THE CULTIVATOR. 
85 
There are some general rules in regard to draining which are to 
be regarded in all cases. 
All drains should be as straight as possible; as this shortens the 
distance, and renders the sides less liable to be worn, and the wa¬ 
ters less apt to be obstructed. They should be made with but a 
moderate fall, as where the inclination is great, the bottoms are lia¬ 
ble to be worn by the water. They should penetrate the subsoil or 
hardpan, a sufficient depth to contain all the water that comes from 
above. Open drains should be so large as to contain and carry off 
all the water that may at any time be required to pass through them. 
The sides should be sloping, according to the nature of the soil; 
the more porous and spongy this, the greater slope is required.— 
They should in no case, perhaps, be less than three feet broad at the 
surface. I never make them less than four. They should be com¬ 
paratively narrow at the bottom, as, by concentrating the water, the 
current, acquires new force, and carries off the earth and other ob¬ 
structions which would otherwise accumulate. The sides of all drains 
should be preserved firm and unbroken, and should be carefully cut 
with the spade, in the direction desired, and as the digging pro¬ 
gresses. The sides of under drains may be perpendicular, and the 
breadth of the drain need be no greater than is required for the con¬ 
venience of the workmen; but such drains should be filled as fast 
as they are dug out; because, if left open for any length of time, 
the earth is not only apt to fall in, but the sides get into a broken 
irregular state, which cannot afterwards be well rectified. It also 
deserves attention, that in most under drains, a proper covering of 
straw or sod should be put upon the top of the materials, to keep 
the surface earth from mixing with them. 
The pit method of draining, is often effectual, when properly ex¬ 
ecuted. When it is sufficiently ascertained where the bed of water 
is deposited, which can easily be done by boring with a post auger, 
sink a pit into the place, of a size which will allow a man freely to 
work within its bounds. Dig this pit through the tenacious subsoil, 
or of such a depth as to reach the bed of the water meant to be car¬ 
ried off; and when this depth is obtained, which is easily discerned, 
fill up the pit with big stones, and if the water rises, carry it off by 
a stout drain to some adjoining ditch or mouth. 
Under drains are constructed of various materials, as stone, brick, 
tiles, brush, wood, turf, &c. Where they can be had, stones are un¬ 
questionably the best material. 
Stone drains are of three kinds. A common, but the least efficient 
mode, is to dig a trench from two to three feet deep, and fill it half 
full or less, with stones promiscuously thrown in, and then to fill it 
up with earth. The next method is, to lay at the bottom a regular 
drain with suitable stones, with an aperture of six or eight inches, 
upon which six or eight inches of stones are deposited in compact 
order, and then the trench is filled with earth. This sort of drain is 
extensively used in Scotland to drain large tracts of wet or boggy 
ground, and they are sometimes carried to the depth of 16 and 17, 
and commonly of 4 to 6 feet. An accurate survey is made of the 
grounds and drains, that in case of obstruction, the latter can be 
readily found. A third mode, and which we particularly recommend, 
on account of its permanency as well as cheapness, in all situations 
where it is practicable, is to use broken stone as the draining material. 
In constructing these a trench is first dug two feet deep ; in the cen¬ 
tre of the bottom a narrow sloping spit is then taken out, to be fill¬ 
ed up with the broken stone, and carefully cleaned, after which the 
stone is deposited, and covered either with other stones, straw, 
brush, or sods, to prevent the loose earth getting into the draining 
materials. The dimensions of the draining section, a term which 
we apply to that part filled with the broken stones, may be propor¬ 
tioned to the quantity of water that is required to pass, and the 
abundance of the draining material. A spade, of the intended shape 
of the drainage section, must be provided to dig it, and also a scra¬ 
per, to smooth the sides of the cut, and to take out the loose earth. 
This spade should be eight to ten inches long, should taper from the 
upper to the lower end, and possess a strong socket for the handle, 
and a stout iron pin projecting from it, on which the foot may be 
placed to drive it into the ground. A spade six inches broad at top, 
and three or four inches at bottom, is in most cases sufficiently large. 
The scraper resembles a large pod auger, with a goose neck and 
long handle, with which the workman cleans the cut, as he pro¬ 
gresses, without changing materially his position. A cubic yard of 
broken stone, the price of breaking which is ordinarily 62 j cents, 
will fill about seven yards of a drain of the above dimensions. Un¬ 
der-drains cannot well be constructed, in this way, in bog earth or 
in quick sands: Their advantages, in a more tenacious stratum, 
arises from their not being liable to be disturbed by the plough, or 
the dread of cattle; their affording no harbor for moles; their 
not being liable to be worn away by the attrition of the water which 
passes in them, or choked up by water and earth from the surface. 
