THLE DRAINAGE. 79 



ably by any machine I have yet seen, and I have seen nearly 

 all of any reputation. Stones occurred under ground every- 

 where, from the size of one's fist up to the size of a bushel 

 basket or even a haycock. To the hand-digger they are not 

 a very great hindrance. Those that weigh from fifty to a 

 hundred pounds or so can be removed without much delay. 

 Where they weigh several hundred pounds, or even several 

 tons, one can quite readily find their boundaries and curve 

 the ditch gradually around them. For example, Fig. 20 

 shows a ditch dug by hand (except top course with plow) 80 

 inches deep, and with the tiles laid, but not covered. A 

 great bowlder, probably weighing a ton or more, was struck, 

 two feet under ground. When struck with a crowbar the 

 sound revealed its size to an -expert ear too big to be 

 moved, but with the ditch near one side of it. So I just 

 curved the bottom of the ditch out of line about one foot, 

 cutting under the side of the bank and making a total curve 

 some 12 feet long. The water will flow perfectly, and it 

 hindered us so little that we got the usual amount done that 

 day. In fact, we often struck similar ones, botli larger and 

 smaller, below the surface, and often had to curve the ditcli 

 or spend dollars in removing a great bowlder, only to leave a 

 large deep hole in the bottom of the ditch filled with soft 

 mud, and likely to cause a "sag" in the drain. But such 

 stones, in such numbers as they usually cccur on bowlder clays 

 that wed drainayr, make machine digging at any time of the 

 year unprofitable. Every stone makes a long stoppage of 

 four horses and two men, and requires hand work to remove 

 or dig around it. 



S?cfmd, the machines can not work well on wet ground or 

 in winter, when the top is either muddy or frozen ; but that 

 is just the time when labor is cheapest, when the ground 

 digs easiest, and when the soil water serves to grade the 

 bottom of the ditch. 



It will not, at the present stage of invention, pay the av- 

 erage farmer, I think, to own a machine as he does a mower 



