form three sides of a square. end at the stream or river.

Both the discharging points must

"If the centre of the bog be intersected with small drains, the one here described will serve the purpose both of a main and catchwater drain. Bog may be drained too much, and made so dry as to become unproductive; it will not therefore be necessary to sink any drain to the substratum but this. I do not think it necessary to state the depth this drain should be, as it must depend on the depth of the bog; however, it will be right to advise that it should not be made all at once; part now and part again will be found the most advantageous method, as the banks of the drain will be thus less likely to fall in. The banks should be slanted well, and it should be narrow at bottom; two feet wide, or less, if the flow of water is not great will be sufficient, and from nine to twelve feet broad at top; but the narrower at bottom, the more free it will be kept by the water from accumulating matter. Where improvements are carried on extensively, this drain, by keeping it full of water for a time, may be made navigable for small flat boats to carry gravel, lime, clay, &c. for manuring purposes.

"The next proceeding should be to plant a belt of Scotch fir trees on the inside of the horse-shoe drain, for the purpose of forming a shelter in breaking the chilling winds, which have nothing to intercept them on bleak moor and bog lands, and which are a great check to vegetation. This belt will be found a most. valuable shelter in course of time, and otherwise tend much to improvement, and the roots will in time strengthen the banks of the drain. This tree also is peculiarly adapted for the purpose beyond any other, as well from its being the best grower in bogs, as from being more effectual as a shelter in winter and spring, when most required, by the retention of its foliage. Some poplars may be mixed to prevent too much of sameness, and on the sheltered side a few spruce firs, to close the screen at bottom. A hedge of broom or gorse, on either side, will also tend to the same purpose, as well as to shelter the trees, and the roots will make firm the banks of the drain."

Such are the principal thoughts of Mr Lambert on the best mode of draining and preparing the Irish bogs, epitomized and arranged so as to bring the subject before the readers of the

Agricultural Journal, as simply and clearly as may be.

Whe

ther these suggestions, or any of them, will be acted upon or not, is yet unknown; but that much good might be done, if wise and patriotic exertion were directed towards applying the unemployed labour of the poor, to the judicious cultivation of unprofitable wastes, is quite certain. Any one who travels by the military road through the mountains, from Dublin to the romantic vale of Glendalough, in the county of Wicklow, will pass through a tract of heathy land, at present scarcely affording food or shelter to so much as a grouse or a rabbit, and of such amazing extent, and so favourably situated for improvement, as of itself to afford profitable employment to almost all the idle hands in Ireland. Mr George Moore, the able and excellent member for Dublin, has already converted a part of this wilderness into a valuable and beautiful estate. For the most part, however, it is said to be church land, and, therefore, the nature of the tenure scarcely admits of expensive or laborous improvement being made; but this is an evil which the legislature could surely remedy, without infringing the integrity of church property. It is said that even at present bishops have a right to give a forty-one years' lease of waste lands.

Of all the pleasures derivable from external nature, none is perhaps more exquisite than to view planted enclosures, smiling pastures, and waving fields of golden grain, where one remembers to have seen only a barren heath or boggy swamp; and to reflect that we ourselves have been mainly instrumental in effecting a transformation so delightful. That such a change may be produced in the dreary wastes of his native country, is the "earnest cry and prayer" of the present writer. But the difficulty is to find conducting men for any such attempt, who are able and zealous, and honest enough, to devote time and energy to the task, in singleness and simplicity of heart, from a sincere desire to please God, by doing good to man.

In Ireland, too, past experience proves it to be requisite to offer some sufficient security to the public, that especial care will be taken to crush every indication of a spirit of jobbing, or of trading on the bounty of those who may contribute to so good a work.

E. J.

ON THE LEASE.

(Continued from Volume I. page 809.)

THE rules of management we have seen to be dependent on the nature of the farm, and the species of cultivation to which it is suited; the period of entry, and the mutual obligations of outgoing and entering tenants, are more determined by local custom. Throughout the greater part of England, the period of entry is in May, the outgoing tenant reaping the waygoing crop of that year; and, in those parts of Scotland, where the principles of the lease are supposed to be the best understood, a similar mode of entry is in use. The entry is at Whitsunday, as regards the grass, the land in fallow, and farm-buildings; and at the removal of the crop of the same year, as regards the arable lands in crop. Wherever custom has established this species of entry, it should be preserved, since it presents certain conveniences, scarcely attainable under any other.

