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 DRAINING FOR PROFIT 
 
 AND 
 
 DRAINING FOR HEALTH. 
 
 BY 
 
 GEO. E. WAKING, JR., 
 
 EXG1NEEH OF THE DRAINAGE OF CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK. 
 
 NEW AND BEVISED EDITION. 
 
 " EVERT REPORTED CASE OF FAILURE IN DRAINAGE WHICH WE HAVE INVE8TI- 
 ' GATED, HAS RESOLVED ITSELF INTO IGNOBANCT, BLUNDERING, BAD MANAGEMENT, 
 
 ' OR BAD EXECUTION." Gisborne. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 ORANGE JUDD COMPANY, 
 1902
 
 Bntered, according to Act of Congress, In the year 1887, by the 
 
 O. JUDD CO., 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
 
 re 
 
 UJ3 
 
 NOTE TO FIRST EDITION. 
 
 In presenting this book to the public the writer desires to nay that, 
 having in view the great importance of thorough work in land draining, 
 and believing it advisable to avoid everything which might be construed 
 into an approval of half-way measures, he has purposely taken tbe most 
 radical view of the whole subject, and has endeavored to emphasize the 
 necessity for the utmost thoroughness in all draining operations, from 
 the first staking of the lines to the flnal filling-iu of the ditches. 
 
 That it is sometimes necessary, because of limited means, or limited 
 time, or for other good reasons, to drain partially or imperfectly, or 
 with a view only to temporary results, is freely acknowledged. In these 
 cases the occasion for less completeness in the work must determine 
 the extent to which the directions herein laid down are to b>; disre- 
 garded ; but it is believed that, even in such cases, the principles on 
 which those directions are founded should be always borne in mind. 
 
 NEWPORT, R. L, 1867. 
 
 NOTE TO SECOND EDITION. 
 
 None of the principles set forth in the First Edition of this book have 
 been modified by later experience. Some of the processes for the exe- 
 cution of the work have, however, been so much improved as to make 
 a revision necessary. 
 
 NEWPORT, R. I., 1879. 
 
 NOTE TO THIRD EDITION. 
 
 It is now twenty years since this book was first written. During this 
 time the extension of the tile drainage of agricultural lands throughout 
 the North and West, and to no little extent throughout the South, has 
 been very great. There are probably more factories for the manufac- 
 ture of drain tiles in active operation now than there were tile-drained 
 fanns in 1866. 
 
 There has been no modification of methods in practical drainasre at 
 all comparable with its extent. The more important changes have been 
 incorporated with the directions given in the various chapters of this 
 work. Some improvements have been introduced since the publication 
 of the Second Edition in 1879. 
 
 NEWPOBT, R. L, 1887. 
 
 (3)
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 fig. l.-A dry soil, (from Dr. Madden 1 * lecture) 18 
 
 " 2. Awetsoil " " " ; 18 
 
 " 3. A drained soil" " " 14 
 
 4. A map of land with swamps, rocks, springs and trees 60 
 
 5. Map with 50-foot squares and contour lines 51 
 
 6. Levelling instrument 52 
 
 7. " rod 53 
 
 8. Map with contour lines 54 
 
 9. Wells' Clinometer 56 
 
 10. Stone pit to connect spring with drain 59 
 
 11. Stone pit and tile-basin for same object 60 
 
 12. Line of saturation between drains 65 
 
 13. Horse-shoe tile 78 
 
 14. Sole-tile 80 
 
 15. Double-sole-tile 80 
 
 16. Round tile (or pipe) and collar 81 
 
 is! (-Three profiles of drains with different inclinations 98 
 
 19.- f 
 
 20. Map with drains and contour lines 98 
 
 21. Profile of Drain C 106 
 
 22. Set of tools, (from Drainage des Terres Arables) 114 
 
 23. Outlet secured with masonry and grating, (from the same) 118 
 
 24. Silt-basin, built to the surface 121 
 
 25. Finishing spade 123 
 
 26. " scoop 123 
 
 27. Bracing the sides of drains in soft land 124 
 
 28. Measuring staff 124 
 
 29. Boning-Rod 125 
 
 30. Position of workman, and use of scoop, (from Drainage des Terres 
 
 Arables) 126 
 
 31. Use of Boning-Rods 126 
 
 32. Tile-pick 131 
 
 33. Lateral drain entering at top of main 134 
 
 34. Sectional view of joint 134 
 
 35. Square, brick silt-basin 135 
 
 36. Silt-basin of vitrified pipe 134 
 
 37. Tile Silt-basin 136 
 
 38.-Manlfor ramming 138 
 
 3!). Board scraper for filling ditches 140 
 
 40. Drain with a furrow at each side 141 
 
 41. Foot-pick 156 
 
 42. Pug-Mill 179 
 
 43. Plate of dies 180 
 
 44. Cheap wooden machine, (from Drainage des Terres Arables) 181 
 
 45. Mandril for carrying tiles from machine, (from the same) 182 
 
 46. Clay-kiln, (from Journal Royal Agricultural Society) I'M 
 
 47. Dyke and ditch 197 
 
 48.- Old system of house drainage, I from Report of Board of j 2: 
 49. New " " " J Health, (England). 1 237 
 
 " 50-57. Boymon's tiles and connections 2^-J 
 
 " 58-59. Outlet <rratin<r and outlet 2-45 
 
 " 60-64. English dra'ning tools .24S 
 
 65. Opening the ditch and laying the tiles 249
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. LAND TO BE DRAINED, AND THE REASON WHY. 
 
 Indications of the need of draining. Sources of water. Objections 
 to too much water. Wet sub-soil. 
 
 CHAPTER II. HOW DRAINS ACT, AND HOW THEY AFFECT THE SOIL, 
 
 Characteristics of a well laid tile-drain. Surface-water and rain-water 
 beneficial, springs and soakage-water injurious. Cracking of stiff clays. 
 Evaporation and filtration. Rain-fall. Evaporation. Temperature. 
 Drought. Porosity or mellowness. Chemical action in the soil. 
 
 CHAPTER III. HOW TO GO TO WORK TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OF DRAINS. 
 
 Amateur draining. Maps. Levelling instruments. Outlets and loca- 
 tion of drains. Main drains. Spring water. -Fall. Tiles. Depth and 
 distance apart. Direction of laterals. Collars. Discharge of water 
 from drains. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. HOW TO MAKE THE DRAINS. 
 
 Tools. Marking the lines. Water-courses. Outlets. Silt-Basins. 
 Opening the ditches. Grading. Tile laying. Connections. Covering 
 the tile and filling in. Collecting the water of springs. Amending the 
 
 CHAPTER V. HOW TO TAKE CARE OF DRAINS AND DRAINED LAND. 
 
 Removing obstructions. Mistake of substituting large tiles for small 
 ones which have become obstructed. Heavy lands should not be tram- 
 pled while wet. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. WHAT DRAINING COSTS. 
 
