THE YOUNG FAKMER'S MANUAL. 309 



vent the frost from injuring them, lay a few feet of the outlet 

 with scantling and plank ; or, with scantling for the sides and 

 flat stones for covering. Timber for such places should be of the 

 most durable kind. The earth should be shovelled away at the 

 outlet as often as it works inward so as to obstruct the water 

 from flowing freely. The practice is too prevalent, even among 

 some good farmers, of leaving the earth some three or four inches 

 higher, a few feet below the outlet, than it is at the end of the 

 calibre. When left in such a condition, drains are very liable to 

 fill up in the calibre near the end of the outlet. The young 

 farmer should not neglect to have the earth cleared away in 

 the spring and in autumn, so that the stream of water may 

 wash out all gravel and fine earth which has found its way into 

 the calibre. But if water is forced to " back up " at the outlet, 

 gravel and earth will be carried down almost to the outlet, where 

 it will lodge and soon close the water passage. 



HOW TO FORM SMALL POOLS IN A DRAIN FOR WATERING STOCK. 



428. On farms where all the water is collected in underdrains, 

 it is often very convenient to have some arrangement so that 

 animals may obtain water. Water is collected in underdrains, on 

 my own farm, which run the whole length of it. At the lower 

 side of each field I cut a gully with plow and scraper, directly 

 across the drain, wide enough for a span of horses and plow to 

 pass back and forth, and not less than six inches deeper than the 

 bottom of the drain, after the tile or stone have been removed. 

 Now, place a box without a bottom in it, made of good plank, 

 three or four feet long and about two feet wide, and one foot or 

 more high, with the corners halved or rabbeted together in the 

 channel of the drain. In the upper end of the box cut a hole a 

 little larger than the calibre of the tile or stone ; and in the lower 

 end of the box, bore a dozen or more according to the size of 

 the calibre inch holes, close together. At the lower end of the 

 box, on the outside, make a large calibre with flat stones, for a 

 foot or two from the box, so as to direct the water, as it flows 



