Mole-draining and the Renovation of Old Pipe Drains. 77 
far back into the field this deposit occurs in the pipes depends 
on how much fall the drain has, and also whether or no the 
water has been able to find any other outlet. The main cause 
of drains becoming “ worn out,” as it is generally termed, is 
undoubtedly the blocking of the mouths. Too great stress 
cannot be laid on the necessity for shovelling out all ditches 
on clay soil every year to their original bottom. Following on 
this the main brook draining the district must also be kept 
clear. In the last cycle of dry seasons and in the bad times 
preceding it farmers in many places have certainly not kept 
their ditches clear ; in the dry seasons they forgot the drains 
and in the bad times they did not want to spend the money 
necessary to keep the ditches clear. Constant supervision is 
necessary if land drains are to be kept in order. Often the 
fault lies in the ditch or watercourse of a neighbouring owner, 
and it should be remembered that an owner can be compelled 
to give a free run to another man’s water by an application to 
the magistrates under section 14 of Yict. 10 and 11. 
In examining a field that has recently shown pronounced 
symptoms of water-logging it is not uncommon on heavy lands 
to find several sorts of drains. There may be the old stone 
drains, i.e. a trench filled with upright stones or rubble 
stones ; there may be the half-round horse-shoe pipe with 
no bottom, or the same with a separate tile bottom ; there 
may be the Q-shaped pipe, and finally the round pipe, 
varying in diameter from 1 in. to 6 in. These drains are 
not infrequently at all sorts of depths. The new work 
may have been connected properly with older and deeper 
drains, or the new drains may be deeper than the old ones 
which may or may not have been properly connected with the 
new. Before any new drains are put into a field it is very 
necessary to find out if the field has been drained before. On 
enquiring from the old inhabitants and old tenants one is often 
told that the field has never been drained, but this information, 
especially on heavy clay land, frequently proves incorrect, as the 
writer has sometimes found out to his cost. The only way to 
find the old drains is to have all the ditches thoroughly cleaned 
out by a careful man who must go right down to the old 
bottom of the ditch, which often has not seen daylight for 
twenty years. It will be found that the man digging the ditch is 
far more likely to find the old drains if he gets l.s. for each 
drain-mouth that he discovers. If, however, no drains are 
found when the bottom is being dug, the sides should be 
carefully watched in wet weather for wet places, and the 
ground at these spots should be opened several yards back into 
the field. The result of this investigation will nearly always 
disclose old drains of one kind or another. 