 Draining, expensive work. Permanence and las* in<r effe ts. Cheap- 
 ness versus economy. Details of cost. (1. Engineering and Su- 
 perintendence. 2. Digging the ditches. 3. Grading the bottoms. 
 4. Tiles and tile laying. 5. Covering and filling. 6. Outlets and Silt 
 Basins.) 
 5
 
 VI TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. WILL IT PAT? 
 
 Increased crops required to pay cost of draining. (Corn, Wheat, Rye, 
 Oats, Potatoes, Barley, Hay, Cotton, Tobacco). Instances of profit. 
 Effect of draining in facilitating farm work. 
 
 CHAPTER V in. HOW TO MAKE DRAINING TILES. 1 
 
 Materials. Preparation of earths. Moulding tiles. Machines. Dry- 
 ing and^roiling. Burning. Kilns. General arrangement of a tilery. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. THE RECLAIMING OF SALT MARSHES. 
 
 Extent of marshes on the Atlantic Coast. The English Fens. Har- 
 laem Lake. The exclusion of sea water. Removal of the causes of in- 
 undation from the upland. Removal of rain-fall and water of filtration. 
 Embankments. Muskrats. Rivers and Creeks. Outlet of drainage. 
 
 CHAPTER X. MALARIAL DISEASES. 
 
 Fever-and-Ague. Neuralgia. Vicinity of New York. Dr. Bartlett on 
 Periodical Fever. Dr. Metcalf s Report to U. 8. Sanitary Commission. 
 La Roche on the effect of Malarial Fever. Dr. Salisbury on the 
 "Cause of Malarious Fevers." English experience. Reports to the 
 British Parliament. The cause of Malaria removed by draining. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. HOUSE DRAINAGE AND TOWN SEWERAGE is THEIR RELA- 
 TIONS TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH. 
 
 Sewerace. The use of pipes. The new outfall sewers in London. 
 The use of steam-pumps to secure outlets. Utilization of sewage 
 matters in agriculture. Effects of imperfect house drainage on health. 
 Typhoid fever. The Westminster fever in London. Epidemic at the 
 Maplewood Young Ladies Institute, in Pittsfield, Mass. Lambeth 
 Square, London. Back drainage. Water supply. General Board of 
 Health, (England). ! 
 
 Note to Chapter XI, Second RJition. Obstacles to back drainage. Small 
 pipes. Flush tanks. Drainage of country and village houses, etc. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. IMPROVEMENTS IN DRAINING TILES. 
 
 The Boynton tiles. Curved tiles. Junction pieces. Connection of 
 Lateral with Main. Covering for outlets. 
 
 GHAPTER XIII. LAND DRAINAGE. DETAILS OF THE WORK. 
 
 Beginning at the wrong end. Methods of English drainers. Com- 
 mencing the work. Draining tools. Digging the ditch and laying the 
 tiles. Wages.
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 LAND TO BE DRAINED AND THE REASONS WHY. 
 
 Land which requires draining hangs out a sign of its 
 condition, more or less cleai', according to its circumstances, 
 but always unmistakable to the practiced eye. Sometimes 
 it is the broad banner of standing water, or dark, wet streaks 
 in plowed land, when all should be dry and of even color ; 
 sometimes only a fluttering rag of distress in curling corn, 
 or wide-cracking clay, or feeble, spindling, shivering grain, 
 which has survived a precarious winter, on the ice-stilts 
 that have stretched its crown above a wet soil ; sometimes 
 the quarantine flag of rank growth and dank miasmatic fogs. 
 
 To recognize these indications is the first office of the 
 drainer; the second, to remove the causes from which they 
 arise. 
 
 If a rule could be adopted which would cover the varied 
 circumstances of different soils, it would be somewhat as 
 follows : All lands, of whatever texture or kind, in which 
 the spaces between the particles of soil are filled with water, 
 (whether from rain or from springs,) within less than four 
 feet of the surface of the ground, except during and 
 immediately after heavy rains, require draining. 
 
 Of course, the particles of the soil cannot be made drv 
 nor should they be ; but, although they should be moist 
 themselves, they should be surrounded with air, not with 
 water. To illustrate this : suppose that water be poured 
 into a barrel filled with chips of wood until it runs over at 
 the top. The spaces between the chips will be filled with 
 9
 
 6 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 water, and the chips themselves will absorb enough to be- 
 come thoroughly wet ; this represents the worst condition 
 of a wet soil If an opening be made at the bottom of the 
 barrel, the water which fills the spaces between the chips 
 will be drawn off, and its place will be taken by air, while 
 the chips themselves will remain wet from the water which 
 they hold by absorption. A drain at the bottom of a wet 
 field drawa away the water from the free spaces between 
 its particles, and its place is taken by air, while the parti- 
 cles hold, by attraction, the moisture necessary to a healthy 
 condition of the soil. 
 
 There are vast areas of land in this country which do 
 not need draining. The whole range of sands, gravels, 
 light loams and moulds allow water to pass freely through 
 them, and are sufficiently drained by nature, provided, 
 they are as open at the bottom as throughout the mass. 
 A sieve filled with gravel will drain perfectly ; a basin filled 
 with the same gravel will not drain at all. More than this, 
 a sieve filled with the stiffest clay, if not "puddled,"* 
 will drain completely, and so will heavy clay soils on po- 
 rous and well drained subsoils. Money expended in drain 
 ing such lands as do not require the operation is, of course 
 wasted; and when there is doubt as to the requirement, 
 
 Puddling is the kneading or rubbing of clay with water, a process by 
 which it becomes almost impervious, retaining this property until thor- 
 oughly dried, when its close union is broken by the shrinking of its 
 parts. Puddled clay remains practically impervious as long as it is 
 saturated with water, and it does not entirely lose this quality until it 
 has been pulverized in a dry state. 
 
 A small proportion of clay is sufficient to injure the porousness of 
 the soil by puddling. A clay subsoil is puddled by being plowed 
 over when too wet, and the injury is of considerable duration. Ruin 
 water collected in hollows of stiff land, by the simple movement given 
 it by the wind, so puddles the surface that it holds the water while the 
 adjacent soil is dry and porous. 
 
 The term puddling will often be used in this work, and the reader will 
 understand, from this explanation, the meaning with which it is em 
 ployed.
 
 LAND TO BE DRAINED AND IHE SEASONS WHY. 9 
 
 sufficient tests should be made before the outlay for so 
 costly work is encountered. 
 
 There is, on the other hand, much land which only by 
 thorough-draining can be rendered profitable for cultiva- 
 tion, or healthful for residence, and very much more, des- 
 cribed as "ordinarily dry land," which draining would 
 greatly improve in both productive value and salubrity. 
 
 The Surface Indications of the necessity for draining 
 are various. Those of actual swamps need no description ; 
 those of land in cultivation are more or less evident at 
 different seasons, and require more or less care in their ex- 
 amination, according to the circumstances under which 
 they are manifested. 
 
