LECTURES AND ESSAYS READ AT INSTITUTES. 



28a 



LAYING THE TILE. 



It is not a good plan, unless the bottom is unusually hard, to walk in the 

 ditch after it has been prepared for the tile. If tiles are laid by hand, the 

 better way is to keep about one foot of earth filled over the tiles, and, stand- 

 ing on that, reach over and lay the tiles. This gives an excellent position for 

 using the push-and-pull tile scoop, and in sandy or mucky soils when the tiles 

 laid need frequent cleaning by hand, it is certainly the best method. The 

 bottom is tested in advance by measuring from the overhead string, 

 and each tile is tested after being laid. In peaty or mucky soils great 

 care is necessary that the ditch be not excavated too deep. No random 

 filling will give as uniform a bottom as the original undisturbed muck. It 

 might be a good plan to excavate several inches below the grade line and fill 

 to the grade with gravel ; but this is hardly necessary. In quick-sand, the 

 side pressure is more likely to cause the tiles to rise, and the ditch should be 

 filled at once to hold the tiles down. No board should be used for bottom in 

 either case. Tile will settle uniformly if the soil is of the same character 

 throughout. In quick-sand no alarm need be felt if the tile fills one-half or 

 three-fourths full of sand when the work is progressing. If there is any cur- 

 rent whatever, sand may be washed out clean by a flusli of water. It is a good 

 thing in such soils to keep a long iron rod in the tile, to be worked ahead 

 occasionally to prevent the sand from settling in the tile. The joints of tile 

 in quick-sand and muck should be made as close as possible ; for this purpose 

 a wrapping of tarred paper is excellent. Collars might in such soils serve a 

 good purpose. Where the soils will stand well, the tiles can be laid from the 

 surface with good results. A pole with an iron pin long enough to hold one 

 tile is commonly used. 



Fig. 11 is a view of the instrument usually used for tliis purpose. A much bet- 

 ter arrangement for small tile is shown in use iti Fig 12. The rod on which the 



RuraL N 



Fig. 12. 



pipes are strung is sufliciently long to hold six tiles, and be inserted six or eight 

 inches in those previously laid. They can be laid and the joints wrapped, if 

 necessary, while on the pin. After the tiles arc laid they are at once covered 

 sufficiently to hold them firmly in place, and the pin is pulled out with the 

 rope attached to it. An old scythe handle is the best form for the handle to 



the long pin. The diameter of the pin 

 should be such as to slip into the tile 

 easily, but not much smaller. In fill- 

 ing, care must be taken when the dirt is 

 first thrown in, not to move the tiles 

 laterally. After they are covered to a 

 depth of about a foot, if the ground is 

 F's> !■'• sufficiently solid, the filling can be 



