage might be laid out 
 in the autumn, and the line of the drains covered with litter or manure, vrhich 
 will be useful in the field the following spring, and thus prevent the frost from 
 impeding the work. The main difficulty in this matter is, that few persons, if 
 any, have means to meet this very large outlay, and the only measure which I 
 can conceive to remove it, is for our IcgiHluturo to follow the example of the 
 British Parliament, and pass an act to provide uioana to be placed at the disposal 
 of every landholder for the accomplishmout of this special purpose. 
 
 The previsions of the English Act 9 and 10, Vic. c. 101, can with very 
 slight alterations, be made perfectly applicable to this country. The most im- 
 portant among them are the following. Any owner uf land desiring to obtain a 
 loan under the act, must make an application to the commissioners appointed 
 for the purpose, containing a statement of the particulars of the land to be 
 drained, of the manner of draining, of tlic cstiinatod expense of the work, and 
 of the estimated increase of the value of the land by the same, also the estate 
 and interest of the applicant in the proportv, and whether the advance is to 
 cover all or what portion -^ the oxpenHC of the work. If the application be 
 entertained, the land, plan imate and specification of the proposed drainage 
 are to be inspected at the expense of the applicant, by an assistant commissioner! 
 surveyor or engineer, and a report by them to bo made and sent in with the 
 plan and other documents accompanying the application, attached. 
 
 If the advance be deemed expedient, the commissioner is to issue a provisional 
 certificate, that on the work being satisfactorily performed the advance asked 
 for and approved of will be made, or, as the work proceeds, not over two-thirds 
 of the sum actually expended. 
 
 This provisional certificate, however, cannot bo issued until notice of the f.ppli- 
 cation has been duly published for two successive weeks, and two months 
 have elapsed after the last publication, ond in case any other person having 
 any estate in or charge upon the land, sends in a dissent to the loan being made, 
 no certificate can issue until the dissent bo withdrawn, or an order be made in 
 court, upon the matter being referred to the Master in Chancery to report whe- 
 ther It will be beneficial to all parties interested in the land that such advance 
 be made. 
 
 The commissioners are to cause the work to bo inspected, and all particulars 
 of the execution and expense ascertained, and for this purpose may take decla- 
 rations from any parties in any matter of enquiry under the act. Upon the issue 
 of the advance m order to pay the debt, the land becomes subject to a rent- 
 charge of SIX and a half per cent on the amount of the loan for twenty-two 
 years, and a certificate of the advance is registered against the land. 
 
 This rent-charge has priority to all other charges upon the same land, and is 
 collected half-yearly by the collectors of other land and assessed taxes for the 
 several districts in which the lands ore situated. 
 
 The out-falls for the drains arc to bo kept open and clear, and a yearly certifi- 
 cate of their condition is to be sent in to the commissioner. 
 
 Two objections have been urged against the propriety of the government of 
 the country making any advance for tliia nurpoKft, Tho first is the financial pusi- 
 tmn of the Province, and the second tho difliculty of cnGuring the proper expen- 
 diture of tho money, and afterwards of collecting the charge for re-pnyment. 
 The first part of the latter difficulty is removed by the precaution of not paying 
 the money until the work is done, which might be further strengthened by 
 making it a penal offence to make a fulso declaration, and to draw any money 
 under such false pretence, and tho collection of tho charge can be made equally 
 regular and certain with that of the ordinary municipal taxes of the country 
 
12 
 
 LAND DRAINAGE. 
 
 baS hlsSri^^^^^^ objection. The Province 
 
 railways, an immense proporS oMhe r^rf^f * ^•°°^ and 
 
 and speculative, in so fa? as the v have vSvl T' '^ ''^''^' '' ''»* ^^^direot 
 lands and of the products of them^ huthnJl^F^^ '"f-'T^ *^« ^«J"e of our 
 no effort is made ^to stimulate and ^r^lX;"'''" *^" ^'"^^^ ^« '««'i=^«<J ^^ 
 of these lands, or their fertility be aUowed to fdl 'y^^T '°^ «"''*^^*^o° 
 case throughout this continent and ftTps.!^-? /m' ^ ^J"'.^"^" gradually the 
 become a permanent afflieS^nd it sLuX -- *""" ^'''''*' 
 
 not without its precedent-as wUness the o^i^'JT''"^T'^ ?"' ^^"'' ^«>'"r« i« 
 the Niagara Dist'rict, and portions o the StatTofN^rVo't^ ^7* P^^* «f 
 
 the investment of money in the mannpVnL / •,, ^n the other hand, 
 
 its own return and reproduce iSir In the n^/'^P^'f *^ ""^ undoubtedly bring 
 underdraining has been so uSversallv adoS/'""^f ''^'"' *^^^ «y«*^«^ of 
 modern farming and of that enormo„ sfncre^ 1^ TLT' J^t"''^ >^^^ °^ 
 interest which has accrued durins the LTw prosperity of the agricultural 
 
 tioned profit, generally reckoned ?o be eTuatToCnn'/* '' ' ""''''' '^ ""'l'^^^" 
 when the land is properlv manae-^^rl uLl a *^^."*y Per cent, on the outlay 
 cultivated draining hKeSv bee^ knn'if '' ^^ '° *^' '^'' °^ ^^"ds highly 
 season. The profits of d Sn. in otherVnZ.^« T^'V*' '^P?°«^^ '» ^ ^^W 
 forty and fifty per cent, on ?he"oSlav tU £3 T bave been estimated at thirty, 
 value to that^ex^tent, without g^ea^r/Lltrii^th^J^^ ^'°° T°T^^ '"^ '^^^^^ 
 when we see that a great part of thfb2^« / ' ""• "^^ °^ ^^'^ 
 
 drainage is wanting, it becoSevidttth«f/r "'°"l' i« lost where proper 
 be the improvement of it by ths means ft follnr,''.?* *^' '""u^'^^ 8^^^*^' ^i" 
 of a measure of this naturef insteaTof increasfnl th^ 5?ffi T' '^^l '^' '^^^P*^^" 
 position, would but tend to relieve th^s SovTnll *^^.,^'ffi«»lt>es of our financial 
 
 and the sale of Government dStuLunZ^^^ 
 
 of lowering our credit, would KailedbvFn rT^*^''" P''^"'^^ ^«*' ^^'^^ad 
 the earnest and enlightened attentx\,„nLLn^? papitahsts as an evidence of 
 material interest of their country ^ ^ "'"' legislators to the most vital and 
 
 ..^.i 
 
 l3 
 
 9 
 it 
 
 rti. 
 
 ) in 
 
 ^5^3 AS /;/^^ /^s^A^seaK