care to fill them up as well as possible, and not to permit any clay to be laid over the stones. This has proved effectual." (Loch.) 3967. The gravel or cinder drain is seldom made deep, though, if the materials be large, they may be made of any size. In general they are used in grass lands; the section of the drain being an acute angled triangle, and the materials being filled in, the smallest uppermost, nearly to the ground's surface. 3968. The wood drain is of various kinds. A very sufficient and durable construction consists of poles or young fir-trees stripped of their branches and laid in the bottom of the drain lengthways. They are then covered with the branches and spray. Another form is that of filling the drain with faggot-wood with some straw over. A variety of this mode (fig. 503.), is formed by first setting in cross stakes to prevent 503 the faggots from sinking; but they are of no great use, and often occasion such drains to fail sooner than common faggot drains, by the greater vacuity they leave after the wood is rotten. In some varieties of this drain the brush-wood is first laid down alongside the drain and formed by willow or other ties into an endless cable of ten or twelve inches in diameter and then rolled in, which is said to form an excellent drain with the least quantity of materials, and to last a longer time than any of the modes above mentioned. Some cut the brush-wood into lengths of three or four feet, and place them in a sloping direction with the root end of the branch in the bottom of the drain; others throw in the branches at random with little preparation and cover them with spray, straw, or rushes, and finally the surface soil. 3969. The spray drain is generally like the gravel drain, of small size, and formed like it, with an acute angled bottom. In general, the spray is trod firmly in; though in some cases it is previously formed into a cable, as in the brush-wood drain. Drains of this sort are much in use in grass lands, and when the spray of larch wood, heath, or ling can be got, they are of great durability. 3970. The straw drain, when reeds, rushes, and bean straw is used, is sometimes made like the spray drain, by pressing the loose material down, or forming a cable; but in general the straw is twisted into ropes as big as a man's leg, by the aid of a machine (2457.), and three or more of these (fig. 504 a) laid in the bottom of 504 a triangular drain, with or without the protection of three turves (b). Where some sorts of moss, as sphagnum or lycopodium can be got, these drains are of unknown durability. Drains formed in this manner, through tough and retentive clays, will be found in a short time after the work is finished, to have formed over the straw with which the drain was filled, an arch of sufficient strength to support the incumbent weight of the soil, and the casual traffick of the field. In twelve or eighteen months it may be observed, that the straw, being of one uniform substance, is all rotted and carried away, leaving a clear pipe through the land in every drain. The passage of the water into these drains may be much facilitated, by a due attention to filling them with the most friable and porous parts of the surface the field may afford. 505 3971. The turf drain (fig. 505.), may be made of any convenient depth, but it must be at least the breadth of a turf at bottom. The drain being dug out as if it were to be filled with stones or any ordinary material, the operator next, with a spade three inches wide, digs a narrow channel along its centre (a), clearing it out with the draining scoop; and over this the turves (b) are laid without any other preparation, or any thing put over them but the earth that was excavated. This is found to be a very cheap, and, considering the materials, a surprisingly durable method of draining; answering, in pasture-fields especially, all the purposes that the farmer can expect to derive from drains constructed with more labor, and at a much greater expense. They are said to last frequently twenty years and upwards: but the period which it can be supposed they will continue to prove effectual, must depend on the nature of the soil and the current of water. 3972. The triangular sod drain is thus made: when the line of drain is marked out, a sod is cut in the form of a wedge, the grass side being the narrowest, and the sods being from twelve to eighteen inches in length. The drain is then cut to the depth required, but is contracted to a very narrow bottom. The sods are then set in with the gras side downwards, and pressed as far as they will go. As the figure of the drain does not suffer them to go to the bottom, a cavity is left which serves as a watercourse; and the space above is filled with the earth thrown out. 3973. The hollow furrow drain is only used in sheep-pastures. Wherever the water is apt to stagnate, a deep furrow is turned up with a stout plough (fig, 506 a). After this, a man with a spade pares off the loose up by any pressure, or by the growth of the roots of the grass; but they are also easily restored, and no surface is lost by means of them. 3974. The earth drain, called also the clay pipe drain, is better calculated for the purpose