Kinds of Drains 443 



KINDS OF DRAINS 



Drains are called closed or open, according as they 

 are covered or not. There are conditions under which 

 open drains or ditches should and must be used, but 

 the closed forms are always to be preferred where 

 thorough drainage and facility in working the land 

 are desired. In the earlier practice of underdraining, 

 before tiles were invented and manufactured on a 

 large scale, various means were adopted to provide 

 waterways through which the water could more readily 

 drain away from the field. An early method was to 

 place in the bottom of a ditch bundles of faggots end 

 to end and then fill in, expecting the water to flow 

 through the spaces between the faggots. Three 

 slender poles were often used, one laid upon two 

 others, thus forming a waterway ; or again, a single 

 larger pole was split in two and these laid in the 

 ditch side by side with the flat faces up. Two boards 

 nailed together V-shaped and laid on the bottom of 

 the ditch formed still another method of securing 

 underground drains with wood. 



Stones were also used in various ways for the same 

 purpose ; sometimes the bottom of the ditch was 

 filled with small stones and then covered ; two rows 

 of flat stones placed on edge to form a V opening 

 downward, was another common plan. Two flat 

 stones on edge, with a cover, were extensively used, 

 and some even went to the trouble of paving the 

 bottom of the ditch with flat stones and forming a 

 closed stone drain by adding sides and top, which, 



