332 
DRAINAGE Of SOILS. 
quired who was the engineer, I was answered your late brother. 
Being, however, aware that he never recommended drains to be filled 
with wood, if stones could possibly be procured, and more especially 
that he would not have done so in draining pleasure ground, where, 
in most cases, no expense is spared to do the work in the most sub¬ 
stantial manner .1 suspected that the work had not been executed ac¬ 
cording to his plan, and, upon making further inquiry, T found that 
my suspicions were correct, his specification having directed them 
not only to be made with stones, but also to have been from two to 
three feet deeper, which was exactly what I caused to he done, 
whereby a complete drainage was obtained. 
Tile Drains .—These are best calculated for removing surface 
water, and are made just wide enough to let the tiles be put easily 
into them; they are, in most cases, about twenty inches deep, but 
tiles may he used at any depth, provided the drain is filled with broken 
stones, or other open materials, to nearly the surface of the ground. 
The tiles should alwavs be well burnt, and laid on soles, as whenever 
this is neglected, which is too often the case where tile draining is now 
practised, their duration will unquestionably he very short, whereas 
hard burnt tiles will last for almost any length of time without 
mouldering down. The expediency of using tiles instead of stones 
depends entirely on circumstances; for, if stones are to be found, 
whether by collecting on the surface or quarrying within the lands 
that are to be improved, or even if they can be procured within a 
mile of the operations, tiles should never be used. Stones are 
preferable to tiles in making drains in all kinds of soils, provided a 
sufficient quantity are used, but where only a few inches of broken 
stones are used in a drain, well burnt tiles laid on thick soles, and 
covered with turf of any other porous substance, would answer the 
purpose better; and in porous soils, when the water is found at or near 
the bottom of the drain, if six or eight inches of broken stones were 
used in packing and covering them, a more substantial drain would 
he formed. In clayey or mixed soils, where the water enters the 
drain at different depths, stones, gravel, or smithy-danders, are the 
only materials that can he used with advantage; in any case, how¬ 
ever, where the tiles are used, the space above them must be filled to 
the surface of the ground with some porous material, otherwise the 
drains will he useless, and the undertaking will prove a complete 
failure. 
In the preceding pages, I have endeavoured to set before the reader, 
in as plain a manner as the nature of the subject would allow, a short 
practical detail of the principles required to he applied in draining 
