712 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Fart III. 



as a greater security that it should be executed with all possible care. Whatever may be 

 the expense and trouble incurred in draining, it may be safely asserted that, if the work 

 is judiciously contrived and properly executed, no kind of outlay will prove so beneficial 

 to the cultivator. 



4306. The enemies of drains, according to Marshal, are moles, field mice, and the roots 

 of trees : the first two may be kept under by traps or other devices ; but the last enemy 

 is not easily guarded against, except in the laying out of the drain, which should always, 

 if possible, be kept distant from trees or woody plants of any description. 



Sect. VIII. Of the Implements peculiar to Draining. 



there are also boring 



4307. The tools peculiar to draining are chiefly of the spade kind ; 

 instruments of different kinds. 



4308. The draining-scoop {fig. 661. o, b, c,) is a crooked kind of tool made use of in some cases for 

 clearing out the loose materials from tlie bottoms of drains. It is formed of different sizes and breadths, 



according to the drains, and in working is drawn or pushed along 

 the bottom. 



4309. The draining shovel {d) is another sort of implement 

 employed for the same purpose as the above. It is made with a 

 crooked handle, and the edge of the shovel part is turned up, in 

 order to prevent the materials from falling off. 



4310. The draining sod knife (e) is an implement made use of 

 with great benefit in scoring or cutting out the sward in forming 

 drains. 



4311. Draining spades (f, g, h,) are made of different breadths, 

 so as to follow each other, and cut the drains narrow at the 

 bottoms. An upper and pointed draining spade {g) is in general 

 use, and a wooden one (A) is employed in peat soils, 



L TUT^"^ H I U t^c^^ 4312. The draining straw-twisting engine is a ma- 



r 7 \|i/ tlW ?^/ / ^^^^6 of very simple construction, already described 



\ / \ S=J) 1 ' \\lJv / (2562.), and capable of being readily removed, con- 



u/ Ml / y trived for the purpose of twisting straw into ropes for 



the filling of drains. 



4313. A variety of boring imj)lements, including Good's and the peat-borer, have been 

 already described. (2507. to 2519.) 



4314. The common draining auger {fig. 662.) consists of four parts, the shell or wimble, the chisel, the 



rod, and the handle The auger shell, or 

 662 _ wimble (e), as it is variously called, for exca- 



vating the earth or strata through which it 

 passes, is generally from two and a half to 

 three and a half inches in diameter ; the 

 hollow part of it one foot four inches in 

 length, and constructed nearly in the shape 

 of the wimble used by carpenters, only the 

 sides of the shell come closer to one another. 

 The rods {a) are made in separate pieces of 

 four feet long each, that screw into each 

 other to any assignable length, one after 

 another, as the depth of the hole requires. 

 The size above the auger is about an inch 

 square, unless at the joints, where, for the 

 ake of strength, they are a quarter of an inch more. There is also a chisel and punch (5), adapted for 

 screwing on in going through hard gravel, or other stony substances, to accelerate the passage of the 

 auger, which could not otherwise perforate such bodies. The punch is often used, when the auger is not 

 applied, to prick or open the sand or gravel, and give a more easy issue to the water. The chisel is an inch 

 and a half or two inches broad at the point, and made very sharp for cutting stone ; and the punch an inch 

 square, like the other part of the rods, with the point sharpened also. There is a shifting handle of 

 wood (rf), fastened by means of two iron wedges affixed to it, for the purpose of turning round the rods in 

 boring ; and also two iron keys (/, c), for screwing and unscrewing the rods, and for assisting the handle 

 when the soil is very stiff, and more than two men required to turn it. 



4315 To judge when to make use of the borer is a difficult part of the business of draining. Some have 

 been led into a mistaken notion, both as to the manner of using it and the purpose for which it is applied. 

 They think that if, by boring indiscriminately through the ground to be drained, water is found near 

 enough the surface to be reached by the depth of the drain, the proper direction for it is along these holes 

 where water has been found; and thus they make it the first implement to be used. The contrary is the 

 case ; and the auger should never be used till, after the drain is cut ; and then for the purpose of per- 

 forating any retentive or impervious stratum, lying between the bottom of the drain and the reservoir 

 or strata containing the spring. Thus does it greatly lessen the trouble and expense that would other- 

 wise be requisite in cutting the trench to a depth which, in many instances, the level of the outlet will 

 not admit 



4316. The manner of using it is simply thus : In working it, two, or rather three men are necessary. 

 Two, standing above, one on each side of the drain, turn the auger round bymeansof the wooden handles, 

 and when it is full they draw it out ; and the man in the bottom of the trench clears out the earth, assists 

 in pulling it out, and directing it into the hole, and he can also assist in turning with the iron handle or 

 key, when the depth and length of rods require additional force to perform the operation. The workmen 

 should be cautious, in boring, not to go deeper at a time, without drawing, than the exact length of the 

 shell ; otherwise the earth, clay, or sand through which it is boring, after the shell is full, makeis it very 

 difficult to pull out. For this purpose the exact length of the shell should be regularly marked on the 

 rods, from the bottom upwards. Two flat boards, with a hole cut into the side of one of them, and laid 

 side by side across the drain, are very useful for directing the rods perpendicularly in going down, for 

 keeping them steady in boring, and for the men to stand on when performing the operatios. 



4317. The horizontal auger {fig. 663.) is another boring instrument employed in particular cases. It 

 was invented by Halford, of Hathern, in Leicestershire, but is little used. The advantages of it are, in 

 some cases, considerable, by lessening the expense of cutting, and performing the work in a much shorter 

 time. Where a drain or water-course has to pass under a bank, road, hedge, wall, rivulet of water, or for 



