FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VI. 531 



ADVICE TO LANDOWNERS ABOUT TO CONSTRUCT DRAINS. 



1. Employ a reliable drainage engineer to make surveys, and plan your 

 system of drainage. Otherwise you are very liable to throw away part of 

 your money. 



2. Require from your drainage engineer a complete map or plat of your 

 drains, showing the exact location, sizes, grades and depths. Remember 

 that your drains will be out of reach (except at much cost and trouble) after 

 they are covered. 



3. Make your drains of ample size. Drains which are too small fail when 

 you need them most, in wet seasons. 



4. Put your tile down to a good depth. Otherwise they will not draw 

 well to any considerable distance. Make them four feet deep in the lowest 

 ground if possible. The extra cost of good depth is small in proportion to 

 the total cost. 



5. Have your drainage engineer inspect the work during construction 

 and test the grades of the drains and see that the work is well done. Many 

 tile become choked with mud because not laid true. 



6. Be sure to protect the outlet. Build a bulkhead wall of brick or stone 

 to hold the end. Also use a piece of iron pipe at the end, if tile is not too 

 large, or for large drains use a few feet of sewer pipe cemented. 



7. If you are obliged to construct an open ditch, make it at least five to 

 seven feet deep, if possible, to give good outlets for tile, and to avoid chok- 

 ing up. 



8. The bottoms of open ditches should be at least three feet wide, and 

 the sides should be given slopes of at least one foot horizontal to one verti- 

 cal to avoid choking. Dirt should not be piled near the edges of the bank . 



POINTS TO NOTE IN PLANNING YOUR DRAINAGE SYSTEM. 



1. Character of the land, as swampy, low, sloping, dry, etc., also re- 

 tentive or open, depth of surface soil, condition of subsoil, etc. 



2. Acreage of various kinds just described, their location relative to 

 drains, etc. 



3. The outlet, its character, capacity, depth, protection required for 

 tile, etc. 



4. Fall or grade for mains, submains, and laterals, with depth of cut- 

 ting required. 



5. Various expedients, such as the use of cut-ofifs across necks of land, 

 to save distance and gain fall. 



6. Your drainage engineer should be competent to handle these 

 problems. 



ON PROPERTY ASSESSMENTS. 



1. Place the highest assessment on the swampy land, next highest on 

 the wet, pasture land, then a small amount on the low land which is tillable 

 but needs tiling, and little or no assessment on the rolling, dry land. 



2. The land in the immediate vicinity of the drain is assessable higher 

 than that some distance away. 



3. Land near the upper end of the drain is assessed the highest on this 

 point, gradually decreasing to a small amount at the outlet. 



