298 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



ditches have been dug, on account of the liability of the sides to 

 cave in. Ditches ought not to be left unfilled during the sum 

 mer, so that cattle and sheep will be jumping across them, for 

 they will be very liable to fall into them ; and if they do not 

 slip in, and carry a portion of the bank with them, they will 

 often tread up the bottom so that it will require more labor to 

 prepare it again for the tile than most men are aware of. 



410. Before a ditch is filled, if the young farmer does not 

 know positively that water will flow freely from the head to the 

 foot of a ditch, the fact should be ascertained without delay. 

 "When there is but little fall, it is the easiest thing in the whole 

 science of underdraining, to be greatly deceived with reference to 

 the amount of fall. I have seen many instances in which men, 

 who affirmed positively that they had not the shadow of a doubt 

 that water would flow from the head to the outlet of a ditch, 

 were most wofully disappointed when they saw water standing a 

 foot deep above the outlet. No man can determine, simply by 

 the eye, whether water will run towards the head or the foot of 

 a ditch, when the surface is about level. I have seen men so 

 confident that water would run out, that they have stoned their 

 ditches and filled them with earth, and afterwards had the very 

 unpleasant satisfaction of learning that the outlet of their drain 

 was about a foot higher than the middle or the head of it. 



411. As levelling instruments are not always at hand on a 

 farm, the most expeditious and most accurate manner for com 

 mon laborers to ascertain whether or not there is sufficient fall in 

 a ditch is, to pour a barrel or two of water into it at the head. 

 If it will flow onward until it reaches the outlet, we may rest 

 assured that water will not stand in it after it has been filled. 

 When a ditch is thirty or forty rods in length, it may be neces 

 sary to pour in three or four barrels of water, as the earth will 

 often absorb one or two in a short distance. It is a good prac 

 tice to grade the bottom of a ditch while there is a small stream 

 of water in it, as it can be done much more accurately than it 

 usually is performed when there is no water in it. 



