184 FARM DEVELOPMENT 



the dead furrows to connect them with the larger ditches. 

 In some cases the reversible road machine, or the slush 

 or wheel scraper, should be used in these broad dead fur- 

 rows to lower them through slightly higher places, thus 

 making a uniform grade, that the water may run out 

 better. By thus making a system of flat open drains and 

 keeping them in repair, the farmer in the level lands of 

 the Valley of the Red River of the North is sometimes 

 able to plant his crops a week or two earlier in the 

 season. He thus insures a better crop and gets his grain 

 planting out of the way so that he may have the oppor- 

 tunity to plant his other crops in a seasonable time. 



Surveying the line of the ditch. Most drainage oper- 

 ations begin at the lower end of the ditch, the work pro- 

 ceeding upward, first along the main drain, then from 

 the chosen points in the main drain where the branches 

 are to have their junctions to the upper end of the respec- 

 tive branches. With the point and elevation of the out- 

 let determined, a stake should be placed at points 50 or 

 100 feet apart along the line of the proposed drain. 

 These stakes should be placed a foot from one side of the 

 proposed ditch, that they may not be disturbed in ex- 

 cavating. Where the work must be very accurate, it 

 is wise to use small stakes, 8 inches long and 2 inches 

 square, for hubs. These are driven even with the sur- 

 face of the land, beside the taller stakes which mark 

 their position. See Figure 68. 



The leveling instrument is then to be used in finding 

 the relative height of the successive points marked by 

 the stakes and hubs along the line of the proposed drain. 

 Some point should be chosen for a bench mark. Any 

 natural object which is not likely to be moved, as a 

 large bowlder, or a stone firmly buried beside a post in a 

 fence, will serve as such. The instrument should now 

 be set up where the leveling rod can easily be seen when 

 placed on the point chosen for the bench mark. See 



