one best suited to the good land of this district:-1. Turnips. 2. Wheat. 3. Clover. 4. Wheat. 5. Barley. To give a few specimens of the rotations pursued in Ireland when Arthur Young made his tour through the country, would only show still more strikingly, the facility with which a succession of white crops can be taken in moist climates, and the general neglect of turnip cultivation."

Barley, like every other crop, the later it is sown in the spring, the less manure it requires to produce a given quantity of grain. Where it is the custom to take repeated crops of grain, late sowing is invariably had recourse to, as a means of augmenting the produce. Mr. Read, in his "Report on the Agriculture of South Wales," states that "the season for putting in barley is generally from the first week in April to the middle of May."

In the south of England, where the heat of summer is greatest and the drouth most severe, barley of fine quality is rarely obtained, if it is put into the ground later than the middle of April. Even in favorable growing seasons the crop rushes up too rapidly, and the high temperature of July forces it on to maturity: as a consequence, the grain is hungry and inferior in quality. In fact, in ordinary seasons the forcing character of the weather is such in the south of England that the spring crops usually ripen much about the same time, whatever may have been the time of sowing.

It is, therefore, of prime importance to sow barley early in a dry and forcing climate. When the land is well manured, it pushes the plants forward, although the season is cold and ungenial. The earlier, in fact, that the crop is sown, the more does it show the advantages arising from winter sowing. Mould pulverized by frost is best fitted for retaining moisture: the straw, too, from having had time to take a full supply of earthy matter, is said "to contain more bone," and is altogether more healthy and of firmer texture, which enables it to withstand the effects of rains. But perhaps the chief advantage arises from the seeding tendencies being fully developed; for the cold has the effect of promoting seed, and the manure is also diverted towards this primary object. The grain not being unduly hastened to maturity, becomes plump and fine in quality. It is a just observation of Mr. Hewit Davis, that the season for sowing land in good condition begins with the year, and no favorable opportunity after this period should be lost in committing the seed to the ground. This is also quite borne out in the opinion which we have heard Mr. Hope, Fentonbarns, East Lothian, express. He prefers to sow barley, as well as other spring crops, by the end of February, if the soil is in a fit state and well manured. Early sown crops do not often suffer from the low temperatures that occasionally occur, and they are rendered far more certain and productive.

Scotland, however, it is under certain circumstances advantageous to delay the period of sowing barley. In some of the more elevated dis

tricts, where the soil is strong and not well adapted for grazing or for turnips, barley is generally taken after a crop of wheat. In this case the land is somewhat low in condition, and delaying the sowing till the beginning of May greatly increases the productiveness of the crop. A century ago barley was rarely sown before the month of May, as the sources of manure were then exceedingly scanty. This is still more forcibly brought out in former times in the cultivation of bere or bigg, the four-rowed barley. This variety was usually sown in the beginning of June, and was still less dependent on a supply of nitrogenous manure. Indeed, it was thought to exhaust the soil comparatively little, as it could be raised on ordinary land for many years in succession with the slightest dressing of manure.

These facts show that barley may be sown late in the season with advantage in the cooler and moisture parts of Britain. In such circumstances it can be grown with less manure, which to a certain extent acts as a compensation for the inferior quantity and quality of the produce. One of the most direct effects of this, however, is in retarding the general introduction of improved systems of farming, in which green crops occupy more attention. On the poor soils of Norfolk neither barley nor wheat can be got without turnips, whereas in moist climates very different practices may be followed with a greater measure of success; and the necessity for turnip culture not being so imperative, the crop is only slowly introduced even in those districts where the climate is best suited for its growth.

The effects of the physical or mechanical properties of soil on the growth of barley in relation to climate is in some respects different from that of wheat; these differences, however, have not a little to do with the seasons at which the barley crop admits of being sown. The stiff clay soils of Suffolk and Huntington we usually recognize as well fitted for the growth of wheat; but, through the improved methods of cultivating these soils, they have become admirably adapted for the geowth of barley. The rotation adopted-of clover, wheat, fallow, barley-permits of the soil being reduced to a fine tilth by the winter frosts. The finely pulverized mould sustains the growth of the barley crop as well as the finest turnip loams. Under these circumstances, the vegetable manuring of the clover crop acts more beneficially on the wheat which follows it than it would on the barley; indeed, this crop is much sooner injured by an excess of vegetable matter in the soil than wheat: the latter is cultivated with success in the humus soils of the Lincolnshire fens, where barley does not thrive. In moist and humid climates barley is very susceptible of vegetable matter, and where it abounds becomes gross in its habits. Its use is most advantageous on the slightest soils, as is also the case with wheat, rendering them better fitted for sustaining growth in dry weather.