 If a plowed field show, over a part or the whole of its 
 surface, a constant appearance of dampness, indicating that, 
 as fast as water is dried out from its upper parts, more 
 is forced up from below, so that after a rain it is much 
 longer than other lands in assuming the light color of dry 
 earth, it unmistakably needs draining. 
 
 A pit, sunk to the depth of three or four feet in the 
 earth, may collect water at its bottom, shortly after a 
 rain ; this is a sure sign of the need of draining. 
 
 All tests of the condition of land as to water, such as 
 trial pits, etc., should be made, when practicable, during 
 the wet spring weather, or at a time when the springs and 
 brooks are running full. If there be much water in the 
 soil, even at such times, it needs draining. 
 
 If the water of heavy rains stands for some time on the 
 surface, or if water collects in the furrow while plowing, 
 draining is necessary to bring the land to its full fertility. 
 
 Other indications may be observed in dry weather ; wid- 
 cracks in the soil are caused by the drying of clays, which, 
 by previous soaking, have been pasted together ; the curl- 
 ing of corn often indicates that in its early growth it has 
 been prevented, by a wet subsoil, from sending down its 
 roots below the reach of the sun's heat, where it would find, 
 1*
 
 10 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 even in the dryest weather, sufficient moisture for a heaith- 
 thy growth ; any severe effect oi drought, except on poor 
 sands and gravels, may be presumed to result from the 
 same cause ; and a certain wiryness of grass, together with 
 a mossy or mouldy appearance of the ground, also indicate 
 excessive moisture during some period of growth. The 
 effects of drought are, of course, sometimes manifested on 
 soils which do not require draining, such as those poo* 
 gravels, which, from sheer poverty, do not enable plants 
 to form vigorous and penetrating roots; but any soil of 
 ordinary richness, which contains a fair amount of clay, 
 will withstand even a severe drought, without great injury 
 to its crop, if it is thoroughly drained, and is kept loose at 
 its surface. 
 
 Poor crops are, when the cultivation of the soil is rea- 
 sonably good, caused either by inherent poverty of the 
 land, or by too great moisture during the season of early 
 growth. Which of these causes has operated in a particular 
 case may be easily known. Manure will correct the difficulty 
 in the former case, but in the latter there is no real remedy 
 short of such a system of drainage as will thoroughly re- 
 lieve the soil of its surplus water. 
 
 The Sources Of the Water in the soil are various. 
 It either falls directly upon the land as rain ; rises into it 
 from underlying springs ; or reaches it through, or over, 
 adjacent land. 
 
 The rain water belongs to the field on which it falls, and 
 it would be an advantage if it could all be made to pass 
 down through the first three or four feet of the soil, and be 
 removed from below. That first falling contains the 
 fertilizing matters washed out from the air, and in its de- 
 scent through the ground, these are given up for the use 
 of plants ; and it performs other important work among 
 the vegetable and mineral parts of the soil. 
 
 The spring water does not belong to the field, not a
 
 LAND TO BE DRAINED AND THE REASONS WHY. 11 
 
 drop of it, and it ought not to be allowed to show itself 
 within the reach of the roots of ordinary plants. It has 
 fallen on other land, and, presumably, lias there done its 
 appointed work, and ought not to be allowed to convert 
 our soil into a mere outlet passage for its removal. 
 
 The ooze water, that which soaks out from adjoining 
 land, is subject to all the objections which hold against 
 spring water, and should be rigidly excluded. 
 
 But the surface water which comes over the surface of 
 higher ground in the vicinity, should be allowed every 
 opportunity, which is consistent with good husbandry, to 
 work its slow course over our soil, not to run in such 
 streams as will cut away the surface, nor in such quantities 
 as to make the ground inconveniently wet, but to spread 
 itself in beneficent irrigation, and to deposit the fertilizing 
 matters which it contains, then to descend through a well- 
 drained subsoil, to a free outlet. 
 
 From whatever source the water comes, it cannot remain 
 stagnant in any soil without permanent injury to its fertility 
 
 The Objection to too much Water in the Soil will 
 be understood from the following explanation of the pro- 
 cess of germination, (sprouting,) and growth. Other grave 
 reasons why it is injurious will be treated in their proper 
 order. 
 
 The first growth of the embryo plant, (in the seed,) is 
 merely a change of form and position of the material which 
 the seed itself contains. It requires none of the element? 
 of the soil, and would, under the same conditions, take plac 
 as well in moist saw-dust as in the richest mold. The 
 conditions required are, the exclusion of light ; a certain 
 degree of heat ; and the presence of atmospheric air, and 
 moisture. Any material which, without entirely exclud- 
 ing the air, will shade the seed from the light, yield 
 the needed quantity of moisture, and allow the accu- 
 mulation of the requisite heat, will favor the chemica)
 
 12 DBAINING FOE PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 changes which, under these conditions, take place in the 
 living seed. In proportion as the heat is reduced by the 
 chilling effect of evaporation, and as atmospheric air is ex- 
 cluded by water, will the germination of the seed be re- 
 tarded ; and, in case of complete saturation for a long 
 time, absolute decay will ensue, and the germ will die. 
 
 The accompanying illustrations, (Figures 1, 2 and 3,) from 
 the " Minutes of Information " on Drainage, submitted by 
 the General Board of Health to the British Parliament in 
 1852, represent the different conditions of the soil as to 
 moisture, and the effect of these conditions on the germi- 
 nation of seeds. The -figures are thus explained by Dr. 
 Madden, from whose lecture they are taken : 
 
 " Soil, examined mechanically, is found to consist entirely 
 " of particles of all shapes and sizes, from stones and peb- 
 " bles down to the finest powder ; and, on account of their 
 " extreme irregularity of shape, they cannot lie so close to 
 " one another as to prevent there being passages between 
 " them, owing to which circumstance soil in the mass is 
 " always more or less porous. If, however, we proceed to 
 " examine one of the smallest particles of which soil is 
 " made up, we shall find that even this is not always solid, 
 " but is much more frequently porous, like soil in the mass. 
 " A considerable proportion of this finely-divided part of 
 " soil, the impalpable matter, as it is generally called, is 
 " found, by the aid of the microscope, to consist of broken 
 " down vegetable tissue, so that when a small portion of 
 " the finest dust from a garden or field is placed under the 
 " microscope, we have exhibited to us particles of every 
 " variety of shape and structure, of which a certain part is 
 " evidently of vegetable origin. 
 
 " In these figures I have given a very rude representation 
 " of these particles ; and I must beg you particularly to 
 " remember that they are not meant to represent by any 
 " means accurately what the microscope exhibits, but are
 
 LAND TO BE DRAINED, AND TUB EEASONS WHY. 
 
