74 



DRAINING. 



PlATIS 



Fig. I, 8. 



fig- 3. 

 Fig. 4. 



Fig. 5. 





teen or SO inches Jeep of stone is usually employed. The 

 largest and mot open must be placed at bottom. 

 faggot of brushwood, or bottle of straw ni' 1 -^0 to tin 

 is sufficient forlhiec perches of drain. Upon thes' 

 terials a covering of some kind must be put, to prevent 

 the earthy matter, with \\lii. !i the up|>cr part of the trench 

 is filled, from being washed down while yet loose into the 

 porous part of the drain. Heath, straw, rushes, firm sod 

 or clods, if such rise in making the trench, may be used 

 for this purpose. Upon this cover ing, the Kxiscst and 

 part of the excavated earth .should lie laid, and the finer 

 mould reserved, to occupy its place nt the surface, and 

 rounded up a little to allow for the shrinking. Plate 

 ( t \\XIII. Figs. 1, 2. show the form of this kind of 

 drains. Fig. 1. is a drain filled with stones; Fig. 2. a 

 clay drain filled with straw or brushwood. 



Hollow or pipe drains are variously constructed. In 

 districts where thin flat stones nliouiul, and in cases where 

 the subsoil is deep, and of a loose friaMe texture, square 

 pipes of stone called goughs arc formed nt the bottom of 

 the trench, by a wide flat stone as a bottom, a dry wall 

 of splinters on the side, and a flat stone as a cover. The 

 size of the pipe is about 6 inches in the clear. Similar 

 drains arc sometimes formed of bricks. Such drains are 

 expensive, but effectual and durable. If the bottom be 

 good, and declivity gentle, the sole or bottom stone 

 may be omitted. See Fig. 3. 



At other times, two flat stones are placed against the 

 sides of the drain, meeting at bottom, and a third laid on 

 them as a cover, so as to leave a hollow triangular chan- 

 nel for the water, liable to few accidents. See Fig. +. 



In Devonshire, where thin flat stones and rough peb- 

 bles are equally plenty, it is common to form a channel, 

 by coupling two flat stones trianglcwise, to meet at the 

 top, and to fill in above with the pebbles. See Fig. 5. 



Bricks are also formed for the purpose of hollow drain- 

 ing, and may in many cases he useful. These bricks are 

 made of various shapes, but generally havca semicircular 

 cavity for the water to flow in, and rest in stiff ground on 

 the bottom, and in loose soils on each other, thereby form- 

 ing a circular pipe or conduit House tiles whelmed on 

 pan tiles may also be used. These arch tiles may be 

 made, when common bricks arc at 1 5s. per thousand, at 

 about 30s. per thousand without tax, and will lay a cavi- 

 ty of 6 inches by 5 of nearly 340 yards. Dried turf or 

 peats have also been employed like bricks, in tunning hol- 

 low drains in mossy soil. They might be cut by a graft- 

 ing tool, somewhat in the shape of arched bricks ; and 

 even in the common shape, it is probable that they 

 would last for a very long time in any kind of soil if pre- 

 Tiously well dried, while the facility of carriage would at 

 the same time be of great advantage. 



Where a bottom of firm clay or stift' loam is situated 

 beneath an open subsoil, very efficient drains may be 

 made in the clay itself, by scooping out a groove of 5 or 

 (i inches square in the bottom of the trench, leaving a 

 shoulder on each side. On these shoulders the upper 

 sod is rested, with the grass side undermost ; or sods are 

 brought for the purpose from old grass lands. The e\ 

 ted mould is then laid over the sod to fill up the trench. 

 See Fig. 6. As the turf decays, a part of the cover falls 

 down, and forms an arched roof to the pipe. Drains fil- 

 led with straw, get into this shape by the decay of that 

 substance. Another very simple kind of sod drain is 

 fonncd, by means of a strong common plough, and may 

 f*e found particularly useful on sheep pasture*. A deep 



furrow is first drawn through the hollow parts where the Draining. 

 water stagnates. A man follows with a spade*, and pu- JT'P''"""' 

 ring off the Iposc soil from the lower M. ie ^ 



>d or sward about 3 inches thick, turns it back again PLATE 

 into the furrow. I5y tlu^ , > \xill. 



3 or \ inches is formed, and will discharge considerable "' ? 

 quantity of water. An operation which, in case of need, 

 inii\ In' easily repeated. 



Hollow drains arc also formed by billets of wood, set 

 on end in the drain, and resting on either side alternate- 

 ly. The spate left 1 itweca them on the iip|*cr side is 

 filled with brushwood, straw < . that, and 



then the earth turned in. A < ds vhoidn 1 1/e ued, 



and laid when green. See Fig. 7. 



Another method is to fix in a stick like a hoof, at 

 the distance of every foot or so, and on these lay the 

 brushwood longitudinally; or to lay some stout sticks 

 cross the shoulders of the drain, and cover this by spray, 

 and the turf inverted. The greatest defect of these is, 

 their being liable to lie injured by the feet of cattle when 

 ploughing. 



When hollow drains are made in moss, it will be suffi- 

 cient to cut down the fibrous turf to a proper depth, and 

 then with the feather-edged peat-spade, or slave, to take 

 out a groove in the bottom. This operation being perform- 

 ed in summer, the shoulders will dry, and become firm; 

 and a part of the turf extracted being dried into ]>eats, they 

 may be placed over the groove, resting on the two should- 

 ers, and the trench filled up with the broken stun", which 

 will be found to transmit the water freely. In the shis- 

 tus countries, a slate may be laid in that r the 



groove, and will be very durable. We have seen such 

 drains running freely after thirty years, although the 

 slope was considerable ; a proof that fibrous peat i. 

 when kept from the sun and air, affords a good bottom for 

 hollow drains. 



In excavating such drains in moss, it is not necessary 

 to dig open the whole length of the trench ; for parts of 

 the surface may be here and there left firm, and a pipe 

 or sewer scooped out beneath them, to admit the water 

 to pass along. These solid pnrts will be very useful as 

 bridges, and soon becoming dry and tough, will, if gra- 

 velled over, admit even heavy carriages to pass on them. 

 In this way, when the size of the drain makes it worth 

 while, half of the cutting may be sparetl. 



As peat, when once thoroughly dried, imbibes u 

 again with great difficulty, and is so durable in that state 

 as to be sometimes used in Holland for the foundations 

 of houses, there is no doubt that broken peat would 

 answer as well as stones for filling subsoil drains, and in 

 many cases might even he preferable. 



Various inventions have lately been proposed, for DrainiBg 

 forming drains by machinery. Of these, the mole plough mac 1 . 

 and draining wheel seem worthy of notice. The former 

 consists of a bolt, or pin of iron, drawn horizontal! v at 

 the depth of a foot or more. Beneath the surface, a thin 

 coulter rises from the bolt or sock, and connects rt with 

 the beam, and is the only part which makes any mark 

 on the surface. Even this disappears in a few days, leav- 

 ing a bore of 2$ inches in diameter, which is found to 

 run well, and in cold retentive grass lands may be high- 

 ly beneficial. The. chief objection as to all other sclu 

 of the kind, is the great force required to draw it. A 

 capstan and small anchor is sometimes employed for that 

 purpose. The draining wheel has been already descri- 

 bed. See AoRicutTCRE, Vol. I. p. 389. 



