ON DRAINING. 119 



used. The drains to be filled with wood ar6 usually 32 

 inches in depth, 18 inches wide at the top, and about 6 

 inches at the bottom. It is essential to the efficiency and. 

 durability of wooden drains, that the sides be formed with a 

 proper and regular slope from top to bottom. The small 

 trees — or " spars," as they are desig-nated — are prepared for 

 being" put into the drain, in the following- manner : A portion 

 of the butt or thick end of each is sawn olf for placing- trans- 

 versely in the drain, about inches above the bottom ; the 

 breadth of the drain at this part ma}^ be assumed at 9 inches, 

 in which case the leng-th of the cross-bars will require to be 

 about 15 inches, so as to have 3 inches resting- on each side. 

 They are g-enerally about 4 inches in diameter, and are 

 placed in the drains at intervals of 4 feet a{)art; they are 

 forced firmly into their proper position by a few blows of a 

 heavy mallet, the workman taking- care that they are all in 

 the same plane or letel. Any earth loosened from the sides 

 in striking- down the bars is, of course, thrown out as the 

 work is proceeded with. After the butt-ends of the trees 

 (which are divested of their branches in the wood) are 

 severed, and placed transversely in the drains in the manner 

 just described, tlie remainder of them are laid longitudinally 

 above the bars, three being- commonly placed side by side, 

 and covered with the branches and twig-s, or with turf^ 

 Jheath, &c., previous to putting- in the earth cast out in open- 

 ing- the drains. It is obvious that this method of draining- 

 can be adopted with advantage only in situations where timbei* 

 is convenient and cheap, and when the subsoil is sufficiently 

 cohesive to atlbrd a proper supi)ort to the transverse bars of 

 wood ; bence it is inadmissible in the case of bog-g-y lands. 

 The putting- in of the wood is accomplished in a very ex- 

 peditious manner: two persons saw olf the butts, and another 

 places them in their proper })osition in the drain, after which 

 the long-itudinal spars are laid on as closely as ])ossible, with 

 the top and butt-ends altei-natelv in the same direction, so 

 as to make them fit the better. There is tlnis formed 

 beneath the wood a channel for the passag-e of water, of 

 about 6 inches in width and the same in depth. 



The cost of this mode of draining- obviously depends much 

 on the price of the wood emi)loyed. In most parts of this 

 country, the spars used for the purpose are obtainable at from 

 l.*f. to l.s\ 0^/. ]ier dozen ; and it requires four dozen, averag-ing- 

 20 feet in length, to do a hundred yards of drain. Drains thus 

 constructed have been known to last for a very long- period • 



