14 



TILE DBAINAGE. 



sents a ten-acre field of rolling land, which is cut by crooked 

 gulleys or swales into four irregular patches, A, B, C, D, 

 each bounded by the " ragged edge " of a crooked swale, and 

 each requiring nearly as many rounds or turnings with plow, 

 harrow, mower, or twine-binder, as the whole field would 

 take if handled as one unobstructed plat. The sides along 

 the swales, or dry brooks, are wet, crooked, and non-tillable; 

 the angles are far sharper than four right angles of the field, 

 far more vexatious to the farmer, and much more likely, as 

 Dr. Holmes puts it, " to stir up the monosyllables of his un- 

 sanctified vocabulary ! " 



8 



D 



Fig. 5. Ten-acre field with crooked " swales," or dry brooks, interfer- 

 ing with tillage. For explanation, see text. 



Now, if nothing more is done than to cut straight, open 

 ditches, as indicated by the dotted lines, and if only the 

 holes and hollows of the winding brooks are filled and grad- 

 ed (see Fig. 5), even this improves matteis considerably. 

 But if Ule mains are laid where the dotted lines run, and 

 such laterals are put in as the nature of the land requires, 