of an aqueduct, or conveyance of water, than for drying the soil. A drain is dug to the necessary depth, narrow at bottom, in which is laid a smooth tree or cylindrical piece of wood, ten or twelve feet long, six inches in diameter at the one end, and five at the other, having a ring fastened in the thickest end. After strewing a little sand upon the upper side of the tree, the clay or toughest part of the contents of the trench is first thrown in upon it, and then the remainder, which is trod firmly down. By means of the ring and a rope through it, the tree is drawn out to within a foot or two of the small or hinder end, and the same operation repeated. A gentleman who has tried this experiment says, this clay pipe has conducted a small rill of water a considerable way under ground for more than twenty years, without any sign of failing. 507 7 In! 3975. Pipe drains of turf are sometimes formed where the surface soil is a strong clay, as it is only turves from such a surface that are sufficiently durable. A semicylindrical spade (fig. 507 a), is used to dig the turves, the ground-plan of which (b) presents a series of semicircles or half pipes. The drain (c), being dug out to the proper depth, one turf is laid in the bottom (d), and another being placed over it (e), comcpletes the pipe. The same sort of pipe drain has been formed out of solid beds of clay, and has served for a time to convey water. As collecting drains, of course, they can be of little or no use. This mode of draining appears to have been first practised by Hannah, an ingenious farmer in Wigtonshire. He adopted it for the purpose of conveying water through running sand, in which only a pipe drain will last for a mo and the opposite is left of the width of a common sod; i. e. nine inches wide. These sods are taken out at a spade's depth, and laid carefully by the side of the drain for covers. The sods (a), resembling bricks in their size and shape, are then dug, and laid carefully on the same side as the sods intended for covers. The drain is then sunk to its proper depth, and the stuff taken out is thrown to the other side. The bottom is levelled with proper draught for the water, and set with the sods like bricks (a), two in height on each side (c); these are covered with the larger sods set obliquely (b); the grass side of each sod being turned downwards. (Ag. Rep. of Cheshire, 214.) 509 3977. The mole drain (fig. 509.) is formed by the drainingplough of that name, already described (2522.), with the manner of using it. It is chiefly useful in pasture-lands, and especially in such as have some declivity, or are formed into ridges. 3978. The wheel drain is a very ingenious invention, described in The Agricultural Report of the County of Essex. It consists of a drainingwheel of cast-iron, that weighs about 4 cwt. It is four feet in diameter; the cuttingedge or extremity of the circumference of the wheel is half an inch thick, and increases in thickness towards the centre. At fifteen inches deep it will cut a drain half an inch wide at the bottom, and four inches wide at the top. The wheel is so placed in a frame, that it may be loaded at pleasure, and made to operate to a greater or less depth, according to the resistance made by the ground. It is used in winter when the soil is soft; and the wheel tracks are either immediately filled with straw ropes, and lightly covered over with earth, or they are left to crack wider and deeper till the ensuing summer; after which the fissures are filled with ropes of straw or of twisted twigs, and lightly covered with the most porous earth that is at hand. Thus, upon grass or ley lands, hollow drains, which answer extremely well, are formed at a trifling expense. It is said, that twelve acres may be fully gone over with this draining-wheel in one day, so as to make cuts at all necessary distances. 3979. Surface-gutters made by cart-wheels have been used by Middleton, on meadows in Surrey. To the felly of a common cart-wheel (fig. 510 a), is added a piece of wood, the section of which is a truncated triangle (b), and on this is fixed a piece of 510 iron completing the triangle (c. The cart is loaded and driven so as the prepared wheel may run in the furrow; or, if there are no furrows, both wheels may be prepared, and the loaded cart drawn by two horses, may be led over the whole field, forming parallel gutters, at four or five feet distance. The advantage of this mode of surface draining is, that the herbage is only pressed down, not destroyed, and rises up again in spring. The operation, for that reason, requires to be renewed every winter. α 3980. The best season for marking out and forming drains, is the spring or beginning of summer; because then, the land springs being still in vigor, are more easily discovered and traced than at a later period. When the ground is soft on the surface, it is a useful precaution, after the line of drain is indicated, to cart on the materials for filling before digging the drain, as the weight of the carriages and horses are apt to press in the sides of the drain. In the case of straw, turf, or earth drains, where the ground is of a firm texture, this precaution does not apply. In filling drains, the earth should always be raised somewhat above the general surface, to make allowance for sinking. 