308 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



on my farm, of tile and stone, my own hands have laid every 

 foot ; and there is not a rod of it that does not work very effect 

 ually. I have never dared to trust those men to fill my ditches 

 who were employed by my neighbors ; because they do not, in 

 some instances, know how to perform such a job in the most 

 approved manner; and, when they do know, they are too apt 

 to slight it. Being unable, once, to use a shovel myself, I em 

 ployed a man to fill a short ditch after the tile had been laid, and, 

 although he had put straw over the tile, he had allowed small 

 stones to drop on them, which had broken them in three different 

 places, and obstructed the water passage. A stone as large as a 

 hen's egg, when allowed to fall on tile in a deep ditch, if it should 

 strike just right, would break it. I pen these observations that 

 the young farmer may see the importance of being very careful 

 in placing the first earth on the tile. 



HOW TO FIND WHERE A DRAIN IS OBSTRUCTED. 



426. If the locality of a drain is known exactly, when the 

 water passage is obstructed dig down to the tile or stone ; and 

 if water does not rise in the hole where you dug, the obstruction 

 is above that place. (See Par. 6 and 7.) Now pass on up 

 stream, until it is thought best to dig again, or until the soil 

 appears to be full of water, and dig another hole. Now, if 

 water rises in the hole from the calibre and stands in the hole, 

 the obstruction is below that point. If there is not more water 

 than the drain can carry, the soil will be dry a short distance 

 down stream from the obstruction. If the exact locality of a 

 drain is not known, it may be found sometimes by running a 

 crowbar down for every six inches ; and when it is thrust in over 

 the drain, it will go down much faster and more easily than it 

 will when the subsoil has not been disturbed. 



HOW TO FORM THE OUTLET OF DRAINS. 



427. Both stone drains and tile drains are very apt to be dis 

 turbed and displaced by the frost at the outlets. In order to pre- 



