428 
Oil Drainiiic/. 
take the two di-aws a regular depth, the drains will have a uniform 
fall. The bottom of the drain should be cleaned with a flat hoe, 
and the width not to exceed that of the sole. The drainer is then 
to proceed by laying a sole on each side of the main-drain, level 
with the crown of it ; then a tile across the main, resting upon the 
main and two soles ; then walking backwards or forwards, he 
will lay a sole and a tile throughout the drain. After the tiles 
are laid, they should always be examined before they are filled 
in ; and in JilUnc/-ia the small drains (except a piece of tough sod 
be laid u])on the tile), lay the clay regularly, and trample the 
same firmly down, and the surface-soil at the top. The attention 
of drainers being generally directed to the filliri(/-in above the 
conduit, I wish to draw their notice to that which is of much more 
importance — the floor of the conduit. Tiles laid without soles 
upon a ])ure clay subsoil, when the clay contracts in dry seasons, 
settle down ; and when the wet season returns, and the clay at 
the bottom of the conduit expands, the clay rises slightly on the 
inside and outside of the tiles, so that the edges of the tiles by 
this means, after a few years, become imbedded in the clay. It 
must therefore be evident that if the water passes through the 
lillin(/-iii upon the crown of the tile, the greater quantity would 
descend to the bottom (except what enters at the joinings of the 
tiles), there to enter the conduit: so that in either way, whether 
the water percolates through the fissures, «Scc., of the land, and 
enters horizontally with the floor of the conduit, or through the 
Jilli)i(/-in, it is of the utmost importance that attention should be 
directed to the way in which the floor of the conduit is formed. 
At the opening or mouth of the main-drain, and of the minor 
drains if they enter at once the outfall, a grate should be placed 
in each, about 3 or 4 feet from the opening, as a pro- 
tection ajjainst injury, by })reventing the entry of r"; 
vermin. The expense of these grates is trifling, as the 1 j j i | i 
drainer, with a piece of nail-rod-iron, &c., can make j ^ 
them in the shape here shown, and place them where 
two tiles meet. 
For the practical mode of performing peat,* wood, turf or 
* Peat is produced in great quantities from the fens in this neigh- 
bourhood. It was used at one time to a considerable extent lor 
under-draining tenacious clay soils, under the supposition tliat its porous 
nature admitted tlie water more freely than tiles ; but it is now rarely used 
even by parties who can cut their own (the cost and carriage, under such 
circumstances, being very trifling) : they now generally use tiles, although 
Ihe expense is much greater. This no doubt arises from peat-drains 
jailing to produce the result anticipated. Land now in my own occupation, 
which was previously drained with peat or turf, is a failure ; but I attribute 
it as much to the drains being too shaUow as to other causes, for there 
