rge part of the
country--that this is the _true cause of most of the bad farming to
be seen_, and that _not one farm_ is to be found throughout the
kingdom that _would not be much the better for draining_."
--Vol. i. p. 483.

Draining is now truly regarded as a great national work, involving
considerations of the highest moment, and bearing upon some of the
most vital questions of our national policy. It is a subject,
therefore, the practical discussion of which is of the greatest
importance, especially in reference to the mode in which it can be
most _efficiently_ and most _cheaply_ done. Into these points,
Mr. Stephens enters minutely, and the course he prescribes is, we
think, full of judgment. He explains the Elkington mode of draining,
and he gives due praise to the more recent improvements of Mr. Smith
of Deanston.

Every one knows how difficult it is to persuade our practical men to
adopt any new method; but even after you have satisfied them that the
adoption of it will really do good to their farms, it is almost as
difficult to persuade them, that a partial adoption of the method,
or some alteration of it--as they fancy some _improvement_ of
it--will not best suit their land, or the circumstances in which
they are placed. Thus, one thinks, that a drain in each alternate
furrow is enough for his soil--that his drains need not be above
twelve(!) or eighteen inches deep--or that on his clay, the use of
soles is a needless expense. On all these points, the book before us
gives confident opinions, with which we entirely coincide.

In regard to the depth of drains, it is shown, that in order that
they may _draw_, they should never be shallower than thirty inches,
and should always leave a depth of eighteen inches clear of the
draining materials, in order that the subsoil and trench plough may
have full freedom of action, without risk of injury to the drain;
while of the use of soles he says--

"I am a strenuous advocate for drainsoles _in all cases_; and even
when they may really prove of little use, I would rather use too many,
than too few precautions in draining; because, even in the most
favourable circumstances, we cannot tell what change may take place
beyond our view, in the interior of a drain, which we are never again
permitted, and which _we have no desire to see_."

This passage expresses the true principle of safety, by which, in
the outlay of large sums of money for improvements, the landowner,