Book III. 



DRAINING IMPLEMENTS. 



643 



out another, or even two other spits, which makes the whole depth from thirty to forty 

 inches. 



3982. The duration of drains must necessarily depend on the nature of the materials 

 with which they are filled, and in some measure on the quality of the soil, as certain 

 species of land have the power of preserving wood or other perishable materials much 

 longer than others. Stones last till accidental causes impede the flowing of the water, 

 and may last for ever. Wood perishes in certain periods, but it does not follow that 

 the drains should stop ; if the earth arches, the water will necessarily continue to flow, 

 which is found to be the case when wood, straw, and stubble, are rotten and gone. 

 Drains that have been filled with bushes and straw, both which were rotten, have been 

 observed to run well forty years after making. 



3983. The expense of drains will of course vary with the soil, depth, price of labor, 

 &c. , and these circumstances are so different in different districts, and even in difierent 

 parishes, that it accounts for the various reports of writers on the subject. Those far- 

 mers who are most solicitous to have the work well performed, contract with men only 

 for digging and leaving clean, in order that the filling may be done by men paid by the 

 day, as a greater security that it should be executed with all possible care ; whatever 

 may be the expense and trouble incurred in draining, it may be safely asserted, that if 

 the work is judiciously contrived, and properly executed, no kind of outlay will prove 

 so beneficial to the cultivator. 



3984. The enemies of drains, according to Marshal, are moles, field mice, and the 

 roots of trees ; the two first may be kept under by traps or other devices ; but the last 

 enemy is not easily guarded against but in the laying out of the drain, which should 

 always if possible be kept distant from trees or woody plants of any description. 



Sect. VII. Of the Implements peculiar to Draining. 



3985. The tools peculiar to draining are chiefly of the spade kind ; there are also boring 

 instruments of different kinds. 



3986. The draining-scoop (Jig. 511 a, b, c), is a 

 crooked kind of tool made use of in some cases for 

 clearing out the loose materials from the bottoms of 

 drains. It is formed of different sizes and breadths, 

 according to the drains, and in working is drawn or 

 pushed along the bottom. 



3987. The draining shovel (d], is another sort of 

 implement employed for the same purpose as the above. 

 It is made with a crooked handle, and the edge of the 

 shovel part is turned up, in order to prevent the ma- 

 terials from falling off. 



3988. The draining sod knife (e), is an implement 

 made use of with great benefit in scoring or cutting ^ 

 out the sward in forming drains. 



3989. Draining spades (f, g, h), are made of different breadths, so as to follow each 

 other, and cut the drains narrow at the bottoms. An upper and pointed draining-spade, 

 [g) is in general use, and a wooden one {h) is employed in peat soils. 



3990. The draining straio-twistin^ engine, is a machine of very simple construction, 

 already described (2457.), and capable of being readily removed, contrived for the pur- 

 pose of twisting straw into ropes, in order to the filling of drains with it. 



3991 . The common borer and peat borer have been already described (2428. 2430.) 



3992. The common draining auger 512 

 (fig. 512.), consists of four parts, the 

 shell or wimble, the chisel, the rod, ' 

 and the handle. The auger shell or 

 wimble (e), as it is variously 'called, for 

 excavating the earth or strata through 

 which it passes, is generally from two 

 and a half to three and a half inches in 

 diameter ; the hollow part of it one foot 

 four inches in length, and constructed 

 nearly in the shape of the wimble 



used by carpenters, only the sides of the shell come closer to one another. The rods (a) , 

 are made in separate pieces of four feet long each, that screw into one another to any 

 assignable length, one after another, as the depth of the hole requires. The size above 

 the auger is about an inch square, unless at the joints, where, for the sake of strength, 

 they are a quarter of an inch more. There is also a chisel and punch (6), adapted for 

 screwmg on in going through hard gravel, or other metallic substances, to accelerate the 

 passage of the auger, which could not otherwise perforate such hard bodies. The punch 



Tt 2 



