14 CHRONICLES OF A CLAY FARM. 



have needed to be enforced by argument; yet no 

 one will deem it wonderful who has personally wit- 

 nessed the unaccountable and ever new difficulty of 

 getting proper attention paid to the levelling of 

 the bottom of a drain, and the laying of the tiles 

 in that continuous line, where one single depression 

 or irregularity, by collecting the water at that spot 

 year after year, tends towards the eventual stoppage 

 of the whole drain, through two distinct causes, 

 the softening of the foundation underneath, and the 

 deposit of soil inside the tile from the water collected 

 at the spot, and standing there after the rest has 

 run off. Every depression, however slight, is con- 

 stantly doing this mischief in every drain where 

 the fall is but trifling; and if to the two con- 

 sequences above mentioned, we may add the de- 

 composition of the tile itself by the action of 

 water long stagnant within it, we may deduce 

 that every tile-drain laid with these imperfections 

 in the finishing of the bottom, has a tendency 

 towards obliteration, out of all reasonable propor- 

 tion with that of a well-burnt tile laid on a perfectly 

 even inclination, which, humanly speaking, may be 

 called a permanent thing. An open ditch cut by 

 the most skilful workman, in the Summer, affords 