 18 
 
 " only designed to serve as a plan by which to illustrate 
 
 " the mechanical properties of the soil. On referring to 
 
 " Fig. 1, we perceive that there are two distinct classes of 
 
 " pores, first, the large ones, which exist between the par- 
 
 " tides of soil, and second, the very minute ones, which 
 
 " occur in the particles themselves ; and you will at the 
 " same time notice that, 
 " whereas all the larger 
 " pores, those between the 
 " particles of soil, com- 
 " municate most freely with 
 " each other, so that they 
 " form cannls, the small 
 " pores, however freely they 
 " may communicate with 
 " one another in the interior 
 " of the particle in which 
 Fig. 1. A BUY SOIL. " they occur, have no direct 
 
 " connection with the pores of the surrounding particles. 
 
 " Let us now, therefore, trace the effect of this arrangement. 
 
 " In Fig. 1 we perceive that 
 
 " these canals and pores are 
 
 " all empty, the soil being 
 
 "perfectly dry; and the 
 
 " canals communicating free- 
 
 " ly at the surface with the 
 
 "surrounding atmosphere, 
 
 " the whole will of course 
 
 "be filled with air. If in 
 
 " this condition a seed be 
 
 " placed in the soil, at a, 
 
 " you at once perceive that 
 
 " it is freely supplied with air, but there is no moisture ; 
 
 " therefore, when soil is perfectly dry, a seed cannot grow. 
 " Let us turn our attention now to Fig. 2. Here we
 
 14 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 " perceive that both the pores and canals are no longer 
 " represented white, but black, this color being used to in- 
 " dicate water ; in this instance, therefore, water has taken 
 " the place of air, or, in other words, the soil is very wet. 
 " If we observe our seed a now, we find it abundantly 
 " supplied with water, but no air. Here again, therefore, 
 " germination cannot take place. If may be well to state 
 " here that this can never occur exactly in nature, because, 
 " water having the power of dissolving air to a certain 
 " extent, the seed a in Fig. 2 is, in fact, supplied with a 
 " certain amount of this necessary substance ; and, owing 
 " to this, germination does take place, although by no 
 " means under such advantageous circumstances as it would 
 " were the soil in a better condition. 
 
 " We pass on now to Fig. 3. Here we find a different 
 " state of matters. The canals are open and freely sup- 
 " plied with air, while the pores are filled with water; and, 
 " consequently, you perceive 
 " that, while the seed a has 
 " quite enough of air from 
 " the canals, it can never be 
 " without moisture, as every 
 " particle of soil which 
 " touches it is well supplied 
 " with this necessary in- 
 " gredient. This, then, is 
 " the proper condition of soil 
 " for germination, and in 
 " fact for every period of the Fig. 3. A DRAINED SOIL. 
 " plant's development ; and this condition occurs when the 
 " soil is moist, but not wet, that is to say, when it has the 
 " color and appearance of being well watered, but when it 
 " is still capable of being crumbled to pieces by the hands, 
 " without any of its particles adhering together in the 
 " familiar form of mud."
 
 LAND TO BB DRAINED AND THK REASONS WHY. 15 
 
 As plants grow under the same conditions, as to soil, 
 that are necessary for the germination of seeds, the fore- 
 going explanation of the relation of water to the particles 
 of the soil is perfectly applicable to the whole period of 
 vegetable growth. The soil, to the entire depth occupied 
 by roots, which, with most cultivated plants is, in drained 
 land, two or three feet, sometimes even more, should be 
 maintained, as nearly as possible, in the condition rep- 
 resented in Fig. 3, that is, the particles of soil should 
 hold water by attraction, (absorption,) and the spaces be- 
 tween the particles should be filled with air. Heavy soils 
 which require drainage are not in this condition. When 
 they are not saturated with water, they are generally dried 
 into lumps, which are almost as impenetrable by roots as so 
 many stones. The moisture which these clods contain is 
 aot available to plants, and their surfaces are liable to be 
 dried by the too free circulation of air among the wide 
 fissures between them. It is also worthy of incidental re- 
 mark, that the cracking of heavy soils, shrinking by 
 drought, is attended by the tearing asunder of the smal- 
 ler roots which may have penetrated them. 
 
 The Injurious Effects of Standing Water in the Snh- 
 SOil may be best explained in connection with the de- 
 scription of a soil which needs under-draining. It would 
 be tedious, and superfluous, to attempt to detail the various 
 geological formations and conditions which make the soil 
 unprofitably wet, and render draining necessary. Nor, as 
 this work is intended as a hnnd-book for practical use, ig 
 it deemed advisable to introduce the geological charts and 
 sections, which are so often employed to illustrate the 
 various sources of under-ground water; interesting as 
 they are to students of the theories of agriculture, and 
 important as the study is, their consideration here would 
 consume space, which it is desired to devote only to the 
 reasons for, and the practice of, thorough-draining
 
 10 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 To one writing in advocacy of improvements, oi any 
 kind, there is always a temptation to throw a tub to the 
 popular whale, and to suggest some make-shift, by which 
 a certain advantage may be obtained at half-price. It is 
 proposed in this essay to resist that temptation, and to ad- 
 here to the rule that " whatever is worth doing, is worth 
 doing well," in the belief that this rule applies in no 
 other department of industry with more force than in the 
 draining of land, whether for agricultural or for sanitary 
 improvement. Therefore, it will not be recommended that 
 draining be ever confined to the wettest lands only; that, in 
 the pursuance of a penny-wisdom, drains be constructed 
 with stones, or brush, or boards; that the antiquated 
 horse-shoe tiles be used, because they cost less money ; or 
 that it will, in any case, be economical to make only such 
 drains as are necessary to remove the water of large springs. 
 The doctrine herein advanced is, that, so far as drain- 
 ing is applied at all, it should be done in the most thor- 
 ough and complete manner, and that it is better that, in 
 commencing this improvement, a single field be really well 
 drained, than that the whole farm be half drained. 
 
 Of course, there are some farms which suffer from too 
 much water, which are not worth draining at present; 
 many more which, at the present price of frontier lands, 
 are only worth relieving of the water which stands on the 
 surface ; and not a few on which the quantity of stone to 
 be removed suggests the propriety of making wide ditches, 
 in which to hide them, (using the ditches, incidentally, as 
 drains). A hand-book of draining is not needed by the 
 owners of these farms ; their operations are simple, and they 
 require no especial instruction for their performance. This 
 work is addressed especially to those who occupy lands of 
 sufficient value, from their proximity to market, to make 
 it cheaper to cultivate well, than to buy more land for the 
 sake of getting a larger return from poor cultivation.
 
 LAND TO BE DRAINED AND THE REASONS WHY. 17 
 
 WTierever Indian corn is worth fifty cents a bushel, on the 
 farm, it will pay to thoroughly drain every acre of land 
 which needs draining. If, from want of capital, this cannot 
 be done at once, it is best to first drain a portion of the 
 farm, doing the work thoroughly well, and to apply the 
 return from the improvement to its extension over other 
 portions afterward. 
 
 In pursuance of the foregoing declaration of principles, 
 it is left to the sagacity of the individual operator, to de- 
 cide when the full effect desired can be obtained, on particu- 
 lar lands, without applying the regular system of depth 
 and distance, which has been found sufficient for the worst 
 cases. The directions of this book will be confined to the 
 treatment of land which demands thorough work. 
 
