. The book of the farm : detailing the labors of the farmer, steward, plowman, hedger, cattle-man, shepherd, field-worker, and dairymaid. Agriculture. DRAINING. 313 Elkington's time until about 1S24, since which another system has obtained the preference. Many thousands of acres of land had been drained by that method up to that time, and there is no doubt that the country has derived much benefit from the system. I may mention the fact, as an incentive to iaiportant discoveries, and as an instance of disinterestedness, that Elking- ton willingly communicated all his practice to the late Mr. J
. The book of the farm : detailing the labors of the farmer, steward, plowman, hedger, cattle-man, shepherd, field-worker, and dairymaid. Agriculture. DRAINING. 313 Elkington's time until about 1S24, since which another system has obtained the preference. Many thousands of acres of land had been drained by that method up to that time, and there is no doubt that the country has derived much benefit from the system. I may mention the fact, as an incentive to iaiportant discoveries, and as an instance of disinterestedness, that Elking- ton willingly communicated all his practice to the late Mr. John Johnstone, the eminent drainer, at the request of the Board of Agi-icultvire, through whose influence the British Parliainent voted him a reward of d£ 1,000.* (683.) It will much facilitate your conception of this system of draining, if we consider, in the first place, the source from toldcli the loater that mars the cultivated soil is derived. When water is evaporated by heat from the sea and land, and conveyed in vapor into an elevated part of the atmo- sphere, and there retained in an invisible form by the agency of electricity, it remains in that state until a change takes place in the electric equilibri- um, when the vapor becomes visible in the form of clouds, which, then be- coming independent bodies, become at the same time subject to the laws of physical attraction. Being attracted by the mountains, which are the highest features of the terrestrial portion of the globe, they come into con- tact with them, give out part of their caLoric to them, and, ultimately dis- solving, descend upon them in the shape of fog, or rain, or snow. Hence, as you have already seen (324), rain falls much more plentifully upon the mountains than the plains. The rain, as it falls upon the mountains, is ab- sorbed at once by the soil which covers them, and, when it cannot contain any more, the surplus water flows away, and forms streams and rivers.— The portion of water retained by the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, booksubjectagriculture, bookyear
