DRAINAGE. 



well adapted for drains where the wa- 

 ter springs upward, and it is less apt 

 to slip out of its place than the com- 

 mon tile. 



"In draining fields it is usual to 

 make the outlets of the drains in the 

 ditch which bounds them. Tlie few- 

 er outlets there are, the less chance 

 there is of their being choked : they 

 should fall into the ditch at two feet 

 from the bottom, and a wooden trunk, 

 or one of stone, should be laid so that 

 the water may be discharged without 

 carrying the soil from the side of the 

 ditch. If there is water in the ditch, 

 it should be kept below the mouth of 

 the drain. The outlets of all drains 

 should be repeatedly examined, to 

 keep them clear ; for wherever wa- 

 ter remains in a drain it will soon 

 derange or choke it. The drains 

 should be so arranged or turned that 



the outlet shall meet the ditch at an 

 obtuse angle towards the lower part 

 where the water runs to. A drain 

 brought at right angles into a ditch 

 must necessarily soon be choked by 

 the deposition of sand and earth at 

 its mouth. The channel or water- 

 way of drains is hable to the inroads 

 of rats, moles, and other vermin ; 

 they may be kept out by inserting 

 occasionally a piece of perforated tin 

 plate, or wire grates. 



" As the draining of wet clay soils 

 is the only means by which they can 

 be rendered profitable as arable land, 

 and the expense is great, various in- 

 struments and ploughs have been 

 contrived to diminish manual labour 

 and expedite the work. Of these one 

 of the simplest is the common mole 

 plough {Fig. 5), which, in very stiff 

 clay, maikes a small hollow drain, from 





Lambert's 



one foot to 18 inches below the sur- 

 face, by forcing a pointed iron cylin- 

 der horizontally through the ground. 

 It makes a cut through the clay, and 

 leaves a cylindrical channel, through 

 which the water which enters by the 

 slit is carried off. It requires great 

 power to draw it, and can only be used 

 when the clay is moist. In meadows 

 it is extremely useful, and there it 

 need not go more than a foot under 

 the sod. Five to ten acres of grass 

 land may easily be drained by it in a 

 day. It is very apt, however, to be 

 filled in dry weather by the soil fall- 

 ing in ; and moles often do much 

 damage to it by using it in their sub- 

 terraneous workings. 



" But draining ploughs have been 

 invented which greatly accelerate the 

 238 





Mole Plough. 



operation of forming drains, by cut- 

 ting them out in a regular manner, 

 when they are immediately finished 

 with the usual tools and filled up. 

 See Draining Plough. It has done 

 wonders in some of the wet, stiff soils 

 in Sussex, and is much to be recom- 

 mended in all wet and heavy clays. 

 In stony land it cannot well be used. 

 The subsoil plough, introduced to 

 public notice by Mr. Smith, of Deans- 

 ton, may be considered, in some 

 measure, as a draining plough, for it 

 loosens the subsoil, so that a few 

 main drains are sufficient to carry 

 off all the superfluous moisture ; and 

 it has, besides, the effect of not carry- 

 ing off more than what is superfluous. 

 By means of judicious drains and the 

 use of the subsoil plough the stiffest 



