DRAINAGE. 131 



should be sufficient to carry off any silt, sand, or other obstructions that may get into the 

 pipes. On very level farms the prairies, for instance it may often be difficult to secure the 

 necessary grade, without bringing the upper portions of the drains too near the surface. It 

 is better, therefore, to have the levels all taken before the work is begun (which can be done 

 at slight expense and labor), than to incur the cost of correcting, afterwards, mistakes that 

 may be made at the commencement. We therefore advise that the services of a competent 

 civil engineer be secured, and that these levels be taken on cross lines about fifty feet apart, 

 and marked on a map of the farm, or land to be drained; and when this is done, there is a 

 map for guidance marked in fifty-feet squares, where the relative height of each square is 

 marked at the intersection of these lines, so that, having the lines for drains previously 

 marked, when the farmer digs his drains for laying the tiles, he knows precisely the depth he 

 must go at each point to give a uniform fall, and thus the saving of labor and the avoiding 

 of mistakes will well repay the slight expense required to secure this knowledge. By this 

 means the farmer can have a map to refer to, showing the exact location and depth of every 

 main and side-drain on the premises; and he can go on from year to year doing as much or 

 as little an amount of labor as he chooses, but always working with the assurance that he is 

 on the correct principle and knows what he is about, and that he is working out one definite 

 plan. This same plan will afterwards enable him to find, without any difficulty, any point he 

 may wish to obtain access to for repairs, etc. 



In England there is an accredited profession of farm-engineering, regulated and encour 

 aged by the English agricultural laws. It would be a great aid to the agricultural interests 

 of this country if the farmers of every state could have the benefit of just such competent 

 assistance, based upon accurate mathematical knowledge and experience. The members of 

 this profession in England are required to pass a severe and critical examination, proving 

 themselves to be thoroughly competent, both theoretically and practically, for the position, 

 before admission. 



Locating the Main Drains and Tributaries. Having determined where the 

 outlet will be, which, as has been previously stated, is a very important question to decide, 

 the next step will be to locate the main drains; and this can be properly accomplished only 

 by taking into consideration the surface of the land. If the surface is uneven or undulating 

 the main receiving-drains should be carried along the lowest part of the land, in the hollows, 

 while the branches or parallel drains, running in the line of the greatest ascent of the ground, 

 flow into them, often at nearly right angles. Where the land is nearly level, and a fall is 

 obtained only by increasing the depth of the drains at the lower ends, the tiles may run in 

 any direction convenient. The conformation of the land may often be such that a single 

 field may require several distinct sets of drains, lying at different angles, suited to the various 

 slopes of the surface; but in all cases where slopes occur, the pipes should be laid directly up 

 and down the slope, so that the water once entering at the joints of the tiles will not run out 

 again at other joints, but will follow the course of the pipes to the end. In an irregular 

 field, where the slopes are in different directions, of course it will be impossible to have the 

 drains run directly up and down the slope, and at the same time parallel to each other, which 

 would be the most economical. 



In varying from parallel directions, there is danger of getting the pipes too far apart, and 

 making the drainage incomplete, or of crowding them so near together as to be quite expen 

 sive; hence, there must be the exercise of careful judgment in laying out the system of 

 drains, in order to arrange the slope correctly, and yet accomplish the desired end in drainage 

 without incurring unnecessary expense. 



When part of the field is flat, and other portions have a considerable slope, the best 

 authorities advise placing a receiving-drain near the bottom of the slopes, and giving the 

 level ground an independent set of drains. The surface of the ground, convenience of 



