294 THK YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



mence digging a little deeper, and about how deep he must sink 

 the bottom at the highest point on the surface, and about how 

 far he must dig before he runs out, he had better resort to stakes. 

 Stick a stake at the outlet and one at the head of the ditch after 

 it has been dug, like the line b b, allowing them to be say four 

 feet high. Now at the highest places, E E, set up stakes four 

 feet high, and then look over the tops of them ; and dig a hole in 

 the bottom of the ditch at E E, until the tops of the stakes at 

 E E will be in a line with those at the outlet and head of the 

 ditch. The ditcher should bring his head down in the ditch as 

 near the bottom as is convenient, when he will be able to discover 

 any depression or elevation in the bottom, as far as the eye can 

 distinguish. 



405. "When a ditch is to be filled with stone, if there is to be a 

 throat made in the bottom, the young farmer should make calcu 

 lations about how large a throat will be necessary, and about how 

 large will be the average size of the side stones. In this case the 

 corners of the ditch should be well dressed out, and the middle 

 dug about an inch the lowest, as shown by Fig. 133. (See 

 Par. 416.) The object of having the middle of the ditch the 

 lowest is, to keep the water from forming a channel between the 

 side-stones and the bank; which would be liable to displace the 

 stone, and thus form an obstruction in the drain. When the 

 corners are not well dug out in the bottom of a ditch, it is much 

 more difficult to stone it in a complete manner. There is no 

 necessity for digging out the corners of the bottom of a ditch for 

 tile, unless tile of the largest size is to be used, or two rows of 

 tile, as shown by Fig. 132, in which case the bottom should be 

 hollowed out, as shown in the figure. 



DEPTH AND SIZE OF DRAINS. 



406. It is totally impracticable for any individual to tell where 

 a drain should be cut, or how deep or how wide drains should be 

 made, without going on the ground during a wet, and sometimes 

 a dry part of the season, and examining the sources of the surplus 



