the water rising from subterranean accumulations below, and that by draining the stagnant moisture from three or four feet of earth next the surface, it was rendered more friable and porous, easier to work, and more easily penetrated by the rain. The rain carried down air which, being full of ammonia and manure, made the earth below warmer, and therefore more genial to the roots of the crops. He came to the conclusion that four feet should be the minimum depth of the drains, and this is now the generally accepted opinion of the best agriculturists, and the plan advocated by Smith of Deanston of shallow drains has been quite superseded.
A Birmingham manufacturer on Parkes's suggestion produced in 1844 the first set of drain-cutting implements, and in 1843 John Reade, a self-taught mechanic, invented a cylindrical clay pipe as a cheap conduit for the water. Sir Robert Peel in 1846 advanced four millions to be used in draining on the Parkesian principle. By drainage stiff clay soil lands, previously condemned to poor pasturage or uncertain crops of corn and beans, have been fitted to grow roots, carry sheep, and fall into regular rotation.
Parkes had not the art of managing men, and consequently some of his early work, although devised on sound principles, was badly executed, and brought his system into disrepute. He was intolerant of advice and jealous of opposition, and declined to adopt the improvements introduced by John Bailey Denton and others. His last important work was for the war department. The draining, forming and fixing soil-sliding and broken-down sea slopes in the fortifications at Yaverland and Warden Point, Isle of Wight, were commenced in 1862 and completed in 1869. Immediately afterwards he wholly retired from business. He died at Freshwater, Isle of Wight, on 16 Aug. 1871.
Parkes's chief contributions to agricultural literature were: ‘On the Influence of Water on the Temperature of Soils,’ and ‘On the Quantity of Rain-water and its Discharge by Drains’ (Journal Royal Agricultural Society of England, 1845, v. 119–58); ‘On Reducing the Permanent Cost of Drainage’ (ib. 1845, vi. 125–9); and ‘On Draining’ (ib. 1846, vii. 249–72). To the minutes of the ‘Proceedings’ of the Institution of Civil Engineers he contributed five communications: ‘On the Evaporation of Water from Steam Boilers,’ for which a Telford medal in silver was awarded (Minutes, 1838, i. 17–20; and Transactions, ii. 160–80); ‘On Steam Boilers and Steam Engines’ (ib. 1839, i. 54–8, iii. 1–48); ‘On Steam Engines, principally with reference to their Consumption of Fuel,’ for which a Telford medal in gold was awarded (ib. 1840, i. 6–14, ii. 49–160); ‘On the Action of Steam in Cornish Single-pumping Engines’ (ib. 1840, i. 75–8, iii. 257–94); ‘On the Percussive or Instantaneous Action of Steam and other Aëriform Fluids’ (ib. 1841, i. 149, 150, 409–39).
Parkes was also the author of: 1. ‘Lecture on Draining,’ 1846. 2. ‘Work on Draining, with observations upon it by the Duke of Portland,’ 1847. 3. ‘Essay on the Philosophy and Art of Land Drainage,’ 1848. 4. ‘Fallacies on Land-Drainage Exposed.’ 5. ‘A Refutation of a Letter by Lord Wharncliffe to P. Pusey,’ 1851.
[Minutes of Proceedings of Institution of Civil Engineers, 1872, xxxiii. 231–6.]
PARKES, RICHARD (fl. 1604), divine, was a native of Lancashire, and was born in 1558. He was elected king's scholar of Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1574, and matriculated there on 20 Dec. 1577. He graduated B.A. in 1578–9, and M.A. in 1585. He took holy orders when B.A., and, according to Wood, ‘became a goodly divine’ and a noted preacher.
In 1604 he wrote against Dr. Andrew Willet [q. v.] His purpose was to support the Augustinian view of the article respecting Christ's descent into hell against the Calvinistic view of the puritans, who observed with apprehension the growing popularity of Arminius [see Bilson, Jacob; Hill, Adam; and Parker, Robert, (1564?–1614)]. At the suggestion of his friends, Parkes wrote anonymously his ‘Brief Answer to certain Objections against Christ's Descension into Hell, sent in writing by a Minister unto a Gentleman in the Country.’ This was answered by Willet in his ‘Limbomastix,’ also published anonymously, wherein his unknown opponent is styled a ‘Limbist,’ and is accused of sympathy with Bellarmine.
In 1607 Parkes published under his own name ‘An Apology of three Testimonies of Holy Scripture concerning the Article of our Creed, He descended into Hell.’ This tedious but learned work consists of two books, of which the first is the ‘Brief Answer’ revised and enlarged, while the second is ‘A Rejoinder to a Reply made against the former book, lately published in a printed pamphlet, entitled Limbo-mastix.’ In the same year Willet produced his ‘Loidoromastix,’ in which Parkes is very roughly handled.
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 27, but the account of the controversy is confused; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714, and the works above mentioned.]
