REMARKS ON DRAINING. 
309 
IMPLEMENTS FOR DRAINING-. 
We give cuts of the various implements used in 
England in draining, as given by Mr. Colman in 
his European Agriculture, believing that it may 
prove useful to those who may engage in the 
work. 
Fig. 75. 
•■ Fig. 77. 
Fig. 75. Section of the frequent drain, with its 
fittings of broken stones and its set ; a, first spade, 
common shape ; b, second spade, which follows 
the first, and is narrower ; c, pick used when the 
subsoil is stony; d, large scoop shovel, for remov- 
ing the loose earth after picking ; f d, transverse 
section of drain. 
Fig 76. Section of the wedge drain, with its set, 
as used in the carse or clay soil ; a, first or open- 
ing spade : b, second spade ; c, third or narrowest 
spade ; d, narrow scoop for cleaning out the 
bottom. 
Fig. 77. Section of the tile drain, 
set. a, first spade; b, second do.; 
scoop, with turned-up edge, for cleanin 
bottom. 
The Flauchter spade is used for cutting turf to 
cover the small stones in the frequent drain. 
with 
c, a 
r out 
its 
fiat 
the 
REMARKS ON DRAINING. 
We all well know that wheat and other grains 
as well as grasses, are never fully developed, nor 
produce good seed, when the roots are soaked in 
moisture. No man ever raised good wheat from a 
wet or moist subsoil. Now many farms of this coun- 
try, though at times during the sum- 
mer they appear dry, and crack open 
on the surface, are not in fact dry 
farms. On the contrary, for nine 
months out of twelve, they are moist 
or wet : and we need no better evi- 
dence of the fact, than the annual 
freezing out of the plant, and con- 
sequent poverty of many crops. 
Need we say more to convince you 
of the necessity for draining your 
farms 1 
Now comes the question, how is 
this great good to be accomplished ? 
What is the best method % What 
will it cost 1 And above all, what 
will it pay % These inquiries we 
will endeavor to meet. The state- 
ments, through brief, will doubtless 
lead you to renewed inquiries and 
an active search for information. 
The inquiry, how is this great 
good to be accomplished % What is 
the best method 1 will lead me to 
speak of various probable localities, 
each of which needs a different 
treatment. Thus we have in several 
FLMiCVTER SPADE ° f ° Ur t0WnS ' P ortions that ma >" be 
^= !Ei==s ,^ J called bogs, being generally too wet 
to sustain the weight of a man, and 
where the water seems to rise from 
below. These lands are very reten- 
tive of moisture, acting like a sponge, 
but when drained are often found to 
be very fertile and productive. To 
drain lands of this description, the 
first important step is, to ascertain 
the nature of the strata of earth, 
which the nearest high grounds may 
possess, in order to know whether 
the main supply of water does or 
does not flow from them. In almost 
all cases such is the case, and leads 
us at once to cut a drain, or ditch, 
just above the level of the bog on the higher 
ground, and so deep as to intercept the waters 
as they descend, and by means of this ditch 
to lead them off towards the lowest point, thus 
arresting the supply of water, collecting it into 
one channel, and cutting it off from its usual 
ramifications through the bog. In time, the bog 
will have become so firm as to be traversed readily, 
though it remains wet and marshy. Smaller open 
drains, or ditches, should now be dug from the lowest 
point of the bog, to be connected with the deeper 
and larger ditch on the higher ground, the connec- 
tion to be made at the greatest depression of the 
latter. Smaller lateral ditches may now be cut, 
leading into the main, and thus the bog will be 
drained and rendered fit for cultivation. 
This process as regards bogs is quite simple and 
easy, unless it is connected with navigable streams 