3981. In forming small drains, chiefly for retentive soils, the common plough has been used in many places, and with some advantage. The method practised by Young, of Clare, and which he has himself described in The Annals of Agriculture, from very ample practice, is this: he says, when he has marked the drains in a field usually a rod asunder, he draws two furrows with a common plough, leaving a baulk betwixt them about fifteen inches wide; then with a strong double-breasted plough, made on purpose, he splits that baulk, and leaves a clean furrow fourteen or fifteen inches below the surface; but where the depth of soil requires it, by a second ploughing he sinks it to eighteen or twenty inches: it is then ready for the land-ditching-spade, with which he digs, fifteen inches deep, a drain as narrow as possible. But the method followed by some farmers, who do not possess ploughs made on purpose for the work, is this: With their common plough, drawn by four or five horses, and usually stirring about four or five inches deep, they turn a double furrow, throwing the earth on each side, and leaving a baulk in the middle. This baulk they raise by a second bout, in the same manner: then they go in the open furrow twice, with their common double-breast plough, getting what depth they can. After this they shovel out all the loose mould and inequalities to the breadth of about a foot; and thus having gained a clear open furrow, the depth varying according to the soil and ploughs, but usually about eight or nine inches, they dig one spit with a draining spade sixteen inches deep, thus gaining in the whole twenty-four or twenty-six inches. But as this depth is seldom sufficient, when necessary they throw out another, or even two other spits, which makes the whole depth from thirty to forty inches. 3982. The duration of drains must necessarily depend on the nature of the materials with which they are filled, and in some measure on the quality of the soil, as certain species of land have the power of preserving wood or other perishable materials much longer than others. Stones last till accidental causes impede the flowing of the water, and may last for ever. Wood perishes in certain periods, but it does not follow that the drains should stop; if the earth arches, the water will necessarily continue to flow, which is found to be the case when wood, straw, and stubble, are rotten and gone. Drains that have been filled with bushes and straw, both which were rotten, have been observed to run well forty years after making. 3983. The expense of drains will of course vary with the soil, depth, price of labor, &c., and these circumstances are so different in different districts, and even in different parishes, that it accounts for the various reports of writers on the subject. Those farmers who are most solicitous to have the work well performed, contract with men only for digging and leaving clean, in order that the filling may be done by men paid by the day, as a greater security that it should be executed with all possible care; whatever may be the expense and trouble incurred in draining, it may be safely asserted, that if the work is judiciously contrived, and properly executed, no kind of outlay will prove so beneficial to the cultivator. 3984. The enemies of drains, according to Marshal, are moles, field mice, and the roots of trees; the two first may be kept under by traps or other devices; but the last enemy is not easily guarded against but in the laying out of the drain, which should always if possible be kept distant from trees or woody plants of any description. SECT. VII. Of the Implements peculiar to Draining. 3985. The tools peculiar to draining are chiefly of the spade kind; there are also boring instruments of different kinds. 3986. The draining-scoop (fig. 511 a, b, c), is a crooked kind of tool made use of in some cases for clearing out the loose materials from the bottoms of drains. It is formed of different sizes and breadths, according to the drains, and in working is drawn or pushed along the bottom. 3987. The draining shovel (d), is another sort of implement employed for the same purpose as the above. It is made with a crooked handle, and the edge of the shovel part is turned up, in order to prevent the materials from falling off. 3988. The draining sod knife (e), is an implement made use of with great benefit in scoring or cutting out the sward in forming drains. 511 3989. Draining spades (f, g, h), are made of different breadths, so as to follow each other, and cut the drains narrow at the bottoms. An upper and pointed draining-spade, (g) is in general use, and a wooden one (h) is employed in peat soils. 3990. The draining straw-twisting engine, is a machine of very simple construction, already described (2457.), and capable of being readily removed, contrived for the purpose of twisting straw into ropes, in order to the filling of drains with it. 3991. The common borer and peat borer have been already described (2428. 2430.) 