Q46 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
with proper wedging upon the sides, the tile will 
not be moved out of place either in a hard or soft 
soil. We recommend putting in this narrow 
board even in the hardest soil, for the occurrence 
of any soft spot in the soil, however small, may 
cause a single tile to settle a little at one end, 
and thus close up the perfect continuance of the 
tube, and spoil the entire drain. 
Many recommend using clay collars over the 
joints, where the ends of the tiles meet. This will 
prevent their being displaced sidewise, but will 
not keep them from settling unequally, which is a 
more frequent cause of failure. Laying in boards 
will also be found much cheaper than using col¬ 
lars, for any rough, knotty boards, or thin slabs will 
answer, as only a continuous upper surface for 
the tile to rest upon is required. With these 
boards, less care will be required in cleaning out 
the bottom of the drain, since the boards can be 
laid in and soon levelled down by striking them 
with a heavy block. Long before these boards 
can decay, the tile will have become so thorough¬ 
ly imbedded in the surrounding soil, that there 
will be little danger of future displacement. Ex¬ 
cept in very soft, spongy soils, where the perma¬ 
nent use of thick boards will be needed, the thin¬ 
ner the boards the better, since their decay would 
produce less sinking of the tiles, if any take 
place—their chief object being to keep the tiles in 
position until the drains are filled and thoroughly 
settled. In some localities slate or thin flat stones 
are abundant, and these may be substituted for 
boards; and they may even take the place of soles 
if horse-shoe tile are used. 
When these tubes are thus arranged and firmly 
wedged in upon the bottom, the next process is to 
refill the drains. If in digging, any gravelly ma¬ 
terials have been thrown out, these should be put 
directly upon the tile, and the rest filled up with 
the soil. It is always desirable to have as thick a 
oed of porous materials as possible directly upon 
and above the tiles. Some recommend to cover 
them first with grass, turf, straw, &c. These 
answer a very good temporary purpose, but it is 
doubtful whether the ultimate decay of these may 
not clog up the tiles. A covering of gravel or fine 
stone upon and around the tile is far preferable. 
The soil may be thrown back into the drain with 
a shovel, or more economically still by a plow, with 
a double tree of 9 or 10 feet, so that it may be 
drawn by two horses, one walking upon either 
side of the drain. The earth should be rounded 
up a little over the drain, to allow for settling. A 
section of the drain thus completed is represented 
by 21. though in this figure the tile is not of the 
round form. 
The most Derfect mode of constructing a drain 
is that shown in fig. 24. 
Hen.’ we have in the bot¬ 
tom a drain-tile a, of any 
form, round or horse¬ 
shoe, and oveTthisa bed 
of stones of five, ten, nr 
fifteen inches in thick¬ 
ness, and the common 
soil to fill up the remain¬ 
der. If stones are thus 
put over the tiles they 
should be "laid in care¬ 
fully, to avoid breaking, 
But this addition of stones is not necessary. If 
there is an open passage 2^ or 3 feet below the 
surface, the water level will not long remain above 
that point, even in the most compact soil. This 
is abundantly proved by the fact that a hole dug 
into the stiffest wet clay, will speedily fill with 
water, which would not he the case, if the water 
could not readily make its way in from surround¬ 
ing points. 
Again, many persons on seeing sole or pipe tiles 
laid down with the ends put closely together, 
have their doubts whether the water will enter 
the drain with sufiicient freedom. A little con¬ 
sideration will settle this matter. The truth is 
you can not keep the water out of a tightly laid 
tile drain, for however near the. ends may be 
together—and they should always be closely laid 
to keep earth from falling or being washed in— 
there will still be seams enough in the course of 
a few rods to admit all the water the drain can 
carry off. But suppose, for illustration, that it 
were practicable to make each piece of pipe-tile 
ten feet in length, the water would still enter 
freely by passing directly through the substance 
of the tile. They are of the same material as 
bricks, and we well know that an unglazed vessel 
of brick would not hold water ; on the contrary, 
the liquid would speedily pass through the open 
pores and ooze out upon the bottom. So the wa- 
tei will settle into a tile drain .passing directly 
through its sides. 
When a great amount of water is to be carried 
off from a field,-or a main drain is required, it often 
becomes necessary to use very large tiles. In 
such cases it is frequent¬ 
ly more economical to 
use two smaller tiles a, b, 
side by side. Large tiles 
are different to manu¬ 
facture and to handle. 
