TILE DRAINAGE 107 



Erie, in Painesville. Silt, or fine sediment, troubles them 

 considerably. At intervals they simply sink shallow wells in 

 the course of long laterals, some three feet deeper than the 

 drain, and stone them up, running the laterals into and out 

 of these wells. The silt settles in these wells, or " silt- 

 basins," and can be cleaned out in dry times. I understand, 

 too, that they grade mainly by soil-water, digging when the 

 ground is wet and nursery work not pressing, and that they 

 open up an ent're stretch of lateral and begin to lay tiles 

 from the upper end, so that the muddy soil water (mud- 

 dier while digging) may not run into the tiles from above, 

 and partly choke them in construction. Many of their later- 

 als, too, empty into deep open ditches, cleaned out as often 

 as necessary, and bridged as required. In such cases the 

 last few tiles near the outlet are laid on a narrow board , 

 which projects into the open ditch a foot or so, and helps 

 keep the outlet clear and unobstructed. 



USE OF STONES. 



Mr. A. 13. Cowan, of Morgan Co., says : 



I have land that "slips," and is in permanent pasture. I 

 don't intend to plow it, as it is heavy limestone soil, and well 

 set in blue-grass. The question is^ how to drain it, as it is 

 rough. There is a stone-quarry above, and tons of cobble- 

 stones. Would you advise digging a ditch and then break 

 them and throw them in? Or would it be better to build in 

 the stone so as to make a passageway? 1 have a quarry 

 where I can get stone out from t to 2 inches thick, and as 

 smooth as slate. 



I would use tiles rather than stones. They require less 

 width of ditch, and hence the expense of digging is less. 

 They are laid much more rapidly than stones, and last lon- 

 ger unobstructed. But if you decide to use stones, then lay a 

 row of long and rather square cobbles on each side of the 

 bottom of the ditch, and cover with flat stones, two courses 

 deep, and then throw in a foot deep of loose stones, and then 

 lill with soil. This is the way I laid drains for my father 40 

 years ago, before tiles were made in this region, and they 