 Such land is that which, at some time during the period 
 of vegetation, contains stagnant water, at least in its sub- 
 soil, within the reach of the roots of ordinary crops ; in 
 which there is not a free outlet at the bottom for all the 
 water which it receives from the heavens, from adjoining 
 land, or from springs ; and which is more or less in the con- 
 dition of standing in a great, water-tight box, with open- 
 ings to let water in, but with no means for its escape, ex- 
 cept by evaporation at the surface ; or, having larger in- 
 lets than outlets, and being at times " water-logged," at 
 least in its lower parts. The subsoil, to a great extent, con- 
 sists of clay or other compact material, which is not im- 
 pervious, in the sense in which india-rubber is impervious, 
 (else it could not have become wet,) but which is suffi 
 ciently so to prevent the free escape of water. The surface 
 soil is of a lighter or more open character, because of the 
 cultivation it has received, or of the decayed vegetable 
 matter and the roots which it contains. 
 
 In such land the subsoil is wet, almost constantly wet, 
 and the falling rain, finding only the surface soil in a condi- 
 tion to receive it, soon fills this, and often more than fills it, 
 and stands on the surface. Aftei the ram, come Tvind and
 
 18 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 Bun, to dry off the standing water, to dry cut the free wa> 
 ter in the surface soil, and to drink up the water of the 
 subsoil, which k slowly drawn from below. If no spring, 
 or ooze, keep up the supply, and if no more rain fall, 
 the subsoil may be dried to a considerable iepth, crack- 
 ing and gaping open, in wide fissures, as the clay loses its 
 water of absorption, and shrinks. After the surface soil has 
 become sufficiently dry, the land may be plowed, seeds will 
 germinate, and plants will grow. If there be not too much 
 rain during the season, nor too little, the crop may be a 
 fair one, if the land be rich, a very good one. It is not im- 
 possible, nor even very uncommon, for such soils to produce 
 largely, but they are always precarious. To the labor 
 and expense of cultivation, which fairly earn a secure return, 
 there is added the anxiety of chance; success is greatly 
 dependent on the weather, and the weather may be bad. 
 Heavy rains, after planting, may cause the seed to rot in the 
 ground, or to germinate imperfectly ; heavy rains during 
 early growth may give an unnatural development, or a 
 feeble character to the plants ; later in the season, the want 
 of sufficient rain may cause the crop to be parched by 
 drought, for its roots, disliking the clammy subsoil below, 
 will have extended within only a few inches of the surface, 
 and are too subject to the action of the sun's heat ; in 
 harvest time, bad weather may delay the gathering until 
 the crop is greatly injured, and fall and spring work 
 must often be put off because of wet. 
 
 The above is no fancy sketch. Every farmer who culti- 
 vates a retentive soil will confess, that all of these incon- 
 veniences conspire, in the same season, to lessen his returns, 
 with very damaging frequency ; and nothing is more com- 
 mon than for him to qualify his calculations with the pro- 
 viso, " if I have a good season." He prepares his ground, 
 plants his seed, cultivates the crop, " does his best," 
 thinks he does his best, that is, and trusts to Providence 
 to send him good weather. Such farming is attended witk
 
 LAND TO BE DRAINED AND TUB REASONS WHY. 19 
 
 too much uncertainty, with too much luck, to be sat- 
 isfactory ; yet, so long as the soil remains in its undrained 
 condition, the element of luck will continue to play a very 
 important part in its cultivation, and bad luck will often 
 play sad havoc with the year's accounts. 
 
 Land of this character is usually kept hi grass, as long 
 as it will bring paying crops, and is, not urifrequently, only 
 available for pasture ; but, both for hay and for pasture, it 
 is still subject to the drawback of the uncertainty of the 
 seasons, and in the best seasons it produces far less than it 
 might if well drained. 
 
 The effect of this condition of the soil on the health of ani- 
 mals living on it, and on the health of persons living near 
 it, is extremely unfavorable ; the discussion of this branch 
 of the question, however, is postponed to a later chapter. 
 
 Thus far, there have been considered only the effects of 
 the undue moisture in the soil. The manner in which these 
 effects are produced will be examined, in connection with 
 the manner in which draining overcomes them, reducing 
 to the lowest possible proportion, that uncertainty which 
 always attaches to human enterprises, and which is falsely 
 supposed to belong especially to the cultivation of the soil. 
 
 Why is it that the farmer believes, why should any 
 one believe, in these modern days, when the advance- 
 ment of science has so simplified the industrial processes 
 of the world, and thrown its light into so many uorners, 
 ,hat the word "mystery" is hardly to be applied to any 
 >pc.r;ition of nature, save to that which depends on th* 
 ih\ ays mysterious Principle of Life, when the effect of any 
 combination of physical circumstances may be foretold, 
 with almost unerring certainty, why should we believe 
 that the success of farming must, after all, depend 
 mainly on chance ? That an intelligent man should submit 
 the success of his own patient efforts to the operation of 
 " luck ;" that he should deliberately bet his capital, his toil,
 
 20 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 and his experience on having a good season, or a bad one, 
 this is not the least of the remaining mysteries. Some 
 chance there must be in all things, more in farming 
 than in mechanics, no doubt ; but it should be made to 
 cake the smallest possible place in our calculations, by a 
 careful avoidance of every condition which may place our* 
 crops at the mercy of that most uncertain of all things 
 the weather ; and especially should this be the case, when 
 the very means for lessening the element of chance in our 
 calculations are the best means for increasing our crops, even 
 in the most favorable weather. 
 
 NOTE. (Third edition.) The investigations of the last few years 
 have opened a new vista in the field of agricultural science. Many of 
 our most important theories concerning the process by which the soil 
 prepares manure and its own constituents for the use of plants, seem 
 about to be revolutionized. What is described with so much confidence 
 in the foregoing pages as the method of aeration, oxidation and chemi- 
 cal combination by >vhich organic manures are developed into plant 
 food and what is said of the conditions under which the changes take 
 place, most easily and completely, is probably entirely wrong, as a matter 
 of theory. There is hardly a doubt that the development of plant food 
 from refuse organic matter of all kinds is very largely, if not almost 
 entirely, the work of minute organisms known under the generic 
 term '' bacteria." whose office it seems to be to break down the last 
 vestige of organic character, and to reduce organic matters to their 
 mineral elements. The bacterium of nitrification is obviously one of 
 the most important aids to the preparation of organic plant food. 
 
