THE DRAINAGE OF FARMS. 87 



pains to have their men and horses fully broken in to the work, 

 there will be an ample reward in the cheapness and expedition 

 with which the drains shall be executed.&quot; 



I have given the account of this implement to my reader, if 

 indeed he has had breath enough to get through it, rather as 

 matter of curiosity, than with even the slightest expectation that 

 such a machine could, with any possible advantage, be intro 

 duced into my own country. Yet there are persons who bear 

 testimony to their having used it to accomplish a large extent of 

 drainage. In my opinion, such persons are of the right nerve to 

 be sent upon a forlorn hope ; and the proper team for such a 

 machine is not a team of horses, but of elephants. 



11. DRAINING WITH BROKEN STONES. Underground drain 

 ing has been practised, in several counties, for more than a cen 

 tury ; and the construction of drains, by filling the bottoms with 

 small stories, is by no means a new process. In such case, the 

 drains were dug and filled in, somewhat after the subjoined cuts. 



They were dug to the depth of perhaps 20 inches, and filled 

 in with small or broken stones to the depth of about six inches 

 the stones were covered with an inverted turf, or with straw, and 

 the dirt was thrown in upon it, and the land levelled. It must 

 be admitted that these drains have proved of an efficient and 

 permanent character; and, where stones are easily to be had, this 

 form of draining, all circumstances considered, may be highly 

 eligible, the shallowness only excepted. In some 

 cases, the broken stones fill the whole bottom of 



the drain ; in others, two or three * ^ 7 



flat stones are sometimes set up, thus, / \ or \/ or 

 with a view of forming a more ready passage for the water. It 

 is obvious that the second form is more likely to keep itself 

 clear than the former, from the water being compressed into 



