THE CULTIVATOR. 
27 
Accumulated wealth brings care, and a thirst for increasing 
riches. He who requires many luxuries, is always in want of ma¬ 
ny. Happy is he to whom God has given a sufficiency with a spar¬ 
ing hand.— Horace. 
Man is blind to his own faults, but clear sighted in discerning 
those of others.— Phced. He quickly sees the “mote in his bro¬ 
ther’s eye.” 
He who defers the hour of beginning to live correctly, is like the 
peasant who waits to have the river flow past; but it continues to 
flow, and will flow till the end of time.— Horace. 
Timid dogs bark more violently than they bite.— Sal. 
Elements of Practical Agriculture, 
By David I.ow, Professor of Agriculture, &c. 
DRAINING. 
(Continued from page 12.) 
Before beginning to drain a field or tract of ground, it. is frequent¬ 
ly well to ascertain, by examination, the nature of the substances to 
be dug through. 
At the upper part where the wet tract to be drained appears, or 
between the wet and the dry, let a few pits be dug. The place of 
each pit is to be marked out nearly in the direction of the proposed 
line of drain, six feet Jong by three in width, in which space one 
man, and if required, two, can work. Let the earth be thrown out 
to the lower side, and to such a distance from the edge of the pit 
as not to press upon and break down the sides. Let these pits be 
cast out to the depth of five or six feet, or more if necessary, so 
that we may reach, if possible, the porous bed in which the water 
is contained. Should we find no water, then let us apply to a bor¬ 
ing rod, in order to ascertain at what depth the porous substance 
lies in which the water is contained. 
Sometimes water will not be found until we come to a great 
depth. It may be so deep that we cannot reach it by any drain, or 
even by boring with the auger. In this case, we are saved the la¬ 
bor of making the drain unnecessarily deep. Sometimes we shall 
proceed to a considerable depth without finding any appearance of 
water, when, all at once, by breaking through some thin stratum, 
we shall reach it. I he water is frequently seen, in this case, to 
boil up like a fountain, and this affords the assurance that we shall 
succeed in our object. 
This species of preparatory examination by means of pits, is there¬ 
fore, in many cases useful. It affords the means of judging of the 
proper depth and dimensions of which the drain shall be formed ; 
it prevents the committing of errors in the laying out of the lines 
of drains ; and it enables the drainer to enter into contracts with 
his workmen with precision. 
When we have thus, by sinking pits in various parts of our in¬ 
tended lines, obtained an idea of the nature of the ground, of the 
substances to be dug through, and of the depth of the water, we 
mark our lines of drains upon the ground. 
This may be done by pins, or by a plough drawing a furrow 
along the intended line. 
It is at this time very convenient to make a hand-sketch of the 
piece of ground to be drained, marking each line as it is laid off in 
the field, and noting the depth and direction in which the water is 
to run. 
The lines being marked off in the manner described, these are to 
form the upper edges of the drains. 
The width of the drain at the top depends upon its depth, it be¬ 
ing usual, except in the case of very hard and tenacious substances, 
to make it slope from the top to the bottom. Thus, if it be six feet 
deep, and from 18 inches to two feet wide at bottom, it may be 2\ 
feet wide at top. 
The workman, in forming the trench, works up to the higher 
ground, and never from the higher ground to the lower. The in¬ 
struments which he uses in the operation are the common spade, a 
shovel for throwing out loose substances, a pick or mattock, for 
raising stones and breaking the earth when hard, and the foot-pick. 
The materials to be used for filling the drain may be stones, tiles, 
or other hard and durable substances. When stones are to be 
employed, if they are inconveniently large, they may be broken to 
the weight of three or four pounds. They may be laid down for 
use, before the cutting of the drain is begun, along the upper line 
of the drain, the earth being thrown by the workmen to the lower- 
side ; or else they may be brought forward while the work is going 
on, and thrown from the cart into the drain. 
In the larger class of drains, it is regarded as beneficial, and even 
necessary, to form a conduit at the bottom. This is done by build¬ 
ing a little wall roughly on each side at the bottom, about 6 inches 
in height, and so as to leave an aperture or conduit of about 6 in¬ 
ches in width. The workman then covers it with such flat stones 
as he can procure, filling up also the interstices of these covers 
with small stones, so as to defend the conduit from earth and other 
substances that might fall into it. When this is done, the remain¬ 
ing stones are thrown in promiscuously to the height of 18 inches 
or two feet above the cover. The stones are then to be made le¬ 
vel at the top, and either covered with the sod which, on breaking 
the ground of the drain, had been laid aside for that purpose, or 
with a covering of straw, heath or the like. The object of this co¬ 
vering is to prevent the loose earth from falling among the stones. 
When these operations are completed, the earth which had been 
thrown out of the trench is shovelled upon the stones until it be 
above the level of the surface. The object of raising it higher than 
the surface is to provide for the subsidence of the loose earth, which 
is generally found to be rendered more compact and to occupy a 
smaller space than it did in its original state. When a portion of 
the earth is shovelled, it is an economy of labor to employ a com¬ 
mon plough for filling in the remainder. 
Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 4. 
A drain thus formed will appear on a transverse section, as in fig. 
1, and after the subsidence of the earth, as in fig. 2. Where the 
soil is very soft, it is of benefit to pave the lower part of the drain 
with stones or slates. In the whole operation of forming the trench 
and conduit, great care is necessary in seeing that all the parts of 
the work are executed well. 
The stones used for this species of drain may be sandstone, or 
any of the harder stones that can be obtained. But in many cases, 
stones are not to be obtained, in which case tile may be substituted. 
The tiles, which are made with an arch, as in figure 3, may be 
formed of separate pieces of about 14 inches in length. Flat soles 
are made of the same materials, on which the arched tiles are to 
rest. 
The method of forming the drain when tiles are the material em¬ 
ployed, is somewhat different from that adopted when stones are 
used. 
The drain is carried down as narrow as a man can work, and at 
the bottom an excavation is made by means of a narrowmouthed 
spade, to fit the dimensions of the tile, which is then placed upon its 
stand or sole. Above this, should be laid some loose materials, as 
clean gravel or sand, for allowing the filtration of the water. Even 
brushwood and such materials, may be used. for, though they are 
not of great durability, they serve the purpose, even after they 
have decayed, of rendering the earth more open and pervious to 
water. 
Drains formed in this manner, whether the material employed be 
stone or tile, will be found efficient when they are laid out in the 
proper direction, and when the pervious substances are reached in 
which the water is contained. 
But it is often impracticable to reach these substances with a 
drain of common depth. In this case, apertures may be formed at 
the bottom of the drain, by boring or sinking down at the proper 
distances, until the pervious beds in which the water is contained 
are reached. By this mean, the water will be allowed to flow up 
