3G4 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September, 
Draining—Why—Where—How. 
(Continuei from pages 30 , 70 , 105 , 137 , 109 , 201 , 233 .) 
LAYING OUT DRAINS. 
The first thing to be attended to, is the finding of 
a suitable outlet. Many have written to us recent¬ 
ly, that this is their chief difficulty, owing to the 
location, or the flatness of their lands. For some 
hints on this subject see May Agriculturist, page 
137. A large fall is not necessary to carry off 
water. One inch fall in 100 feet will answer in 
extreme cases, and we have heard of efficient 
drains with a fall of only 1 inch in 200 feet, 
though much more is desirable. If it be impos¬ 
sible to find any outlet into a brook, or highway 
gutter, or across a neighbor’s land, we should 
say, choose the lowest field that can be used to 
receive drainage, and give this up to grass, turn¬ 
ing the water of the rest of the farm upon it. 
Better have one field injured or even spoiled by 
excess of water, than to leave a dozen others, 
all more or less defective through the same cause. 
In connection with the outlet, it is necessary 
to look after the main drain, and its principal 
feeders or sub-mains. The natural conclusion 
would be that the main drain should be so lo¬ 
cated as to receive and carry otf readily all the 
water flowing into it. Usually, the main drain 
should be so located that the sub-drains may run 
down the sides of slopes. And here comes up the 
general question'of the direction of drains upon 
sloping or hill-side lands. For illustration, sup¬ 
pose we have a field upon the side of a hill, in¬ 
clined say from East to West—the upper part, 
five, ten, fifteen, or more feet higher than the 
lower part. And suppose, also, that the same 
field slopes a little from South to North. At 
Fig. 28. 
first thought, it would be considered best to 
run the small drains across the field into the 
main, so as to cut off the water flowing down the 
hill, and carry it into a main, running down along 
the north side. This error most persons naturally 
fall into. As explained on page 105 (April), most 
hill-side soils are made up of successive layers of 
loose porous materials, alternating with those of 
an impervious character—regularly as seen in 
fig. 28, or irregularly as in fig. 5. It is the 
occurrence of the close compact strata, that 
prevents the water from sinking down. Now, 
suppose that in fig. 5 we run drains across the 
slope at b, d, and /. The drain at b, will collect 
the water from above and carry it over to the 
main drain running down the hill further North, 
at least so much of it as does not flow out from 
the lower side of the drain and follow the nat¬ 
ural course down the hill. But all the water in 
the surface soil between 6, and d, would still flow 
a 
Fig. 5. 
through the surface until it reached the next 
drain at d, and this intermediate space would be 
kept wet. But suppose that instead of running 
these drains across, we conduct them right down 
the hill, as shown in fig. 30. They will then 
cut all the layers of soil, and drawing in the wa¬ 
ter from each side, will keep the whole dry. 
Taking into account the fact that sloping or 
inclined soils are made up of different strata 
coming out to the surface one below the other, 
and also the fact that cut-off drains across slopes 
are liable to discharge more or less water along 
their lower sides, it may be laid down as a gen¬ 
eral rule, that, so far as practicable, all drains 
should run as nearly as possible directly down 
the inclinations of side hills or sloping lands. 
If the surface be broken with gullies or hollows, 
running up the hill, or diagonally across the 
general slopes, the most approved plan is to run 
main or sub-main drains up through the bot¬ 
toms of the gullies, and then cut short side 
drains down the inclinations at nearly right an¬ 
gles to the main or sub-main drains. To state 
the rule in general terms; let each drain be so 
arranged as to give the greatest fall throughout 
its whole length.—In Fig. 29 we give a diagram 
of the drains in a 10-acre field which we visited 
not long since. The main drain, M, runs along 
the lowest place in the field, with an outlet at 0. 
The two sub-mains, S,S, pass through lower por¬ 
tions, or valleys, rvliile the smaller drains run 
directly down the sides of the higher portions. 
Where a field is so situated upon an inclined 
plane, or at the base of a hill, that it receives 
surplus water from a farm or field above, on one 
or more sides, it will be well to not only pro¬ 
vide parallel drains down the field, but also to 
place a cut-off drain around the upper side to 
receive and carry off the entire outside water. 
This is illustrated in fig. 30, in which a is a brook 
at the base of the hill-side, (or it may be an open 
or covered artificial drain). The smaller down¬ 
hill drains are shown at b, b, b. The cut off 
drain curves around at the base of the higher 
ground above the field, discharging near a. 
As hinted previously, it is impossible to give 
specific rules applicable to every case. In lay¬ 
ing out drains, every man must exercise his own 
judgment, and be guided by the peculiar loca¬ 
tion of his field, and the nature of the soil. 
Where the surface of a field is much inclined, 
or very uneven, the eye is usually a sufficient 
guide; but on land nearly level, some kind of a 
leveling implement is needed. For a home¬ 
made instrument a flat board with an oiled sur¬ 
face will answer very well. By pouring a little 
water upon the center and placing the board so 
that the water shall spread out uniformly in all 
directions, a pretty good level surface can be ob¬ 
tained for sighting across. Fig. 31, is also a 
convenient instrument. It is simply a triangu¬ 
lar frame of wood, with a weight suspended from 
the upper angle by a cord. By turning it round 
end to end on a level floor, the center point can 
be found, and then whenever the weight cord is 
brought against the center point, the cross or 
horizontal bar is level and may be used for sight¬ 
ing across. The inclination for a fall of a foot, 
or an inch, in each five or ten rods, may be as¬ 
certained by experiment, and the place of the 
cord on the cross-bar be indicated by the figures 
1, 2, 3. When once marked thus, the instru¬ 
ment will be convenient to lay out drains at any 
desired inclination, or amount of fall per rod. 
The common spirit-level (fig. 32,), used by car¬ 
penters, and builders, is very convenient. One 
Fig. 32. 
can be bought for a few shillings, or be borrow¬ 
ed of a neighboring carpenter for temporary use. 
Fig. 33 illustrates the most convenient mode of 
using this instrument. Going to the lower end 
of the proposed drain, place the spirit-level at a, 
on a support so high that when leveled, the line of 
sight shall strike the surface of the ground near 
b. The stakes, 2,3, 4,... .are set up, say one rod 
apart, along side the proposed drain, and while 
one sights the instrument, another marks the 
stakes at the top. If the entire fall from b to a 
be 10 inches, more or less, there is then a fall of 
say 1 inch to each rod. Beginning at stake No. 10, 
make a second mark 1 inch below the upper one. 
Mark No. 9, 2 inches below; No. 8, 3 inches be¬ 
low, and so on. If then the depth of the drain, d, 
is to average 3 feet, it is only necessary to dig at 
any point just 3 feet below the lower mark on 
the stake at that point, keeping the grade of the 
bottom uniform between any two stakes. By 
this exceedingly simple plan we have been 
able to secure an almost perfectly uniform grade 
for the bottom of drains, the diggers using a 
straight-edged board as a guide between the 
6 10 987 6 5 4 3 2 « 
marked stakes. In practice also we usually set 
the stakes only 10 or 12 feet apart, as they are 
easily and quickly put down and marked, and 
the nearer they are together, the more read¬ 
ily will the bottom be kept to a true grade. 