These drains possess no large cavities; and the water rather filters 
than runs through them. 
Straw drains are sometimes employed, where better materials can¬ 
not be had. They are formed somewhat like the preceding, except 
that the under cut should not be above three inches at top, and one 
inch, or one and a half inches broad at bottom,—and that a rope of 
straw, of adequate size, instead of broken stone, is employed to fill 
them. To give strength to a spade of the required dimensions, it 
should be made rounding on one side. The straw will fill only 5 or 6 
inches of the cut, leaving an aperture below for the water of three or 
four inches. If there is a constant run of water, it will, as its force 
is concentrated in the narrow bottom, generally keep it free from all 
obstructions. The sod taken from the surface of the ditch, should 
be preserved, and laid in upon the straw rope. The expectation is, 
that before tiie straw has decayed, the earth upon it will have be¬ 
come so compact as not afterwards to settle and close the drain.— 
In some parts of England, sods are substituted for straw, in which 
case they are cut from 12 to 18 inches in length, and are set in with 
the grass side downwards, and pressed in as far as they will go. I 
last year employed straw in draining some acres of wet springy land, 
in the manner above described, much of which had before been too 
wet for the plough, and even for the better grasses. Upon the field 
I have this season planted corn and potatoes, and the crop is very 
promising. The draining cost about 9 cents the rod. 
Brush drains are made in different ways. Faggots, tied in bun¬ 
dles, of a proper size, are sometimes laid in the bottom, to the thick¬ 
ness of one or twu feet. At other times, the trench being dug with 
shoulders like that intended for straw, short sticks are laid across the 
lower aperture, and the brush then laid in. Our practice has been, 
to take dwarf pines, the buts from three to six inches, cut them in¬ 
to lengths of four or five feet, and commencing at the upper end of 
the drain, proceed to lay them in regularly and compactly, the buts 
downward, in a sloping form, until the drain is filled. The trench is 
then apparently full. The brush is then brought within the edges, 
smartly trod down, and the earth filled in. Brush drains should be 
sunk so deep as to have the brush, when pressed upon by the eafth, below 
the reach of the plough, at least six inches, otherwise they are liable to 
be disturbed and choked by loose earth. The brush should be used in 
a green state, and with the leaves upon it if practicable, as in this 
condition it lasts much longer. 
A mode of draining clay soils wet by rain or surface water, prac¬ 
tised by Sir A. Fletcher, is thus described in the New Edinburgh 
Encyclopedia: 
“ The upper soil is of good quality but being situated in a moun¬ 
tainous part of the country, the frequent rains kept it so full of wa¬ 
ter, that it produced only a coarse grass, worth 3s per acre. The 
inferior soil of clay was of great depth. On grass lands he digs 22 
inches, or 2 feet deep; the first spadeful is of the turf, taken so deep 
as where it separates from the clay ; the turf is dug carefully out 
and preserved unbroken, with its grass side up, and laid on one side 
of the cut; then, with a very strong spade, 18 inches long, 6 inches 
wide at top, and 2 at the bottom, he digs a spadeful in the clay, which 
the men spread about the land, on the side of the drain opposite to 
which the turfs were laid, as far as possible from the drain, so that 
none may get in again. A scoop follows to clear out the fragments 
in the bottom, which are also spread in like manner. They are then 
ready for filling ; and, in doing this, he takes three stone of a thin » 
flat form, two of which are placed against the sides of the drain, 
meeting at the bottom; and the third caps the other two. Thus a 
hollow triangular space is left to convey the water, which is subject 
to no accidents that can fill it up, or impede the current. Stones 
always sink deeper in the ground; and in the common method, this 
frequently causes stoppages, by their being partly buried in the clay ; 
but the triangle, When it subsides, does it regularly, and keeps its 
form and the passage of the water clear. One cart-load of stones 
in this way, will do a considerable length of drain. They are care¬ 
fully laid down by the side of the cut, with a shovel or basket; and 
if there are any small refuse stones left on the ground, after the 
drain is set, they are thrown in above. The stones being thus fix¬ 
ed, the sods are then trimmed to the shape of the drain, and laid on 
