34 



THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



the best methods of procedure. Open drains or watercourses, commonly termed ditches, 

 though necessary to a certain extent, ought to be as little seen as possible, always 

 having them at the lowest and least unremunerative part of the land. They are 

 necessary, particularly in level tracts, to rid the land of surface water, and allow of the 

 under drains acting freely : therefore the watercourses must be cleaned out periodically, 

 for it is useless forming drains if their outlets are choked. Mere channels in the 

 subsoil, such as are formed by mole-draining, plug-draining and wedge- draining, may be 

 dismissed as totally inapplicable to fruit farms and gardens. 



Durable drains only answer the needs of the fruit grower. These are of two kinds, 

 viz., stone drains and tile drains. Stone drains are formed in two ways ; one is on the 



Fig. 7. STBONQ LOAM DEAININO REQUIRED. (Scale : \ inch = 1 foot.) 



open culvert system, which is formed of flat stones neatly arranged at the bottom of 

 the trench, the largest and flattest used for the base and for covers, and the smaller 

 placed at the sides. The second description of stone drain is known as the rubble, the 

 stones being broken, placing the largest at the bottom and the smallest at the top. It is 

 usual to cover such drains with a little brushwood before filling in. Drains of the kind 

 indicated answer fairly well, especially the first named, but are usually more expensive 

 in cutting and laying than tile drains. 



No material forms so good a conduit for water as pipes. Draining pipes or tiles 

 afford free ingress to water and exclude vermin. Many forms of tiles have been tried, 

 but all have given place to the cylinder, which is made in various diameters of core 



