FARMERS' REGISTER— DRAINING. 



707 



Open side ditches, unless having considerable de- 

 scent, and carryin<j; a permanent and bold stream, 

 will be continually filling, and will require clean- 

 ing out frequently. Unless the stream has enough 

 Ibrce to carry through the various obstructions, 

 every fallen leaf, or spire of dead grass, Avill help to 

 form a collection at some shallow place, and to 

 hold the floating mud, until a low dike is formed, 

 that stoi)S the sediment until it is overtopped. 

 This kind of operation is slowly going on always, 

 in the best constructed side ditches : but there are 

 other modes by which they are caused to fill much 

 more quickly, but which may be avoided by a ju- 

 dicious drainer. Some of these errors are so gross 

 and founded on such a degree of stupidity that it 

 may lie thought useless to mention tliem— yet ne- 

 vertheless it will require continued supervision to 

 prevent laborers (and also many overseers) being 

 o;uilly of them. Bushes and litter cleared from 

 the cultivated ground, are in this way often thrown 

 either into the side ditches, or the main carrier, or 

 laid upon the edge to be thrown in by the first flood, 

 or even by more frequent and slight causes. A 

 small iiough, or a strong bunch of long grass, may 

 thus more'"etfectually choke a ditcli than would 20 

 cart loads of pure earth alone. Another more 

 sudden cause of the filling of a side ditch, is its 

 receiving a highland stream which is swelled 

 greatly by rains, and which rushes into the ditch 

 at right angles, or nearly so. A torrent of water 

 thus directed, will not change its violent course, to 

 follow the ditch, but will beat against the bank, 

 and soon force a way into tlie lowground — its 

 channel forming a dike across the ditch, made of 

 the sand and gravel washed from the highland, and 

 on which the'stream ruslies over, by the straight- 

 est course. Such torrents from the highland 

 ought not to be admitted into side ditches, unless 

 by a very gradual curving course. 



It is on account of the many things that injure 

 open side ditches, and the great obstruction they 

 offer to cultivation, that covered drains are to be 

 preferred, whenever circumstances permit them to 

 be made easily, and to operate well. Tlie proper 

 location and courses of covered side drains have 

 been already stated, and I will now proceed to di- 

 rect the execution of the work. 



Few as have been the attempts at hollow drain- 

 ing in this country, many have been misguided as 

 toUie manner, by endeavoring to follow tlie Eng- 

 lish practice, without considering the difference of 

 circumstances. The close and tenacious soils and 

 subsoils, and cold and dripping climate of Eng- 

 land, and still more of Scotland, render hollow 

 draining there very often essential, merely to take 

 off" surface or rain water— which is rarely needed, 

 and never practised, in our dryer and warmer cli- 

 mate, and on more open soils. It is no unusual 

 thing in Scotland ihr a field which is cultivated in 

 beds^of 12 to 20 feet wide, to have a good covered 

 drain under the middle of every bed, which, in ad- 

 dition to as many open drains formed liy the interve- 

 ning water furrows, are all required to keep the land 

 dry'enough for profitable tillage, though perhaps 

 not the least exposed to spring water. The adhe- 

 siveness and regular texture of the soils that re- 

 quire such draining, serve to render the digging 

 and filling much easier, than if sand, gravel, clay 

 and quicksand were all found — and all these changes 

 springy slopes will generally show. But the ma- 

 terials for filling are scarce and costly in Europe, 



compared to those which our woods plentifully fur- 

 nish. Yet I have known stones most laboriously 

 collected to fill drains, and wheat straw then laid 

 on to prevent (but without success) the covering 

 sandy soil from falling in, because those were ma- 

 terials (from necessity) used in Britain. Besides, 

 a small channel made two feet under the surface 

 in a close clay, will keep open with almost any 

 kind of filling material, or even with none. But 

 through sand, with no more care to preserve an 

 open channel, it would be choked in a few months. 

 We will never be required to hollow drain for the 

 same reasons as most British farmers generally 

 are, nor to resort to similar materials for filling — 

 but tiie hollow drains required for our lands are far 

 more difficult to make, and to keep in order. 



Drains intended to be covered should be dug as 

 narrow as possible, so as to give enough room to 

 the laborers — and the bottom ought not to be more 

 than ten inches wide. Of course it should be deep 

 enough to cut through, and diverts the natural 

 course of every spring in the route — and if that is 

 not done, the object in view will not be attained. 

 The springs must also fliU in not nearer tlmn 18 

 inches of the top of the ditch, or there will be 

 danger of their being not confined to the new 

 channel, and perhaps they may at a future time be 

 tapped by the plough. The bottom of the ditch 

 should Iiave a descent throughout, and that so gra- 

 duated, as to be as regular as the shape of the land 

 will admit. If this should not be attended to, in 

 the course of time, the slightest rill of wafer will 

 wash enough earth from thesteej)est sloped parts of 

 the bottom, to fill and choke the hollow s at the le- 

 vel places. But if a slope, neither too steep in 

 some places, nor too level in others, be preserved 

 throughout the whole stretch, any small washings 

 will be brought through, and thrown out at the 

 issue of the covered drain. 



As it is very important that a drain should be 

 filled as soon as it is ready , to guard against caving, 

 (as oozy banks will surely do,) or being injured 

 by a fall of rain, the best material for filling will 

 be such as can be used most expeditiously, so as 

 that the work shall be well performed. For this 

 purpose, if there is much filling to be done, there 

 should be previously prepared a number of boards 

 of about a half inch thickness, rived out of round 

 blocks sawed off ten inches long, from a tree of 

 any convenient size. Very little care or trouble 

 is required to get out these boards, and any dimen- 

 sions almost will serve, provided the length is uni- 

 form ; and tiiat should be the least that the width 

 of the ditch at bottom will receive. The ditch 

 having reached the highest spring, and its highest 

 termination, and being sufficiently deep at the up- 

 per end, the laying down of the filling materials 

 may be begun, though the deepening, graduating 

 and cleaning out of lower parts of the ditch may 

 still be going on. Two new fence rails of green 

 timber, "say from two to four inches through, are 

 laid parallel on the bottom of the ditch, and very 

 near to each other. They are to form the sides of 

 the pipe, or passage for the stream, and a very 

 narrow space will generally afford enough room. 

 Across these rails the ten inch boards should be 

 laid, side to side, or lapping sometimes to prevent 

 openings of more than half an inch wide. A lit- 

 tle litter, such as dead grass, green pine tops, &c. 

 should be thrown on the boards, and then as much 

 of the earth returned as will cover them a foot 