 Fortunately, the conditions under which these organisms act and 
 produce the effects which have so long been recognized in spite of 
 our ignorance of the precise cause, are exactly the same as to aera- 
 tion, moisture, and the absence of saturation as are above insisted on 
 as necessary for the processes formerly supposed to do their work.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HOW DRAINS ACT, AND HOW THEY AFFEC1 THE SOIL 
 
 For reasons which will appear, in the course of this work, 
 the only sort of drain to which reference is here made is that 
 which consists of a conduit of burned clay, (tile,) placed at a 
 considerable depth in the subsoil, and enclosed in a compact- 
 ed bed of the stiffest earth that can conveniently be found. 
 Stone-drains, brush-drains, sod-drains, mole-plow tracks, 
 and the various other devices for forming a conduit for the 
 conveying away of the soakage-water of the land, are not 
 without the support of such arguments as are based on the 
 expediency of make-shifts, and are, perhaps, in rare cases 
 advisable to be used; but, for the purposes of permanent 
 improvement, they are neither so good nor so economical as> 
 tile-drains. The arguments of this book have reference to 
 the latter, (as the most perfect of all drains thus far in- 
 vented,) though they will apply, in a modified degree, to all 
 underground conduits, so long as they remain free from ob- 
 structions. Concerning stone-drains, attention may prop- 
 erly be called to the fact that, (contrary to the genera] 
 opinion of farmers,) they are very much more expensive 
 than tile-drains. So great is the cost of cutting the ditches 
 to the much greater size required for stone than for tiles, of 
 handling the stones, of placing them properly in the ditches, 
 and of covering them, after they are laid, with a suitable bar 
 tier to the rattling down of loose earth among them, that, 
 as a mere question of first cost, it is far cheaper to buy 
 tiles than to use stones, although these may lie on the SUP- 
 21
 
 22 DRAIN/NG FOR PBOFTT AXD HEALTH. 
 
 face of the field, and only require to be placed in the 
 trendies. In addition to this, the great liability of stone- 
 drams to become obstructed in a few years, and the cer 
 tainty that tile-drains will, practically, last forever, are 
 conclusive arguments in favor of the use of che latter. 
 If the land is stony, it must be cleared ; this is a proposi- 
 tion by itself, but if the sole object is to make drains, the 
 best material should be used, and this material is not stone. 
 
 A well laid tile-drain has the following essential charac- 
 teristics : 1. It has a free outlet for the discharge of all 
 water which may run through it. 2. It has openings, at ita 
 joints, sufficient for the admission of all the water which 
 may rise to the level of its floor. 3. Its floor is laid on a 
 well regulated line of descent, so that its current may 
 maintain a flow of uniform, or, at least, always sufficient 
 rapidity, throughout its entire length. 
 
 Land which requires draining, is that which, at some 
 time during the year, (either from an accumulation of the 
 rains which fall upon it, from the lateral flow, or soakage, 
 from adjoining land, from springs which open within it, or 
 from a combination of two or all of these sources,) becomes 
 tilled with water, that does not readily find a natural 
 outlet, but remains until removed by evaporation. Every 
 considerable addition to its water wells up, and soaks its 
 very surface ; and that which is added after it is already 
 brim full, must flow off over the surface, or lie in puddles 
 upon it. Evaporation is a slow process, and it becomes 
 more and more slow as the level of the water recedes from 
 the surface, and is sheltered, by the overlying earth, from the 
 action of sun and wind. Therefore, at least during the 
 periods of spring and fall preparation of the land, during 
 ^he early growth of plants, and often even in midsummer, 
 the water-table, the top of the water of saturation, is 
 within a few inches of the surface, preventing the natura\ 
 descent of roots, and, by reason of the small space to re-
 
 HOW DRAINS ACT, AND APFECT TUB s ML. ^3 
 
 ceive fresh rains, causing an interruption of work for some 
 days after each storm. 
 
 If such land is properly furnished with tile-drains, (hav- 
 ing a clear and sufficient outfall, offering sufficient means 
 of entrance to the water which reaches them, and carrying 
 it, by a uniform and sufficient descent, to the outlet,) 
 its water will be removed to nearly, or quite, the level 
 of the floor of the drains, and its water-table will be at a 
 distance of some feet from the surface, leaving the spaces 
 between the particles of all of the soil above it filled with 
 air instead of water. The water below the drains stands 
 at a level, like any other water that is dammed up. Rain 
 water falling on the soil will descend by its own weight to 
 this level, and the water will rise into the drains, as it 
 would flow over a dam, until the proper level is again at- 
 tained. Spring water entering from below, and water ooz- 
 ing from the adjoining land, will be removed in like man 
 ner, and the usual condition of the soil, above the water- 
 table, will be that represented in Fig. 3, the condition which 
 is best adapted to the growth of useful plants. 
 
 In the heaviest storms, some water will flow over the 
 surface of even the dryest beach-sand; but, in a well 
 drained soil the water of ordinary rains will be at once 
 absorbed, will descend toward the water-table, and 
 will be removed by the drains, so rapidly, even in heavy 
 clays, as to leave the ground fit for cultivation, and in a 
 condition for steady growth, within a short time after the 
 rain ceases. It has been estimated that a drained soil has 
 room between its particles for about one quarter of its bulk 
 of water ; that is, four inches of drained soil contains free 
 space enough to receive a rain-fall one inch in depth, and, by 
 the same token, four feet of drained soil can receive twelve 
 inches of rain, more than is known ever to have fallen in 
 twenty-four hours, since the deluge, and more than one 
 quarter of the annual rain-fall in the United States.
 
 24 DEAIN1NG FOB PBOPTT AND HEALTH. 
 
 As was stated in the previous chapter, the water which 
 reaches the soil may be considered under two heads : 
 
 1st That which reaches its surface, whether directly by 
 rain, or by the surface flow of adjoining land. 
 2d That which reaches it below the surface, by springs 
 and by soakage from the lower portions of adjoining land. 
 
 The first of these is beneficial, because it contains fresh 
 air, carbonic acid, ammonia, nitric acid, and heat, obtained 
 from the atmosphere ; and the flowage water contains, in 
 addition, some of the finer or more soluble parts of the 
 land over which it has passed. The second, is only so much 
 dead water, which has already given up, to other soil, all 
 that ours could absorb from it, and its effect is chilling and 
 hurtful This being the case, the only interest we can have 
 in it, is to keep it down from the surface, and remove it as 
 rapidly as possible. 
 
 The water of the first sort, on the other hand, should be 
 arrested by every device within our reach. If the land is 
 steep, the furrows in plowing should be run horizontally 
 along the hill, to prevent the escape of the water over the 
 surface, and to allow it to descend readily into the ground 
 Steep grass lands may have frequent, small, horizontal 
 ditches for the same purpose. If the soil is at all heavy, it 
 should not, when wet, be trampled by animals, lest it be 
 puddled, and thus made less absorptive. If in cultivation, 
 the surface should be kept loose and open, ready to receive 
 all of the rain and irrigation water that reaches it. 
 
