330 



SKETCHES OP RURAL AFFAIRS. 



water to be carried away. Whatever may be their 

 depth, they must be made with sloping sides to prevent 

 the crumbling down or undermining of the banks. They 

 are very useful in some situations, but occasion much 

 loss of soil. 



Covered drains of the simplest kind are trenches made 

 to the depth of two or three feet, and then filled with 

 stones or rubbish to within a foot of the surface. They 

 are made in hollow places where the water naturally 

 tends, and they are often found valuable, although not 

 very permanent in their effects. 



A more useful drain is that in which a conduit is 

 formed at the bottom, to afford at all times a free pas- 

 sage for the water. This conduit may be made in a 

 rough way, by placing dry stones in such a manner as 

 to leave a cavity at the lowest part of the drain. Or 

 walls may be roughly built with masonry about six 

 inches high, and the space enclosed covered in with 

 fiat stones, so as to leave an opening six inches wide. 

 The remainder of the drain is then filled 

 in, first with stones fitted together, that 

 they may not allow the earth to get in 

 and choke the drain ; then with a layer of 

 straw, heath, or furze (for the same pur- 

 pose of keeping the drain free of earth) ; 

 and lastly, with the natural soil which 

 had been dug out in making the drain. 

 This may be piled up in a curved form 

 over the drain, because it will be sure to 

 sink afterwards to the common level of the 

 field. 



The stones used for this kind of drain 

 N WITH mav be sandstone, or any of the harder 

 CONDUIT. stones ; but where these cannot be obtained, 

 draining-tiles are employed, and are far more effectual. 

 The more quickly water can be conveyed away from the 

 soil the better, and draining-tiles, when properly made, 

 effect this better than conduits made of separate stones, 



