312 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL* 



433. Fig. 139 represents the best manner of filling with wood. 

 F 1 39 Where there would be a stream of water as 

 large as a man's leg, the bottom of the ditch is 

 dug about ten inches wide, with the corners 

 dressed out very true, and a channel sunk in the 

 bottom, as shown, in the figure, from four to six 

 inches deep. Great care should be exercised in 

 cutting the channel, so that each bank be not 

 broken up. Now, have a log sawed into strips 



MANNER OF FILLING an ^ nc k an( ^ a na ^ ^7 two inches square, for the 

 DRAINS WITH PLANK. s i(} e .pi ec es. I have always had my logs sawed 

 into plank, and then the plank were slit with a circular horse-saw 

 into two-inch strips. (See SLITTING TABLE, Par. 689.) I have 

 sometimes slit up inch boards into strips two inches wide ; and I 

 think they are quite as good as if they were an inch and a half 

 thick. The covering should never be less than two inches thick ; 

 and plank should never be placed lengthways of a ditch, but al 

 ways crossways. Because, when a plank is placed lengthways it 

 is very liable to split, in consequence of a heavy superincumbent 

 pressure, and thus obstruct the water course. But when placed 

 crossways there is no danger of their splitting. And, more than 

 this, when plank are placed crossways there is no waste, as plank 

 of any width can be used ; whereas, if laid lengthways they must 

 be all of a uniform width. I saw up the covering plank, with a 

 horse saw, as long as the width of the ditch. Now place two 

 side-pieces in the ditch, and lay a plank on them, and nail it. 

 Nail a plank at the end of every side-piece. The plank should 

 be placed about half an inch apart, if they are a foot wide, and 

 seasoned, so that when the water expands or swells them, the joints 

 will not be so tight that there will be no space for the water to 

 enter. If there is but little water to flow in a drain, and the sub 

 soil is very hard, I dispense with the side-pieces, and lay the 

 plank over the channel, on the earth. Seasoned plank in a drain 

 will last twice as long as green ones ; and they will be much more 

 durable in a deep ditch than they will in a shallow one ; and in a 

 ditch where there is water nearly all the year, they will outlast 



