598 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
the banks of the channel where the ground was so soft that it could be readily spaded. 
For drains of ordinary size, the bottoms of ditches were dressed only eight inches 
wide and the channel was excavated about five inches deep. By this arrangement an 
excellent ditch was made at the cheapest possible rate. One great advantage in the 
use of planks laid crosswise, in filling ditches, is the effectual exclusion of mice. 
How to prepare the planks.—For ditches ten inches wide, our practice has been to saw 
the planks into pieces ten inches long. When the pieces were placed in’the ditch, the 
_ ends fitted so neatly to the side walls that even mellow earth could not be washed 
into the channel. For sawing the planks, a common circular horse-saw, driven by a 
two-horse railway power, was employed—the machine used for sawing fire-wood—with 
which a man, aided by a boy, could sawa thousand feet of planksin onehour. Planks 
of any width and of available lengths were worked up in the most economical manner. 
The pieces were assorted before they were laid in the ditch, as one poor piece 
of plank in the middle of a long drain will cause an obstruction in a few years, as 
one bad shingle will make a leaky roof when almost every square foot of surface 
is made of the best of shingles. Any kind of durable timber may be employed 
for filling ditches in the foregoing manner. Before the pieces are laid in the ditch, the 
timber should be thoroughly seasoned, and, if the pieces could be dipped into boiling 
coal-tar after they are seasoned, they would not decay for a hundred years. 
The writer employed hemlock to fill several miles of ditch; and every lineal rod of 
it has rendered excellent service for the last twenty years, showing but little decay. 
One drain filled with planks has sent out a large stream of water for more than thirty 
years. It is impossible to keep the water out of such a ditch, if the planks be laid as 
close together as the pieces can be placed. The water will percolate down past the 
ends, and flow into the channel. 
Filling ditches with oak timber—In certain localities in Ohio, where stones were scarce, 
‘and tiles could not be obtained, and where white oak was abundant and cheap, many 
tillers of the soil have filled their ditches with split timber. Some of the trees were 
sawed into cuts about four feet long, or eight feet if the timber would split easily, 
after which the logs were split into billets about three or four inches square, according 
to the capacity of the drain. Other trees were sawed into cuts, some eight inches, 
some ten, and others twelve inches long, allof which were riven into slabs about two 
inches thick, which were employed for covering, placed from one billet to the other, 
across the ditch. In case there was but little water, only one billet was laid on one 
side of the bottom of the ditch, and the covering pieces were laid with one end on the 
billet, and the other end on the bottom of the ditch. If thoroughly seasoned before it 
is buried in a ditch, oak timber will endure a life-time. If near a good market, it 
would be more economical to sell oak timber and to purchase tiles. ; 
Objections to stone drains.—Unless stone drains are made three to four feet deep, and 
great pains taken to fill all the interstices with small stones covered with hard dirt, so 
that mice, rats, frogs, and other animals cannot work through and haul the earth down 
into the channel, the water-course is liable to be obstructed in many places. In many 
instances, a stream of water flowing on the surface of the ground, along or across a 
stone underdrain, will almost always form a large hole down to the stones, and wash 
the channel fall of earth. One instance may be referred to, of a large stone drain that 
was made forty-five years ago, no part of which has ever failed, although the ditch was 
sunk only two feet in depth. The stones were laid with much care, and the surface 
was so neatly chinked with small stones that mice could not work through. We have 
also known stone drains made in a careless manner, which did not operate satisfactor- 
ily for two years, as the surface was not properly chinked with small stones. 
Comparative cost of stones and tiles—When the writer first commenced underdraining 
with stones, he learned that he was obliged to work faithfully and to move qnickly to 
gather and distribute stones enough along a ditch in one day of ten hours, to stone ten 
lineal rods of ditch. Common laborers, when employed by the day, would not accom- 
plish so much as that. Then, on an average, he could stone one rod per hour, and do 
it well. Some “jobbing ditchers” professed to stone twenty to forty rods in a day; 
but the depressions and interstices and holes would not be well filled with small stones. 
No value was placed on the stones; and the labor of the team was of no account, as the 
horses would require no more feed to perform that little labor than if they were idle. 
Hence there were the wages of one man three days to stone twenty rods of ditch, com- 
puted at $6. It would require for twenty rods about two hundred and eighty-two tiles 
fourteen inches long. At i+ cents each for two-inch tiles, the expense would be about 
$3 52, besides the laying, which one man would easily performinanhour. This shows 
a difference in favor of the two-inch tiles of about $2 48 in twenty rods, or about 12 
cents per lineal rod, even where stones cost nothing except the labor of gathering. 
When four-inch tiles were employed, which cost, when delivered, about 4 cents each, 
there was a marked difference in favor of the stones. Hence it-was concluded to be 
most economical to employ stones if they could be obtained on the farm, if not needed 
for other purposes, when drains were required of a larger capacity than a two-inch 
tile. If stones are abundant, and must be removed from the field, employ them to fill 
