TILE DRAINAGE. <)<J 



which they find themselves, and so are left, as the poet strik- 

 ingly expresses it, 4 to lie in cold obstruction and to rot.' " 

 Then he speaks of the " slimy things that creep with legs." 

 and which " seem to imagine that drains are constructed for 

 their special accommodation." When they die in the drains 

 they are affected as " sighing and grief" affected Falstaff 

 it " blows them up like a bladder," and, like Samson, " they 

 do more mischief in their death than in all their life togeth- 

 er. They swell up and stop the water entirely, or partially 

 dam it, so that the effect of the work is impaired." 



kt To prevent injuries from this source there should be at 

 every outlet a grating or screen of cast iron or of copper wire, 

 to prevent the intrusion of vermin." The simplest way is to 

 cut a square piece of heavy gal vani zed-iron screen or win- 

 dow grating, a little larger than the diameter of the tile at 

 the outlet you wish to guard. Tack it firmly to two small 

 wooden stakes, or wire it to iron ones, and drive one stake 

 down firmly on each side of the outlet, with the screen 

 pressed up tight against the tile. Then it can be removed 

 for cleaning if necessary, and replaced. It is also well to 

 have as few actual outlets as possible gathering the various 

 laterals and sub-mains all into one great outlet, and guard- 

 ing that properly. The open ditch at each outlet is a source 

 of constant annoyance. Cattle tramp it ; frogs, crawfish, 

 and slimy things gather in it and seek entrance to the drain, 

 and the mud works in and obstructs the tiles unless it is 

 often cleaned away. The fewer outlets the better. My 

 largest outlet, ten-inch, discharges the water from over 25 

 acres of tiled land, and takes the flood- water from two ponds, 

 and these in turn take the flood-water from 40 acres or more 

 of untiled land. How this water is handled will be explained 

 in another chapter. The point now is, that this one outlet 

 takes the water collected in the two ponds, and, by some six 

 miles of laterals and sub-mains, there being not less than 65 

 separate laterals and 8 separate sub-mains all discharging 

 through this one outlet. And tins one outlet takes no more 



