518 [Assembly 



If pasture lands are in need of draining, the grass is very coarse^ 

 bitter, and yellow, and the ground is inelastic to the tread in 

 liuramer, and in winter spongy ;. fogs frequently rise from such 

 laud towards sundown, and induce chills, fever, &c. Should half 

 of such a field be drained, and the balance left undrained, cattle 

 turned upon it to graze will rarely be found except on the drained 

 portion. The extent of draining required on such land may be 

 easily determined by test holes, which may be dug here and there 

 from 4 to 7 feet deep and three feet wide. The water which 

 flows from the sides will plainly show at what depth it is accu- 

 mulated, and how deep it will be necessary to construct the drains 

 to carry it away. Drains often fail from the want of regularity 

 in inclination when first made. If the fall is not uniform and 

 gradual in the bed of the drain, the water will accumulate at the 

 inequality, and cause permanent stagnation, and consequent loss 

 of fall for a certain length. Therefore you will plainly see that 

 the bottom of the drains must descend in a straight form to the 

 outlet. In order to accomplish this end I make use of three 

 sticks, two of them exactly two feet long, and the third as much 

 longer than two feet as my drain is deep ; for example, if the 

 drain is three feet six inches deep, the third stick must be five 

 feet six inches long. The rods must each have cross pieces eight 

 fnches long at the end that is to be placed uppermost. The two 

 shorter rods are placed upright, one on the earth on the level 

 with the field at the head of ihe drain, and the other at the lower 

 end ; a person stands at one of the rods and looks over its top, 

 with his eye on a line with the other ; a second person then holds 

 the long rod upright in the drain, just resting on the bottom, and 

 walks from one end of the drain to the other, keeping the rod 

 vertical. If, as it is thus moved along, its top always remains in 

 a line with the other two as observed by a person looking over 

 the three, the fall of the drain is uniform, but if it rises above 

 this line at any place, the bottom is too high there, and must be 

 lowered, if it falls below the line the bottom must be raised, thus 

 you will be enabled to render the fall perfectly uniform. The 

 cost in draining depends, firstly upon the nature of the soil in 

 which the drains are made, and secondly upon the depth dug 

 and the materials made use of to fill up. 



