THE YOUNG FARMEK'S MANUAL. 299 



LAYING TILE IN A DITCH. 



412. This is a part of draining which requires the exercise of 

 more good judgment than anything else in making a drain. "When 

 tile are all very straight and true, and the ends square, if the 

 bottom of the ditch is as true as it should be there will be little 

 difficulty in laying them in the best manner ; but when some of 

 them are crooked, and the ends of many by no means as square 

 as they should be, it is often difficult to lay them as well as they 

 should be laid. I must condemn the practice, which is too fre 

 quently recommended, of placing the tile in the ditch with a 

 tile-hook and staff, while the workman is standing on the surface 

 of the ground. In order to lay tile as they should be laid, the 

 workman must stand in the ditch. Of course, he will understand 

 that, in tiling or stoning a ditch, he should always commence at 

 the head of it, so that nothing can flow down and enter the 

 water passage. Now, the idea is, to have the calibre of each 

 tile placed so that a smooth passage will be formed throughout 

 the entire length of the drain. Place the first tile at the upper 

 end of the ditch, and stop the upper end with a stone, and stamp 

 the tile down firmly with one foot. Now place another to the 

 end of it, and stamp it down, so that the ends will exactly corres 

 pond. If a tile is crooked, and is of such a form that it will not 

 answer to turn it over in order to make it fit better on the 

 ground, or if the middle or one end of it is kept too high by a 

 small stone in the bottom of the ditch, I always use a rammer of 

 some description, and sink the earth until the tile will lie in the 

 most desirable position. Sometimes the ends of one tile will 

 pitch down more than the tiles at each end of it. In such a case, 

 I use hard dirt, well rammed down, and lay the tile on it and 

 stamp it down, or place a thin piece of flat stone under one or 

 both ends, to raise it to the desired position. The ends of tile 

 are very seldom so square that a dime could not be dropped 



