78 



DRAINING. 



Account of 



Hk-.rii:;. :/ 

 mode of 

 draining. 



X 



CM of the 

 boring au- 

 ger. 



boles are to be made at every few yards in the but 

 or on one tide of the drain, down through the . 

 live c -itil tin- stratum below is tap|H*d. mid 



the water rises in the bore, and flows along the dniin 

 made in tin- upper clay. This instrument 

 long employed in digging wells, and in mining for the 

 purpose of searching for water, and drawing it o'!'. but 

 seems first to have been employed for the r 

 land by Mr l-'llxhigton ; though the principle upon 

 which it is Applied was fir t published, mid tin- use of 

 it suggestcti. by l)r An. l<i -.MI. It is, without doubt, 

 nn instrument of great value to the farrrn r this 



purpose, and for examining the various inferior strata 

 of his land, by which useful discoveries are ollcn 

 made. Hut its utility us a draining instrument is by 

 no means so universal a* at first it was proclaim 

 be. 



" The borer used in draining, is similar to th:it made 

 use of m searching for coal, or other subterraneous mi- 

 neral*. The auger, shell, or wliimble. as it is various- 

 ly called, for excavating ttie earth and strata through 

 which it passes, is from two and a half to three, and a 

 naif inches diameter, the hollow part one foot four 

 inches in length, and constructed nearly in the - 

 of the whimblc used by carpenters, only the sides of the 

 shell come closer to one another. The rods are made 

 in separate pieces, of four feet each, which screw to- 

 gether to any length, one after another, as the depth 

 of the hole requires. The size above the auger is 

 about an inch square, unless at the joints, where, for 

 the sake of strength, they are a quarter of an inch 

 more. There is also a chissel and puneh for screwing 

 on, in going through hard gravel or metallic substances, 

 to accelerate the passage of the auger, which could not 

 otherwise perforate such hard bodies. The punch is 

 often u-cd when the auger is not applied to prick or 

 open the sand or gravel, and give a more easy issue to 

 the water. The chissel is an inch and an half or two 

 inches broad at the point, and made very sharp, for 

 cutting stone; and the punch an inch square, and shar- 

 pened also. There is a shifting handle of wood, that 

 is fastened with two iron wedges, affixed to it for the 

 purpose of turning round the rods in boring ; and also 

 two iron keys, for sere-wing and unscrewing the rods, 

 and for assisting the handle when the soil is stiff, and 

 more than two men required to turn it. 



The manner of using it is this : In working it, two 

 men, or rather three, are necessary ; two stand above, 

 on either side of the drain, who turn it round by means 

 of the wooden handle, and when the auger is full they 

 draw it out ; and the man in the bottom of the trench 

 clears out the earth, assists in pulling it out, and di- 

 recting it into the hole ; and who can also assist in 

 turning with the iron handle or key, when the depth 

 and length of the rods require it. The workmen should 

 be cautious not to go deeper at a time than the length 

 of the shell, otherwise it is dillictilt to pull it out. Two 

 or four flat Ixwrds, with a hole in the side of one of 

 them, and laid across the drain, an- useful for direct- 

 ing the rods, and for the men to stand on." 



In boring or forming pits for tap-drains, it is not ne- 

 GCMary to put them down in the quagmire ; for that 

 can seldom be done with effect, the stuff closing upon 

 them so speedily. It is better to have them in the firm 

 ground, as near as possible, especially at the commence- 

 ment. After the water has been tapped by these, the 

 quaggy ground will subiidc, and get firm ; enabling us 

 to prolong the drain, if need be, and to sink new pits 

 or bores, in cue the stratum containing the water 



should he interrupted. The moM. convenient plare. Orininn. 



't doubt, is that where the stratum approaches - , 

 nearest to the !rui: ,-h is put down ''O'ugof 



near the tail of the sand, is not mor.- n-.-i'ul than the *} t| , 

 bore G at the same K-\i-l ; whili v> which P^ATE 



passes the tail cil' the sand, c.in IK- of no benefit what- ii\\\ni. 

 ever. In iuiiiiedi::! b v bed Fig. 10. 



is a stratum of tight clay mixed with 

 great firrnne-i. under three or four feet of quaggy 

 ground: This lias < 

 drainer, by leading him to think he had arrived at a 



bottom. This is a good situation for Living the 

 conduit, or sough of the drain, if tl. : he outlet 



admits ol'it ; but it MI red by .tin- borer, or pick 



nnd spade, without regarding the trivial springs that 

 appear therein, until the reservoir be arrived at. By 

 a careful examination of the adjoining ground, it is 

 sometimes possible to say at what depth this may be 

 found ; but, in general, the ride is, to go down till the 



;-ii>e immediately on withdrawing the aii;:i r. Mr 

 Elkington has Ixircd thirty feet before the water flowed 

 plentifully, but from ten to flleen fret is more usual. 



.. 1 1. is intended to explain j-onie accidents that of- F'g- " 

 ten occur in this kind of draining, and, at the 

 time, show how the same principles may be applied to 

 other cases, and especially the digging of wells. 



DC is a stratum of sand, renting on a bed of clay or 

 solid rock, and extending under the hill L : it only 

 bas-si-ts or crops in the level valley from K to K, where 

 it forms the bottom of a pent bog or moss, which has 

 risen over it, on account of the valley having litt! 

 clivity, so that water stands constantly in tiic sandy 

 subsoil. HI", is a bed of clay lying over the sand, and 

 likewi.se running under the hill ; beyond which it crops 

 out at I 1 ".. This bed of clay in the vale, from (' to I-', is 

 but thin, so that it tin re forms a Imttom of spouting 

 clay soil, with springs and quagmires, owing to tin- 

 pressure of the water in the sand.bcd below. The hill L 

 is composed of gravel and sand ; but, on the right side 

 at 1", this is overlapped by a thick cover of clay to the 

 summit : on the left side also, at II, there is a cover of 

 clay, which is much thinner, and does not extend to 

 the summit: it abounds in springs, forming a bank of 

 spouting clay soil with rushes. Each of these ( 

 of clay unite with tile bed BE at the foot of the hill, 

 where a field of cold clay land is found on either 



Now, the improvement of this ground is begun by 

 the proprietor on the left I propose* to drain 



the moss KK by bleeding the sand; for this purpose, 

 he leads up the main drain \Lc along the tail of the 

 sand, where it meets the clay. I le finds it necessary 

 to sink it only by little and little. MI that the sand may 

 have time to drain and get firm, otherwise the sides 

 run in upon him : and that he must clear the whole 

 length of the drain to the outlet, before sinking any 

 part lower than another; for after getting down an inch 

 or two, the sand appears as fluid as water. In this 

 operation he succeeds to a certain degree; nnd it is per- 

 ceived, that the run of water from the valley, by the 

 drain r '.rr than it h.id ever been lefore : and 



16 time, the quaggy Ixittom on the right of tin- 

 hill has been somewhat benefited, and the springs at G 

 give rather less water. The reason is obvious: apart 

 nl' the supply is diverted, and the fountain-head lower- 

 ed. Were he to persevere until he came to the bottom 

 of the sand, the land at (i would be drained, for it i.s 

 on a higher level ; but this proprietor has no interest 

 in so doing. 



He next proposes to find water at K, in the morast, 



