THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



99 



first sight, seem to add very much to the expense 

 of draining; it is found, however, that if properly 

 managed there is an actual saving in the expense. 

 The deeper the drain, the farther, in a horizontal 

 direction, will it draw water from the soil; hence, 

 by increasing the depth of our drains they may be 

 placed farther apart, and consequently fewer of 

 them will be necessary; and the diminished ex- 

 pensexonsequent upon having fewer drains is found 

 to more than counterbalance the extra expense of 

 tnaking them deep. No fixed rule can be given 

 for increasing the distance between the drains for 

 a given increase in depth ; it need not, however, be 

 less than from six to eight feet for every foot below 

 them. Neither can any fixed rule be given for 

 the distances between drains for ordinary depths ; 

 they may be from fifteen to forty-five feet apart, 

 depending upon the character of the soil. In Eng- 

 land for a depth of three feet the drainage is found 

 to be perfect on most soils at distances varying 

 from eighteen to twenty-seven or thirty feet, and 

 no doubt these same distances would be found 

 suitable for our soils. 



In constructing the drains the first thing to be 

 done is to dig a trench or ditch of the depth that 

 it is proposed to make the drains, giving the sides 

 more or less slope, depending upon the nature of 

 the soil ; it should be from three to ten inches wide 

 upon the bottom, depending upon the material that 

 is to be used in constructing the drains, and the 

 bottom should be left smooth. The usual way of 

 making these trenches is first to cut two deep fur- 

 rows with a heavy plough and remove the loose 

 earth with a common spade or shovel ; after the 

 removal of the loose earth the trench is deepened 

 by the use of a long, narrow and tapering spade, 

 and after this comes another spade still narrower 

 than the first. The bottom is generally smoothed 

 by a scoop of peculiar construction. In digging the 

 trenches a due regard to economy of construction 

 would require that they should be made as narrow 

 as it is possible without impairing their efficiency. 

 After the trenches are all dug, they are to be filled 

 for several inches with broken stone, or earthen- 

 ware pipes, called drain tile, are laid in the bottoms, 

 or some other material is used which will permit 

 the passage of water ; then several inches of earth 

 are thrown in and well rammed ; and finally, they 

 are filled up with earth, when the drains are 

 complete. 



Various means have been resorted to for securing 

 a free passage for water in the bottoms of drains ; 

 of these only two have been found to stand the test 

 of time, and furnish drains that may be said to be 

 permanent. The first consists in the use of broken 

 stone, the second in the use of drain tile, above 

 spoken of. To these two methods we shall confine 

 our remarks. 



When the drains are made of stone the bottoms 

 of the ditches should be about six inches in width ; 

 the stones should be broken into small pieces of 

 uniform size, and should form a layer of some nine 

 or ten inches in thickness in the bottom of the 

 trench. Over the broken stones a layer of good 

 sod, with the grass side down, is carefully laid; on 

 this several inches of moist earth or clay is rammed, 

 and the drain is completed by filling up the re- 

 mainder of the trench with soil. Sometimes a little 

 conduit is formed by putting two small flat stones 

 on their edges in the bottom of the trench, and 

 letting their upper edges come together so as to 

 leave a triangular cavity under them; over these, 

 broken stones are placed, as before. This adds 

 4 D 



greatly to the labor, and is very little, if any, more 

 effective than the simple broken stone drain. In 

 soft ground it is sometimes necessary to place a 

 strip of plank in the bottom of the trench before 

 throwing in the broken stone. If care is taken to 

 have the stones broken small and of uniform size 

 and the first layer of earth is properly rammed' 

 these drains are very effective and permanent. The 

 main drains being much larger are frequently made 

 with large stones regularly laid so as to leave a 

 conduit some ten or twelve inches each way. When 

 stone is plentiful, and has to be hauled but a short 

 distance, stone drains recommend themselves to the 

 attention of the farmer. It is to be observed, how- 

 ever, that the hauling, breaking and spreading of 

 such a quantity of stone is necessarily expensive 

 under the most favorable circumstances, and hence 

 it is that stone drains are, in most cases, more ex- 

 pensive than tile drains, which we shall now de- 

 scribe. 



Drain tiles are made by machinery from good 

 clay that has more or less oxide of iron in it; 

 they are burnt in kilns, like brick, and if properly 

 burned they emit a clear ringing sound when struck. 

 If they are not burnt sufficiently, they are light 

 colored, and when used for draining purposes are 

 apt to crumble to pieces after a few years ; if they 

 are hard they will last a great many years. They 

 are generally made about fifteen inches long, of 

 various sizes and several forms ; the forms in com- 

 mon use are the horse shoe and cylindrical tile. The 

 horse shoe tile is composed of two pieces, the tile 

 proper, the cross section of which is something like 

 a horse shoe in shape, and a flat piece, or sole, which 

 is intended to lie in the bottom of the trench, and 

 upon which the tile is laid with its convex surface 

 up. Sometimes the sole is omitted, and then the 

 tile is placed upon a strip of plank or upon the 

 bottom of the trench; but neither of these prac- 

 tices can be recommended. Cylindrical tiles have 

 either an oval or circular cross section ; the circular 

 seems, upon the whole, to be the best form, and is 

 now generally preferred. They are made of every 

 size, from one inch, internal diameter, up to several 

 inches; their ends, as those of horse shoe tiles, are 

 cut off square, so that they may fit close when 

 placed end to end in the drain. Cylindrical tiles 

 possess several advantages over the horse shoe 

 form, and are now generally preferred; they are 

 much less expensive, as only one-half the number 

 of pieces is required — are transported at smaller 

 cost — are stronger and less liable to break, and the 

 labor of laying them is less. 



In laying horse shoe tiles the soles are first placed 

 end to end on the bottom of the trench, and on 

 these the tiles are placed. In order to prevent the 

 ends of the tiles from slipping past each other, 

 which would be likely to cause the drains to choke, 

 it is usual in putting down the tiles to make them 

 break joints with the soles. In laying cylindrical 

 tiles they are simply placed end to end in the bot- 

 tom of the ditch and firmly secured in their places 

 by little wedges of stone, placed at intervals. The 

 bottoms of the drains need be no wider than just 

 sufficient to admit the tiles. In soft ground it is 

 sometimes necessary to lay the tiles down upon 

 strips of plank to keep the ends from slipping past 

 each other. Another way is to have little earthen- 

 ware collars, large enough to contain the ends of 

 the tiles ; but this adds to the expense. Still an- 

 other method of preventing slipping has lately been 

 introduced. It consists in having the ends of the 

 tiles cut with alternate projections and indentations, 