When land is of that nature to render necessary a summer fallow, it is important not only that the operation be not omitted in any one year, but that it be well performed. But, in the last year of a lease, the outgoing tenant does not reap any benefit from the summer fallow of that year; and, if bound by covenant to till it, he has not any interest in doing the work well. By removing at Whitsunday, however, this operation is performed by the new tenant, who alone is interested in the execution. At the same time, the new tenant is allowed to take possession of the farm-buildings, for which the old tenant has now no further occasion, his last crop being already prepared and sown. The new tenant, at the same time, takes possession of the grass land; which is of great importance to him, and no inconvenience to the old tenant, who can generally sell his live stock at this season of the year with as much advantage as at any other. Thus we see, that, after the last crop is sown, and no further tillage is required of the old tenant, the new tenant is allowed to take possession of the fallow-land and work it; of the houses, of which the former tenant has no further need, and

of the grass-land, from which the removal can be made without inconvenience.

Various stipulations, however, are necessary, where this period of entry is adopted, which are not required when the entry is in the latter part of the year. It is necessary to stipulate, that the entering tenant shall have power, even previously to the time of entering to regular possession, to give one ploughing, at least, to the land to be in fallow. This he may do, without any injury to the old tenant worth noticing, who, having reaped the crop of the preceding year, has no farther use for the land which is destined to be in fallow, while, to the entering tenant, the privilege is one of considerable importance. Experience shows that land intended to be in fallow should receive one ploughing before winter, so that, by being exposed to the weather, it may be rendered more friable and suitable for the summer tillage. The lease, therefore, should provide, that the entering tenant shall have power to enter to, and plough the land intended to be in fallow, at any period after the 15th of December, previous to the specified term of entry to the houses, grass-land and fallow. The old tenant will generally find it his interest to allow his own working cattle to be employed in this operation, at the ordinary rate of labour. It is further to be observed, that the new tenant gets possession of the fallow division, not only in time to till it for summer fallow, but also wholly, or partially, for turnips, should it be suited to that or any similar species of

'green crop.

Another peculiarity regarding a Whitsunday entry requires attention. The proper application of the manure produced on a tillage farm, is to the summer fallow, turnips, or such green crop as is preparatory to the white corn crop, and not directly to this crop itself. Applied to the latter it would be of little comparative advantage, and would tend more to multiply weeds, and increase the bulk of the straw, than the produce of the crop. But the old tenant, where the removal is at Whitsunday, has neither the fallow nor green crop of the last year; and this has led to the stipulation, that the whole dung, the produce of the last crop but one, shall be left entirely to the entering tenant. Very often the dung is handed over in this manner from tenant to tenant, without any charge or payment

whatever. In this case, it is technically said to be left in steel-bow, a word of which the etymology is uncertain. In other cases, it is handed over from one tenant to another, on the receiver paying a price for it. Strictly speaking, this price ought not to be understood as the market or selling price, for no tenant in Scotland can, under the common law of the country, carry off the dung produced upon the farm, and sell it. He is, in the present case, merely prevented from applying it in a particular way to his farm; and all, therefore, that he is justly entitled to, is the loss he sustains by being deprived of the power of so applying, or rather of so misapplying it. This used to be perfectly understood in Scotland; but latterly the practice has crept in of compelling the new tenant to pay the whole market price to the old tenant. It is easy to rectify this, by specifying, in the lease, the precise rate, per cubic yard, at which the dung is to be paid for. Whether the dung is paid for, or delivered over in steelbow, it is apparent that the stipulation is an important one, and ought never to be omitted where the Whitsunday entry exists. By means of this stipulation, the waste, by an injudicious application of a substance so valuable as farmyard manure, is prevented; the new tenant is enabled to manure his turnip and fallow division in the ordinary course, and thus the regular management of the farm is never interrupted.

Although the Whitsunday entry is recommended by various considerations of practical convenience, yet an entry at the latter part of the year is more prevalent. The period of entry, in this case, is generally Martinmas, as regards the whole premises. Where the summer fallow may, without injury, be dispensed with, the inconveniences of this species of entry are not material. Instead of fallow in the last year, the old tenant has turnips, potatoes, or such green crop as may be suited to the soil, and to these he applies his farm-yard manure, instead of leaving it, as in the other case, to his successor, while his own interest is sufficient to induce him to cultivate these green crops in a proper manner. But, where the summer fallow is absolutely requisite, this period of entry is attended with considerable inconvenience. Sometimes the obligation of working the summer fallow is imposed upon the old tenant, he receiving value for the labour he expends; but it is evident that he has