300 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



into the calibre after they have been placed in the ditch, and 

 frequently the ends are so untrue, that the upper side of the 

 joints will be open from half to three-fourths of an inch. In such 

 a case I usually try another tile, or change ends with it, or turn 

 it on the side, or upside down. If then I fail to make the ends 

 fit as closely as they should, I place a lot of small flat stones 

 over and on the sides of the open joint, and then cover the stones 

 with hard dirt with my hands, so that nothing will be displaced 

 when the dirt is plowed or shovelled in. A tile that will not 

 endure hard stamping, for the purpose of sinking it into the dirt, 

 is not fit to be laid in a ditch. The aim of the workman should 

 always be, in laying tile, to place them in such a manner that 

 they will never sink, so that the ends of them will not be uneven 

 with each other. If the bottom of a ditch is neatly graded, and 

 the tile are very true, an experienced workman will be able to 

 lay three thousand, or even more than that number in a day. 

 But if tile are crooked, and the ends not true, and the bottom of 

 the ditch is full of little stones which must be rammed down to 

 a level, a laborer may sometimes labor most faithfully and not 

 lay more than one thousand in a day. It is always desirable to 

 have the joints between tile so close that there will be barely 

 room to receive a knife-blade of ordinary thickness ; but if there 

 is, in some places, a space of three-eighths of an inch at the joints 

 of tile which have a calibre of over three inches, any substance 

 that would find its way into a joint or space of that size would 

 be swept out by the force of the stream of water. When the cal 

 ibre of tile is less than three inches, and there is but little fall in 

 the ditch, the workman should be unusually particular in securing 

 tl a good Jit" at each joint, as the current of water in small tile 

 would be so slow, where there is not more than six or eight 

 inches fall in one hundred feet, that it would not be very apt to 

 carry dirt or very small gravel out of the tile. Some men seem 

 to prefer a little channel in the bottom of a ditch, to lay small tile 

 in ; but I have always found that with such crooked, untrue tile 

 as we are obliged to use, I could secure a better fit at the joints, when 

 the bottom of a ditch was about five or six inches wide, with no 

 channel in the middle. When very large tile are used, or when 



