How to Tile Drain. 93 



spade down by your weight, push it slightly forward to loosen the 

 earth, and then pull back and take it out and land the whole 

 spadeful on the bank if you can. In time you will learn to throw 

 it nearly all out clean, although in some soils this is difficult. A 

 green hand will often leave half of it, let it crumble off the end 

 of the spade and fall back, and then it must be shoveled out. I 

 always put the first cut or sod on the right side and pile it in a 

 narrow high heap about one foot back from edge of ditch. Then 

 I walk on this little path to do the scooping for laying tiles and 

 also lay the tiles from the same place, as I will describe later. 

 Then the next two cuts in regular draining, three cuts deep (near 

 three feet), are thrown on the left side (as you face the outlet) 

 close to bank and high up, rather than far back, so it will go back 

 in easier. In this way you can put the subsoil back in the bottom, 

 and the soil on top, when filling. Of course, when you come to 

 where you w r ant a side drain you must dig out a way as you pass. 

 The bottom of side drains, for three or four-inch mains, I leave 

 about two inches higher than the bottom of main. The water 

 should flow down into main some, not go in on a level. 



After digging the first sod or cut, I take a shovel and clean 

 loose earth out of bottom and throw on top of sod piled outside. 

 Almost invariably when I do draining there is water in the soil. 

 After getting out this first cut all clean, I grade the bottom with 

 spade or shovel, so water runs with an even fall, what I think I 

 can allow. Then I dig the next cut with same spade, taking care 

 to hold it just the same way, and force it just the same depth, all 

 the time. This keeps an even grade. A man not used to it will 

 vary his digging considerably and this will make trouble after- 

 wards. Of course, the second cut will naturally be narrower than 

 the top, say eight inches wide. To clean this and the bottom cut 

 out I use a narrow shovel of my own make. I togk a common 

 shovel to the shop and had the sides cut off, so it was scant six 

 inches wide, then I put in a long crooked handle, such as is found 

 in the four-tined manure forks we use, but the crook turns the 

 other way, so when standing up straight, nearly, I can push the 

 shovel along ahead and clean bottom of ditch. I stand in bottom 

 to do this. The third cut is dug no wider at the bottom than six 

 inches, for tiles from two to four inches in diameter. It is cleaned 

 out in the same way as second and earth thrown on subsoil pile 

 outside. Next I take a scoop (one that pushes from you I prefer), 

 and beginning at lower end and walking along next to sod cut out 

 the little groove that the tiles are to be laid in. After cutting 

 through I notice particularly the flow of water in the groove. 

 If there are any ' ' rapids " I do some more scooping, until there 

 is an even, uniform flow or current from end to end, where this is 

 practicable. Of course, you may run along some distance on quite 

 level land and then come to a side hill with much more fall. You 

 could not here make the fall all uniform from end to end. Scoops 