3992. The common draining auger f 512 b a d (fig. 512.), consists of four parts, the shell or wimble, the chisel, the rod, and the handle. The auger shell or wimble (e), as it is variously called, for excavating the earth or strata through which it passes, is generally from two and a half to three and a half inches in diameter; the hollow part of it one foot four inches in length, and constructed nearly in the shape of the wimble used by carpenters, only the sides of the shell come closer to one another. are made in separate pieces of four feet long each, that screw into one assignable length, one after another, as the depth of the hole requires. The size above the auger is about an inch square, unless at the joints, where, for the sake of strength, they are a quarter of an inch more. There is also a chisel and punch (b), adapted for screwing on in going through hard gravel, or other metallic substances, to accelerate the passage of the auger, which could not otherwise perforate such hard bodies. The punch The rods (a), another to any is often used, when the auger is not applied, to prick or open the sand or gravel, and give a more easy issue to the water. The chisel is an inch and a half or two inches broad at the point, and made very sharp for cutting stone; and the punch an inch square, like the other part of the rods, with the point sharpened also. There is a shifting handle of wood (d), that is fastened with two iron wedges affixed to it, for the purpose of turning round the rods in boring; and also two iron keys (f, c), for screwing and unscrewing the rods, and for assisting the handle when the soil is very stiff, and more than two men required to turn it. 3993. To judge when to make use of the borer is a difficult part of the business of draining. Some have been led into a mistaken notion, both as to the manner of using it, and purpose for which it is applied. They think, that if by boring indiscriminately through the ground to be drained, water is found near enough the surface to be reached by the depth of the drain, the proper direction for it is along these holes where water has been found, and thus make it the first implement that is used. The contrary is the case, and the auger is never used till after the drain is cut; and then for the purpose of perforating any retentive or impervious stratum, lying between the bottom of the drain and the reservoir or strata containing the spring. Thus does it greatly lessen the trouble and expense that would otherwise be requisite in cutting the trench to that depth to which, in many instances, the level of the outlet will not admit. 3994. The manner of using it is simply thus: in working it, two, or rather three men are necessary. Two stand above, one on each side of the drain, who turn it round by means of the wooden handles, and when the auger is full they draw it out; and the man in the bottom of the trench clears out the earth, assists in pulling it out, and directing it into the hole, and he can also assist in turning with the iron handle or key, when the depth and length of rods require additional force to perform the operation. The workmen should be cautious in boring, not to go deeper at a time without drawing, than the exact length of the shell, otherwise the earth, clay, or sand, through which it is boring, after the shell is full, makes it very difficult to pull out. For this purpose the exact length of the shell should be regularly marked on the rods, from the bottom upwards. Two flat boards, with a hole cut into the side of one of them, and laid alongside of one another over the drain in the time of boring, are very useful for directing the rods in going down perpendicularly for keeping them steady in boring, and for the men standing on when performing the operation. 3995. The horizontal auger (fig. 513.), is another boring instrument employed in particular cases. It was invented by Halford, of Hathern, in Leicestershire, but is little used. The advantages of it are, in some cases, considerable, by lessening the expense of cutting, and performing the work in a much shorter time. Where a drain or water-course has to pass under a bank, road, hedge, wall, rivulet of water, or for drying marl-pits, &c. it may be used to advantage in excavating a sufficient passage for the 'water, without opening a trench. In laying leaden pipes for the conveyance of water, it is also useful in making a hole in which the pipe may be laid without opening a cut on purpose. For tapping springs, or finding water at the bottom of a hill, either for the supply of a house, or for draining the ground, it may likewise be used with success; as the water of the spring when hit on, will flow more easily, and in greater abundance through a horizontal or level, than through a perpendicular outlet. 3996. The manner of using it is this: suppose a lake or pond of water, surrounded with high banks, to be emptied, if the ground declines lower on the opposite side, find the level of the bank where the perforation is to be made. There smooth the surface of the ground so as to place the frame nearly level with the auger, pointing a little upwards. It requires two men to turn the handles at top (a), in order to work it; and when the auger or shell is full, the rods are drawn back by reversing the lower handle (6); and |