Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

7

CHAPTER XIII.

LAND DRAINAGE-DETAILS OF THE WORK.

It is never pleasant to confess errors; but I am convinced, by what I have recently seen, that in previous writing about drainage, I have been mistaken on one. point. That is, in insisting, as a universal rule, that the whole line should be opened from the upper end of the lateral to the lower end of the main, and that the main should be kept open until the tile-laying and covering should be finished in all its laterals. This is frequently, but not always, true-perhaps it is not even generally so.

I have probably directed the laying of over a hundred miles of tile-drains, and I have always tried to approach as nearly as possible to the English practice, as I had seen it described. I have bought sets of English draining tools, and have read in English agricultural books and papers about the way in which the work is done. I have seen pictures and diagrams showing every step of the operation, and have had letters from England (in reply to my questions), telling me precisely what they do there. I have tried for fifteen years—with scores of Irish ditchers to imitate them, and have finally concluded that the statements made were not true, and that the pictures drawn were drawn from the imagination. I could in no way get my ditches dug without having the men trampling on the bottom, and making more or less mud, according to the amount of water-and this mud, running to246

wards the main, carried a sure source of obstruction with it. Hence, I have always recommended that the whole line be opened from one end to the other, before a tile is laid, and that the tile-laying be commenced at the upper ends of the laterals and continued down stream, so that no muddy water would run into them, as would be the case if the tiles were laid from the lower end upward.

I am still convinced, that in very wet, soft land, or where the grade is so slight that great care is necessary to preserve the uniformity of the fall, this precaution is necessary. But wherever there is a fall of as much as one foot in a hundred feet, if the bottom is ordinarily firm, the best plan will be to reverse the direction, and to commence laying at the lower end of the drain-putting in the tile and covering it up, as fast as the digging progresses.

I am led to this change of opinion, by seeing the thing done by drainers of English education. What I could not understand from description, nor attain by experiment, is made clear by observation. In the digging of ordinary. drains, the foot of the workman never reaches to within less than a foot of the bottom of the ditch; consequently, there is no trampling of the floor of the drain, and no formation of mud. What water may ooze out from the land (and, as but little of the ditch is open at once, the amount is very small), has no silt in it, and can not obstruct the tile through which it runs.

I will try to describe the process so that all may understand it. We will suppose the main drain to be laid and filled in, junction pieces being placed where the laterals are to come in, and that we are about to dig and lay a lateral emptying into it.

1. A line is stretched to mark one side of the ditch, and the sod is removed to a spade's depth (15 inches wide), for a length of about two rods, and a ditch is dug about 18 inches deep, with a narrow bottom.

2. A ditching spade (fig. 60), 20 inches long in the blade, 6 inches wide at the top, and 4 inches wide at the point of steel and kept sharp-is forced in to its whole length, and the earth thrown out. It will be necessary in very hard ground to do some picking, but it is surprising to see with what ease a man with an iron shank screwed to the sole of his boot, will work the sharp point of this spade into an obdurate hard-pan.

[blocks in formation]

The loose earth that escaped the spade is removed by a scoop (fig. 61), 4 inches wide, which the workman, walking backward, draws toward him until it is full,

swinging it out to dump its load on the bank.

In this

way he gets down 3 feet, and leaves a smooth floor on which he stands.

3. Commencing again at the end next to the main, with a narrower, stronger, and

Figs. 60 to 64.-TILE-DRAINING IMPLEMENTS. sharper spade, of the same length or a little less (fig. 62), 4', inches wide at the top, and 3 inches at the point, he digs out another foot of earth-he facing the main and working back, so that he stands always on the smooth bottom, 3 feet below the surface. When he has dug for a length of 2 or 3 feet, he takes a snipe-bill scoop (fig. 63), only 3 inches wide, and, using it as he did the broader scoop, removes the loose earth. The round back

of this scoop, which is always working a foot below the level on which the operator stands, and which performs the offices of a shovel, smooths and forms the bottom of the trench, making

[graphic]

Fig. 65.-OPENING THE DITCH AND LAYING THE TILES.

a much better bed for the tiles than it is possible to get if it has to be walked on, and regulates the grade most perfectly.

4. When the short length of ditch has been nearly all dug out and graded, the branch on the junction piece of the tile is uncovered, and the tile is laid by the use of a "tile-layer" (fig. 64), operated by a man standing astride the ditch on the banks. The collar is placed on the end of the branch on the upper end of the tile.

The implement lowers the tile (with its collar in place), and the other end is carefully inserted in the collar on the branch. Then the end of the second tile is inserted into the second collar, and so on until nearly all of the graded ditch is laid.

5. The most clayey part of the subsoil is thrown carefully down on the tile and tramped into its place-all but the collar end of the last tile being covered-and the ditch filled at least half-full and pounded-or well tramped.

6. Another rod or two of the ditch is opened, dug out, laid, and filled in as above described-the amount opened

at any one time not being enough to allow the accumula tion of a dangerous quantity of water. If there is any considerable amount of water in the land, or if it is feared that it may rain in the night, the tile is left with a plug of grass or straw, which will prevent the entrance of dirt. Fig. 65, gives a section of a ditch with the work in its lifferent stages. The tile is shown in section.

And now for the result :

Last year, after the draining of Ogden Farm was completed, I undertook the drainage of a neighbor's land, employing the same gang of experienced Irish ditchers. The best bargain I could make was for one dollar per rod for digging and back-filling (tile-laying not included). The best men earned $3.50 per day-the average not more than $2.25. Owing to the lateness of the season, the work was suspended until this year's harvest should be completed.

This year, I hired a gang of the tile drainers from Canada, who had English experience. They work precisely as above described. The price paid is 75 cents per rod for digging, back-filling, and tile-laying (for the whole work complete, although, owing to the hard-pan, much picking is required). The best man among them completes seven rods per day ($5.25), and the average is fully five rods ($3.75). The amount of earth handled (owing to the narrowness of the ditches), is less than one-half of what it was last year, and the work is done with a neatness and completeness that I have never seen equalled. What these men are doing, others can do as well, and I am satisfied, that in simple, heavy clays, the whole work of digging and tile-laying can be done for less than 50 cents per rod.

« AnteriorContinuar »