644 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part II I. 



is often used, when the auger is not applied, to prick or open the sand or gravel, and 

 give a more easy issue to the water. The chisel is an inch and a half or two inches 

 broad at the point, and made very sharp for cutting stone ; and the punch an inch square, 

 like the other part of the rods, with the point sharpened also. There is a shifting handle 

 of wood (d), that is fastened with two iron wedges affixed to it, for the purpose of turn- 

 ing round the rods in boring ; and also two iron keys (/, c), for screwing and unscrew- 

 ing the rods, and for assisting the handle when the soil is very stiff, and more than two 

 men required to turn it. 



3993. To judge when to make use of the borer is a difficult part of the business of drain- 

 ing. Some have been led into a mistaken notion, both as to the manner of using it, 

 and purpose for which it is applied. They think, that if by boring indiscriminately 

 through the ground to be drained, water is found near enough the surface to be reached 

 by the depth of the drain, the proper direction for it is along these holes where water has 

 been found, and thus make it the first implement that is used. The contrary is the case, 

 and the auger is never used till after the drain is cut ; and then for the purpose of per- 

 forating any retentive or impervious stratum, lying between the bottom of the drain and 

 the reservoir or strata containing the spring. Thus does it greatly lessen the trouble 

 and expense that would otherwise be requisite in cutting the trench to that depth to which, 

 in many instances, the level of the outlet will not admit. 



3994. The manner of using it is simply thus : in working it, two, or rather three men 

 are necessary. Two stand above, one on each side of the drain, who turn it round by 

 means of the wooden handles, and when the auger is full they draw it out ; and the man 

 in the bottom of the trench clears out the earth, assists in pulling it out, and directing 

 it into the hole, and he can also assist in turning with the iron handle or key, when the 

 depth and length of rods require additional force to perform the operation. The work- 

 men should be cautious in boring, not to go deeper at a time without drawing, than 

 the exact length of the shell, otherwise the earth, clay, or sand, through which it is bor- 

 ing, after the shell is full, makes it very difficult to pull out. For this purpose the 

 exact length of the shell should be regularly marked on the rods, from the bottom up- 

 wards. Two flat boards, with a hole cut into the side of one of them, and laid along- 

 side of one another over the drain in the time of boring, are very useful for directing 

 the rods in going down perpendicularly for keeping them steady in boring, and for the 

 men standing on when performing tlie operation. 



3995. The horizontal auger {Jig. 513.), is another boring instrument employed in 



particular cases. It was invented by Halford, of Hathern, in Leicestershire, but is 

 little used. The advantages of it are, in some cases, considerable, by lessening the 

 expense of cutting, and performing the work in a much shorter time. "Where a drain 

 or water-course has to pass under a bank, road, hedge, wall, riviAet of water, or for 

 drying marl-pits, &c. it may be used to advantage in excavating a sufficient passage for 

 the water, without opening a trench. In laying leaden pipes for the conveyance of 

 water, it is also useful in making a hole in which the pipe may be laid without opening 

 a cut on purpose. For tapping springs, or finding water at the bottom of a hill, either 

 for the supply of a house, or for draining the ground, it may likewise be used with suc- 

 cess ; as the water of the spring when hit on, will flow more easily, and in greater 

 abundance through a horizontal or level, than through a perpendicular outlet. 



3996. The manner of using it is thin : suppose a lake or pond of water, surrounded 

 with high banks, to be emptied, if the ground declines lower on the opposite side, find 

 the level of the bank where the perforation is to be made. There smooth the surface 

 of the ground so as to place the frame nearly level with the auger, pointing a little up- 

 wards. It requires two men to turn the handles at top (a), in order to work it ; and when 

 the auger or shell is full, the rods are drawn back by reversing the lower handle (6) ; and 