 In descending through the soil, this water, in summer, 
 gives up heat which it received from the air and from the 
 heated surface of the ground, and thus raises the tempera- 
 ture of the lower soiL The fertilizing matters which it has 
 obtained from the air, carbonic acid, ammonia and nitric 
 acid, are extracted from it, and held for the use of grow- 
 ing plants. Its fresh air, and the air which follows the de- 
 scent of the water-table, carries oxygen to the organic and
 
 HOW DRAINS ACT, A3TD AFPEC1 THE SOIL. S5 
 
 mineral parts of the soil, and hastens the rust and decay 
 by which these are prepared' for the uses of vegetation. 
 The water itself supplies, by means of 'their power of ab- 
 sorption, the moisture which is needed by the particles of 
 the soil ; and, having performed its work, it goes down to 
 the level of the water below, and, swelling the tide above 
 the brink of the dam, sets the drains running, until it is 
 all removed. In its descent through the ground, this wa- 
 ter clears the passages through which it flows, leaving a 
 better channel for the water of future rains, so that, in 
 time, the heaviest clays, which will drain but imperfectly 
 during the first one or two years, will pass water, to a 
 depth of four or five feet, freely though less readily than 
 the lighter loams. 
 
 Now, imagine the drains to be closed up, leaving no out- 
 let for the water, save at the surface. This amounts to a 
 raising of the dam to that height, and additions to the wa- 
 ter will bring the water-table even with the top of the soil. 
 No provision being made for the removal of spring and 
 soakage water> this causes serious inconvenience, and 
 even the rain-fall, finding nr room in the soil for its 
 reception, can only lie upon, or flow over, the surface, 
 not yielding to the soil the fertilizing matters which it con- 
 tains, but, on the contrary, washing away some of its finer 
 and looser parts. The particles of the soil, instead of be- 
 ing furnished, by absorption, with a healthful amount of 
 moisture, are made unduly wet; and the spaces between 
 them, being filled with water, no air can enter, whereby the 
 various processes by which the inert minerals, and the 
 roots and manure, in the soil are prepared for the use of 
 vegetation, are greatly retarded. 
 
 Instead of carrying the heat of the air, and of the sur- 
 face of the ground, to the subsoil, the rain only adds so 
 much to the amount of water to be evaporated, and in- 
 creases, by so much, the chilling effect of evaporation.
 
 26 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 Instead of opening the spaces of the soil for the more 
 free passage of water and air, as is done by descending 
 water, that which ascends by evaporation at the surface 
 brings up soluble matters, which it leaves at the point 
 where it becomes a vapor, forming a crust that prevent* 
 the free entrance of air at those times when the soil is dry 
 enough to afford it space for circulation. 
 
 Instead of crumbling to the fine condition of a loam, as 
 it does, when well drained, by the descent of water 
 through it, heavy clay soil, being rapidly dried by evapora- 
 tion, shrinks into hard masses, separated by wide cracks. 
 
 In short, in wet seasons, on such land, the crops will be 
 greatly lessened, or entirely destroyed, and in dry seasons, 
 cultivation will always be much more laborious, more hur- 
 ried, and less complete, than if it were well drained. 
 
 The foregoing general statements, concerning the action 
 of water in drained, and in undrained land, and of the effects 
 of its removal, by gravitation, and by evaporation, are based 
 on facts which have been developed by long practice, and 
 on a rational application of well know principles of science. 
 These facts and principles are worthy of examination, and 
 they are set forth below, somewhat at length, especially' 
 with reference to Absorption and Filtration ; Evapora- 
 tion ; Temperature; Drought; Porosity or Mellowness ; 
 and Chemical Action. 
 
 ABSORPTION AND FILTRATION. The process of under- 
 draining i& a process of absorption and filtration, as dis- 
 tinguished from surface-flow and evaporation. The com- 
 pleteness with which the latter are prevented, and the 
 former promoted, is the measure of the completeness of the 
 improvement. If water lie on the surface of the ground 
 until evaporated, or if it flow off over the surface, it will 
 do harm ; if it soak away through the soil, it will do good. 
 The rapidity and ease with which it is absorbed, and, there- 
 fore the extent to which under-draining is successful, de
 
 HOW DRAINS ACT, AND AFFECT THE SOIL. 27 
 
 pend on the physical condition of the soil, and on the 
 manner in which its texture is affected by the drying action 
 of sun and wind, and by the downward passage of water 
 through it. 
 
 In drying, all soils, except pure sands, shrink, and occupy 
 less space than when they are saturated with water. They 
 shrink more or less, according to their composition, is will 
 be seen by the following table of results obtained in the 
 experiments of Schuebler: 
 
 1,000 Parts of 
 
 Will Contract 
 Parts. 
 
 1,000 Parts of 
 
 Will Contract 
 Parts. 
 
 'Stron"- Limey Soil 
 
 50. 
 
 Pure Clay 
 
 183. 
 
 
 60 
 
 Peat 
 
 900. 
 
 |Brick Maker's Clay 
 
 85. 
 
 
 
 Professor Johnson estimates that peat and heavy clay 
 shrink one-fifth of their bulk. 
 
 If soil be dried suddenly, from a condition of extreme 
 wetness, it will be divided into large masses, or clods, sep- 
 arated by wide cracks. A subsequent wetting of the clods, 
 which is not sufficient to expand it to its former condition, 
 will not entirely obliterate the cracks, and the next drying 
 will be followed by new fissures within the clods them- 
 selves; and a frequent repetition of this process will make 
 the network of fissures finer and finer, until the whole mass 
 of the soil is divided to a pulverulent condition. This is the 
 process which follows the complete draining of such lands 
 as contain large proportions of clay or of peat. It is re- 
 tarded, in proportion to the amount of the free water in the 
 soil which is evaporated from the surface, and in propor- 
 tion to the trampling of the ground, when very wet. It is 
 greatly facilitated by frost, and especially by deep frost. 
 
 The fissures which are formed by this process are, in time, 
 occupied by the roots of plants, which remain and decay, 
 when tlv crop has been removed, and which prevent the 
 soil from ever again closing on itself so completely as before 
 their penetration ; and each season's crop adds new rooti
 
 28 DRAINING FOB PBOFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 to make the separation more complete and more universal i 
 but it is only after the water of saturation, which occupies 
 the lower soil for so large a part of the year, has been re- 
 moved by draining, that roots can penetrate to any con- 
 siderable depth, and, in fact, the cracking of undrained 
 soils, in drying, never extends beyond the separation into 
 large masses, because eacli heavy rain, by saturating the 
 soil and expanding it to its full capacity, entirely obliterates 
 the cracks and forms a solid mass, in which the operation 
 has to be commenced anew with the next drying. 
 
