318 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



about ditching, will sometimes drain land and sometimes not. 

 Don't be a three- cent farmer, especially in underdraining. If 

 drains thirty inches deep will drain the land effectually, it is un- 

 neces.:ary to sink them deeper. If a three, or four, or five, or even 

 six feet drain is needed, never stop to compute the cost. Insist 

 on having everything performed just right. Never yield to the 

 suggestions of any one to make a drain according to the good- 

 enough-for-the-present system. If one or two day's work in a drain 

 seems to be necessary, drop every other job and have it done in 

 time. When a laborer has completed a job of ditching by the job, 

 and a ditch is not as deep as it should be in some places, if he has 

 dug as deep as he agreed to dig, employ him a day or so to com 

 plete it. Never commence filling a ditch until you have seen 

 water now from the upper end to the lower end, except one 

 knows positively that it will flow as directed. Water, in such 

 places, never deceives us. Levelling instruments may be incor 

 rect, or may vary, or an inexperienced hand may not adjust them 

 correctly. Water is the cheapest and the best, and always at 

 hand, even if it is not found in a ditch. Never spoil a drain for 

 the sake of using up every tile, both good and poor. If you are 

 a little suspicious that a tile is not hard enough, if it must be 

 used, lay all of that kind at the upper end of the ditch, and lay 

 them all together. Thousands of rods of drain have been stop 

 ped, simply from this cause, laying, occasionally, a tile among 

 good ones, which was so soft that it disintegrated in one season. 

 Never make a drain with two-inch tile to carry a stream of water 

 which will be large enough to fill a four-inch tile. Let every tile 

 and stone and plank be laid by some one who is a little interested 

 in having it done well. Do not trust a man to work at filling a 

 ditch who insists that he can stand on the surface of the ground 

 and do it just as well as to get into the ditch. If it is likely to 

 ruin a man's reputation should he be found with India-rubber 

 boots on, and other ditching duds, filling a ditch, then let it go. 

 In filling a ditch with stone, endeavor to make the throat or cali 

 bre of a uniform size. If the side stones are so large that they 

 will extend nearly across the bottom of a ditch, place a bowlder 



