On ThoroiKjh- D rainiiKj . 
29 
In (liefjrinsr with the broad spade rcfjard is had to the inequali- 
ties of the surface ; a {greater or less depth is given according as 
the ground rises or falls : the depth of the narrow drain is uni- 
form throughout. 
Scoop. Narrow Spade. If he meets with stone or gravel, he 
picks or digs them out, and rams down 
stiff clay into the holes so made, through 
which he cuts his di-ain afresh with his 
narrow spade. 
The drains are now 30 inches deep ; 
the narrow spade is 1 ^ inches wide at 
bottom, and 'ig inches wide at top ; it is 
in depth 13 inches, but being necessarily 
worked in a slanting direction, only digs 
out 1 1 inches. A few years since the 
practice was to dig 15 inches with the 
narrow spade immediately after the 
plough : this has given way to the m.ethod 
above stated. 
A small quantity of stubble is now 
laid along the narrow drain, the la- 
bourer walking in the drain presses the 
stubble about 3 inches down into the 
narrow drain with his spade. The stubble is not pressed to the 
bottom, but a free passage for the water is left under it. Earth, 
heavy or light indifferently, is then shovelled in over the haulm, 
and the common plough reverses its former work^ as in the fol- 
lowing figure : 
Sometimes heath is used instead of stubble ; sometimes hop- 
binds twisted ; sometimes a scud of straw, made to fit the upper 
part of the narrow drain. Occasionally a waggon-rope is laid 
along the bottom of the drain before the filling up is done, and 
the rope is afterwards drawn along, thus securing the drain from 
crumbs of earth at the bottom ; but this precaution is unnecessary. 
At other times all filling up is dispensed with, and a board of the 
same dimensions as the narrow drain is fitted into it ; the earth is 
then rammed down on to the edge of the board, and the board is 
drawn along the drain, leaving an arched waterway behind it. A 