As the climate increases in aridity, so must the soil improve in its physical properties, to maintain the healthy growth of the crops. A

sandy soil is well known to be naturally more fertile for cereals in a moist than in a dry climate. So, on the other hand, careful tillage, having for. its object the improvement of the physical properties of soils, by rendering them more retentive of moisture, is more required in dry climates. The painstaking management which the Norfolk farmer pursues in pulverizing his weakest sands for a crop of barley contrasts strikingly with that followed in moister districts. Mr. Pierson, Framlingham, Suffolk, writes, in Messrs. Raynird's Farming of Suffolk: "On light soils that have been sheep-folded it is a common practice to plow three times: by this means the manure is more equally dispersed, and experience has proved that a dry summer does not injure the barley so much as it does when the land is plowed only once." Arthur Young, and other early writers on agriculture, drew attention to the careful cultivation of the light lands for barley in the eastern counties as a means of resisting the effects of drouth. In cool and moist climates plowing sheep-folded land more than once where the soil is light has never been practised as a system; nay, it is too often supposed that pulverizing light lands in the spring rather has the effect of dissipating the moisture than of rendering them more absorptive and retentive.

The necessity which the Norfolk farmer felt for having his land thoroughly comminuted for the production of spring-sown crops also paved the way for the general introduction of sowing by the drill: this implement has only slowly extended in moist climates; one reason, no doubt, being the less careful culture which the land receives, and where late sowing is followed it is of no advantage. The crop then grows rapidly and keeps the weeds in check, and the use of the hoe is less needed for this purpose. It is of more importance to have the seed distributed equally over the land when the time of sowing is delayed, as there is then less time for the crop to send its roots throughout the soil; hence wide drilling for cereals can be followed advantageously for autumn sowing, but narrower intervals are preferable as the season advances.

The influence of climate on the productive qualities of the oat crop is so well recognized that it will be unnecessary to dwell long upon the subject. It is a plant that requires a larger amount of moisture than either barley or wheat: the latter two become plumper and thinner in the skin when the temperature is moderately high during the ripening season: on the other hand, oats lose their plumpness under a high temperature-they become lean and light in weight.

In even moderately moist and cool climates, oats are more fluctuating in their produce on light soils than any other cereal. Requiring a considerable quantity of moisture to maintain their healthy growth, they are easily hurt during periods of drought, and are not remunerative for liberal treatment. Were it not for the difficulty of keeping such soils clean, wheat would yield nearly double the value oats would do; but oats, checking

the growth of weeds in their early stages, leave the land much cleaner and more easily managed when under preparation for green crops. On the other hand, oats generally turn to good account nitrogenous manures applied on clays or deep loams; they are not so liable to suffer from overluxuriance as barley, and are altogether a much grosser feeding plant. Soils abounding in vegetable matter yielding nitrogen afford manure to the oat crop in the best possible form.

It is generally found that the latest varieties of oats are the most productive: though this is best seen when cultivation is in a backward state. In Scotland, when the soil was poorer and in a worse condition, the harder and later varieties of oats were preferred. By their growth being extended over a longer period, they had greater powers of abstracting food both from the soil and atmosphere. The potato oat is no doubt a productive variety, but it requires to be early sown and liberally manured to yield well.

1

LAND DRAINAGE.

BY JOHN H. KLIPPART.

[NOTE. The annual Report of 1860, contained an essay by the author of the following paper, upon Practical Drainage, and its publication elicited a great many letters of inquiry as to the rules laid down and the advice given in that article, and I have, therefore, deemed it proper to make one full and sufficient reply to all, by giving at length the rational theory of drainage, in connection with its history, from the earliest date.]

INTRODUCTORY.

DEFINITION.

Drainage of land, or farm drainage, may be defined as being a process by which wet and unhealthy soils may be rendered arable and healthy, as well as to remove excessive moisture in lands not generally considered too wet.

The word drainage, when used in an isolated sense, means drying up, running off of stagnant water. It is also applied to a series of works which are undertaken in order to improve the sanitary condition of whole sections of country or a large city, to change the course of a river, and to protect its cultivated banks against floods. General drainage is that which constitutes a whole system of great works stretching over entire valleys, and regulate all its running water; agricultural drainage refers to fields only.

Drainage, as practiced at the present time, is an improvement, or a transformation of the old system for drying up moist soils by means of trenches or ditches, for the discharge of water, which was known and resorted to everywhere in former times.

It is, nevertheless, true, that the transition or change from trenches or uncovered ditches filled with stones, to the new mode of draining, was a slow process, which may explain why many persons, when they learn of