The cost of two smaller 
tiles is little more than 
that of a single large one 
oftlie same capacity; and 
there is this advantage 
in the use of the two 
smaller ones, that they 
Fig 25 not only assist in keep¬ 
ing each other in place, but when >there are two 
distinct tubes there is less chance for absolute 
failures, for should one by any chance give way 
there will still be one left. Expense in digging 
may be saved by leaving 
the bottom of the drain 
arrower than in fig. 25, 
and placing one tile over 
the other as shown in 
fig. 26. If horse-shoe 
tiles he used, only one 
flat tile will be needed be¬ 
tween a and b. A large 
sole-tile might be placed 
below, bottom upwards 
and a horse-shoe tile b be 
set upon it, though two 
Fig. 26. sole-tiles with the flat 
sides together would form the firmest drain. 
We have for convenience in the use of il¬ 
lustrations. in the foregoing as well as in the next 
figure, shown only the horse-shoe tiles, but the 
same description holds equally good for the sole 
tile, (fig. 22) which we consider preferable. 
Where one drain enters another upon the side, 
it will be ne¬ 
cessary to pro. 
cure tiles spe¬ 
cially prepared 
like those in fig. 
27 ; or they may 
be readily cut 
from the com¬ 
mon whole tile* 
Fig. 27. as they are as 
easily worked into'shape as common bricks 
Tiles, of whatever form—sole, horse-shoe, or 
pipe, should be well made. They should be smooth 
on the surface, and ring like cast iron when 
struck with the knuckle. If overburned, they are 
liable to crack and break, and if under-burned, 
they become soft and spongy, and fall in. There 
is considerable variation in length in this country, 
some being fully fifteen inches long, while others 
are but twelve inches. The short tiles are pref¬ 
erable, if proportionably cheap, and buyers, in 
ordering, should always stipulate for some par¬ 
ticular length. Two factories were recently sel¬ 
ling two-inch pipe-tile, the one at 810 and the other 
at $12 a thousand ; but on measuring, we found 
their lengths respectively twelve and fifteen inches. 
Those at 812 and fifteen inches long were of 
course the cheapest. 
The smaller size of tiles are now sold for 810 
to 818 per thousand in this country, or at the rate of 
fourteen to twenty-five cents a rod; and they will 
continually become much cheaper. As soon as 
the advantages of these tiles become known, so 
as to create a demand for them, machines for 
their manufacture will be introduced into brick¬ 
yards generally in the older parts of this country, 
and the cost of transportation will be greatly re¬ 
duced. In England where labor and coal for 
burning are cheap, and the manufacturing is car¬ 
ried on upon a large scale, they are often sold a* 
the kilns as low as 82 00 to 82 50 per thousand 
We shall hereafter have more to say on the ma 
chines, and modes and cost of manufacture 
With a suitable machine they can be readily made 
at any brick-yard in the country. 
A PRACTICAL DRAINER’S 
SUGGESTIONS. 
Mr. W. L., of Fairport, Chemung Co., N. Y., 
writes : 1 use horse-shoe tile if the bottom or sub¬ 
soil is hard enough, and pipe tile if it is sandy. If in 
quick-sand I lay boards under the tiles. After the 
tiles are laid down I cover them with three or 
four inches of clean coarse gravel, so as to entire¬ 
ly surround them, except underneath. One load 
of gravel covers about a dozen rods. I would 
suggest that a drain of 2| or 3 feet in depth, il 
filled in with a close, tight sub-soil, and covered 
with the soil as thrown out, will defeat itself, by 
being below the course of the water. A more 
shallow drain, or one filled with gravel to the top 
of the sub-soil, would answer a better purpose. 1 
would also suggest that a wet spot may be 
effectually drained by a single ditch across the 
upper side, or where the water begins to ooze out 
of the higher ground, thus cutting off the water 
forced to the water surface, and compelled to 
work its way through the soil till it finds a more 
porous sub-soil_We omit remark here, as these 
points are being discussed in our articles on this 
topic. 
P0UL IRS—PREPARING —K1L L1N G 
-DRESSING-MARKETING. 
Preparing .—Make them fat. A grain-fed, plump, 
fat fowl will sell for double the price per pound of 
a lean one. A liberal feeding, for a few weeks 
before killing will nearly double the weight and 
double the price, making a quadruple return for the 
finishing off food. 
Killing .—Keep them from bruising themselves 
Secure the wings the instant they are caught, and 
tie them behind the back. Tie the legs together, 
hang them upon a pole, and then cut off the head 
with a sharp knife, leaving as long a neck as pos¬ 
sible. Let them liang until ' they bleed clean. 
Keep them from food for two or three hours before 
