24 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



into a main open drain. They are not only best be- 

 cause the most efficient, but they are the most dura- 

 ble, most economical, and waste no land. 



They are the most efficient. They can be made to 

 reach, by digging and boring, the dep6t of water or 

 water stratum, and thus to carry it off before it ap- 

 proaches the surface, or pasture of plants. Open 

 drains do this but seldom or but imperfectly, because 

 they are not often carried deep enough, and are con- 

 tinually liable to obstructions, which impair their ef- 

 ficacy. 



They are most durable. An under-drain, laid in the 

 most approved mode, with stone or tile, will last an 

 age, if not a century. Whereas open drains are but 

 temporary in their beneficial effects without period- 

 ical repairs." 



They are the most economical. A good under-drain 

 generally costs no more than a good open drain, 

 which effects a like purpose, and probably not so 

 much, as the former can be carried down with nearly 

 perpendicular sides, while the latter must be dug 

 with sloping banks, and must embrace a width of 

 surface.corresponding with its depth : the deeper the 

 drain, the broader it must be at top. The cost of 

 the stone or tile is in a manner counterbalanced by 

 the difference in excavation. And, when completed, 

 the under-drain will require no annual repairs, while 

 the open one will be a constant drain upon the labour 

 of the farm, requiring bridges, and frequent scouring 

 and cleaning. If under-drains cost sometimes the 

 most, they are unquestionably the cheapest in the end 

 provided they are well made. 



Under-drains waste no land. They may be multi- 

 plied at every twenty feet, as they sometimes are 

 upon stiff flat clays, without excluding the plough or 

 the scythe from a foot of the surface. Open drains, 

 on the contrary, if made of suitably dimensions, re- 

 quire a breadth of three or four feet, and the plough 

 is excluded from as much more at their sides. 



