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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



cany away the contents of the brooks and smaller 

 streams of water: the river is the chief trunk, and 

 upon it all the ramifications depend. 



Rivulets are currents that are inferior to brooks in 

 the quantity of water, and in summer many of these 

 streams are wholly dry or reduced to an amount that 

 scarcely forms a current of any kind. When the bed 

 of a rivulet constitutes much the most eligible trunk 

 to receive the small drainage of contiguous wet grounds, 

 the natural depth may be too shallow to receive the 

 water from the bottom level of the small drains ; in 

 that case a wholly new channel will be cut, following 

 the old course in all proper directions, and traversing 

 new ground in order to find a preferable situation for 

 the intended purpose. This performance will be often 

 much more eligible than repairing an old course into 

 an imperfect channel, by reason of an originally wrong 

 direction in the natural current of the water. A 

 straight or moderately-curved line of course will thus 

 be procured in many cases, where the old channel will 

 not afford a more efficient performance in every re- 

 spect. Rivulets are seldom sufficient by the natural 

 formation to receive the contents of drainage— the 

 depth is too shallow, and the course too much blended 

 and tortuous to evacuate the small drains, and afford a 

 quick and ready passage of the water from the places 

 of collection. New cuts must be made to suit the sur- 

 face of the ground, and the intended purpose of.access 

 from the small drains, when a much more advantageous 

 course will be obtained, and a double purpose effected. 

 Watercourses will most frequently show the position 

 of trunks for the conveyance of water, which seeks the 

 lowest grounds in which to flow, and which must be 

 used for a similar purpose. New cuts will chiefly 

 deviate from the old channel in passing through the 

 corners and angles of the bended course, lessening dis- 

 tances and producing straight lines — the same ground 

 will be traversed, and the same point reached at last. 

 When rivulets are flowing streams during the whole 

 year, with a considerable quantity of water, and the 

 course meanders over a flat alluvial country, the 

 management is the same as of brooks, as the terms are 

 nearly synonymous. A near following of the old course 

 is to be preferred in opening a larger passage for water 

 along a hollow ground: the surface water naturally 

 falls into it, and the lowest position is generally marked 

 by the natural search of the water when left to its 

 own performance. In draining the new cut, the 

 essential must never be omitted that the course 

 runs in the lowest position, and on no account 

 must leave this most proper and indispensable place. 

 Whatever line the course may exhibit, straight, bended, 

 tortuous, or curved, this position must be strictly 

 preserved: the discharge from the small drains will 

 reach the trunk with every facility, encounter no 

 obstacle, but have an uninterrupted descent from the 

 extreme first end of the formation, into the last 

 conveyance that relieves the current, and finishes the 

 purpose. 



Here this rule admits no exception, of placing trunk- 

 drains, or conveyances of water, in the lowest positions 

 of the ground. Water must be ever descending, and 

 never stagnate, and far less be directed to the smallest 

 acdivity, as when the trunk-drain leaves the lowest po- 

 sition.^ In draining of every kind, there must be a 

 drain in every lowest position ; and the rule is equally 

 unexceptionable in the smallest case, on the varied and 

 undulated surface of ground, as with the trunks that 

 convey to the rivers the discharges of water from the 

 small drains of the field. 



Artificial Open Cuts 

 Are made to answer the purpose of brooks and rivulets, 

 to receive the water from the small drains, and convey 



it so a trunk or general conductor. A river traverses a 

 country, and receives the water of many districts ; 

 brooks and rivulets pass through landed estates, and act 

 as trunks for several farms ; while artificial open cuts 

 serve the purpose only on one farm, and for several di- 

 visions of land, and probably only for one field. The 

 proper position is in the hollow places to which the 

 water runs and flows over the surface during floods, 

 and where no natural bed has been made by the water. 

 In these places, the first performance is to excavate a 

 cut of extent sufficient to receive and convey the water 

 that will be directed into it by the small drains, and 

 with a fall, to induce the regular descent. The cut may 

 receive water on both sides of its course from the sloping 

 grounds, when it will constitute a trunk of the proper 

 kind. The width will be settled by the quantity of 

 water that demands a passage ; and the depth must not 

 be under four feet of vertical height. This depth will 

 receive the water of the small drains from the bottom, 

 and permit a constant current in the cut, without 

 stopping the orifices of discharge. This open cut some- 

 times constitutes the boundary or division of fields of 

 land, when the size will be made sufficient for that pur- 

 pose, and have the necessary fall to discharge the water. 

 This excavation is an artificial brook or rivulet, and 

 must be made on the plan that has been previously de- 

 scribed. Large quantities of quickly-flowing water will 

 tear the banks of soft alluvial earth, which must be 

 guarded by rows of stakes driven into the ground, and 

 backed with large stones, laid among gravels or coarse 

 earths. Rapid descents of water will hollow the 

 bottom and undermine- the banks, when the bed must 

 be pitched with stones flat in shape, or edged as curbs. 

 This consequence shows the necessity of making the 

 channels rather wide than deep, allowing the water 

 room to spread, and thus destroying the power of its 

 force. When a heavy current impinges against a bank 

 on either side of the cut, the stream must be directed 

 into the mid-channel, and guarded to flow in it. 



Artificial cuts being destined to remain as trunks 

 for conveying water, and in many cases to be the 

 boundaries of divided fields of land, the excavation must 

 be done on permanent grounds, by which to drain the 

 adjoining lands, and effect the purpose of a dividing 

 fence. The banks will be guarded by hedges of thorns 

 or by a paling-fence on each side, and so far from the 

 bank as not to be sunk by any slip that may happen. 

 In other cases, the banks will be wholly open and un- 

 protected, when the cut will form the fence, and must 

 be deep and wide for the purpose. The banks are 

 gently sloped, according to the nature of the soil, and 

 best when the small drains are on a level with the highest 

 flood that has been known. 



Large Covered Drains 

 along the lower ends of fields and lands are placed for 

 the purpose of receiving and conveying the water from 

 the under-drains. The most general position is along 

 the inside of the fence, and as near to it as the founda- 

 tion will allow ; the excavations are covered on the very 

 just principle that no open drains remain within the 

 fences of a cultivated field of land. Open side-drains 

 cause a loss of ground, an awkward ploughing of the 

 headlands, and prevent the animals that graze the field 

 from getting close to the fence for shelter, which in cold 

 climates is a matter of considerable attention. The 

 depth must be 3i feet or 4 feet of vertical height, 3 feet 

 wide at top, and 2i feet wide at bottom. The small 

 drains will run into it at a right angle or some smaller 

 incidence, and the water must flow into a body of ma- 

 terials in the larger drain that are open to receive it. 

 Where stones can be got, the best provision is a culvert 

 of about a foot square, built with sides and cover of 

 durable workmanship. The depth of one foot of broken 