 Mr. Gisborne, in his capital essay on "Agricultural 
 Drainage," which appeared in the Quarterly Review, No, 
 CLXXI, says : " We really thought that no one was so ig- 
 M norant as not to be aware that clay lands always shrink 
 " and crack with drought, and the stiffer the clay the 
 " greater the shrinking, as brickmakers well know. In the 
 " great drought, 36 years ago, we saw in a very retentive 
 " soil in the Vale of Belvoir, cracks which it was not 
 " very pleasant to ride among. This very summer, on land 
 " which, with reference to this very subject, the owner 
 " stated to be impervious, we put a walking stick three 
 " feet into a sun-crack, without finding a bottom, and the 
 " whole surface was what Mr. Parkes, not inappropriately, 
 " calls a network of cracks. When heavy rain comes 
 " upon a soil in this state, of course the cracks fill, the clay 
 " imbibes the water, expands, and the cracks are abolished. 
 " But if there are four or five feet parallel drains in the 
 ' land, the water passes at once into them and is carried 
 * off In fact, when heavy rain falls upon clay lands in this 
 " cracked state, it passes off too quickly, without adequate 
 " filtration. Into the fissures of the undrained soil the roots 
 " only penetrate to be perished by the cold and wet of the 
 " succeeding winter ; but in the drained soil the roots fol- 
 "low the threads of vegetable mold which have been 
 M washed into the cracks, and get an abiding tenure. Earth
 
 HOW DRAINS ACT, AND AFFECT THE SOIL 29 
 
 " worms follow either the roots or the mold. Permanent 
 " schisms are established in the clay, and its whole charac- 
 " ter is changed. An old farmer in a midland county began 
 " with 20-inch drains across the hill, and, without ever 
 " reading a word, or, we believe, conversing with any one 
 on the subject, poked his way, step by step, to four or 
 " five feet drains, in the line of steepest descent. Showing 
 " us his drains this spring, he said : ' They do better year 
 " by year ; the water gets a habit of coming to them ' a very 
 " correct statement of fact, though not a very philosophical 
 " explanation." 
 
 Alderman Mechi, of Tiptree Hall, says: "Filtration 
 " may be too sudden, as is well enough shown by our hot 
 " sands and gravels ; but I apprehend no one will ever 
 " fear rendering strong clays too porous and manageable. 
 " The object of draining is to impart to such soils the 
 " mellowness and dark color of self drained, rich and fria- 
 " ble soil. That perfect drainage and cultivation will do 
 ' this,is a well known fact. I know it in the case of my 
 " own garden. How it does so I am not chemist enough 
 " to explain in detail ; but it is evident the effect is pro- 
 " duced by the fibers of the growing crop intersecting 
 " every particle of the soil, which they never could do be- 
 " fore draining ; these, with their excretions, decompose on 
 " removal of the crop, and are acted on by the alternating 
 " air and water, which also decompose and change, in a 
 " degree, the inorganic substances of the soil. Thereby 
 " drained land, which was, before, impervious to air and 
 u water, and consequently unavailable to air and roots, 
 " to worms, or to vegetable or animal life, becomes, by 
 " drainage, populated by both, and is a great chemical 
 " laboratory, as our own atmosphere is subject to all the 
 * changes produced by animated nature." 
 
 Experience proves that the descent of water through the 
 Boil renders it more porous, so that it is easier for the
 
 80 DRAINING FOE PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 water falling afterward to pass down to the drains, but no 
 very satisfactory reason for this has been presented, beyond 
 that which is connected with the cracking of the soil. The 
 fact is well stated in the following extract from a letter to 
 the Country Gentleman : 
 
 " A simple experiment will convince any farmer that the 
 " best means of permanently deepening and mellowing the 
 " soil is by thorough drainage, to afford a ready exit for all 
 " surplus moisture. Let him take in spring, while wet, a 
 " quantity of his hardest soil, such as it is almost impossi- 
 " ble to plow in summer, such as presents a baked and 
 " brick-like character under the influence of drought, and 
 r< place it in a box or barrel, open at the bottom, and fre- 
 * quently during the season let him saturate it with water. 
 " He will find it gradually becoming more and more porous 
 " and friable, holding water less and less perfectly as the 
 " experiment proceeds, and in the end it will attain a state 
 " best suited to the growth of plants from its deep and 
 " mellow character." 
 
 It is equally a fact that the ascent of water in the soil, 
 together with its evaporation at the surface, has the effect 
 of making the soil impervious to rains, and of covering the 
 land with a crust of hard, dry earth, which forms a barrier 
 to the free entrance of air. So far as the formation of crust 
 is concerned, it is doubtless due to the fact that the vatt* 
 in the soil holds in solution certain mineral matters, whit b 
 it deposits at the point of evaporation, the collection of 
 these finely divided matters serving to completely fill the 
 spaces between the particles of soil at the surface, pasting 
 them together, as it were. How far below the surface thiy 
 direct action extends, cannot be definitely determined ; but 
 the process being carried on for successive years, accumu- 
 lating a quantity of these fine particles, each season, they 
 are, by cultivation, and by the action of heavy showers 
 falling at a time when the soil is more or less dry, di 
 tributed through a certain depth, and ordinarily, in aJJ
 
 HOW DBAINS ACT, AND AFFECT THE SOIL. 31 
 
 probability, are most largely deposited at the top of the 
 subsoil It is found in practice that the first foot in depth 
 of retentive soils is more retentive than that which lies 
 below. If this opinion as to the cause of this greater inv 
 perviousness is correct, it will be readily seen how water, 
 descending to the drains, by carrying these soluble and 
 finer parts downward and distributing them more equally 
 through the whole, should render the soil more porous. 
 
 Another cause of the retention of water by the surface 
 soil, often a very serious one, is the puddling which 
 clayey lands undergo by working them, or feeding cattle 
 upon them, when they are wet. This is always injurious. 
 By draining, land is made fit for working much earlier *n 
 the spring, and is sooner ready for pasturing after a rain, 
 but, no matter liow thoroughly the draining has been done, 
 if there is much clay in the soil, the effect of the improve- 
 ment will be made less by plowing or trampling, while 
 very wet ; this impervious condition will be removed in 
 time, of course, but, while it lasts, it places us more or 
 less at the mercy of the weather as we were before a 
 ditch was dug. 
 
 In connection with the use of the word impervious, it 
 should be understood that it is not used in its strict sense, 
 for no substance which can be wetted by water is really 
 impervious, and the most retentive soil will become wet. 
 Gisborne states the case clearly when he says : " Is your 
 " subsoil moister after the rains of mid-winter, than it is 
 " after the drought of mid-summer ? If it is, it will drain." 
 
 The proportion of the rain-fall which will be filtered 
 through the soil to the level of the drains, varies with the 
 composition of the soil, and with the effect that the 
 draining has had upon them. 
 
 In a very loose, gravelly, or sandy soil, which has a per- 
 feet outlet for water below, all but the heaviest falls of 
 rain will sink at once, while on a heavy clay, no matter
 
 82 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 how well it is drained, the process of filtration will be 
 much more slow, and if the land be steeply inclined, some 
 of the water of ordinarily heavy rains must flow off over 
 the surface, unless, by horizontal plowing, or catch drains 
 on the surface, its flow be retarded until it has time to 
 enter the soiL 
 
 The power of drained soils to hold water, by absorption, 
 is very great. A cubic foot of very dry soil, of favorable 
 character, has been estimated to absorb within its particles, 
 holding no free water, or water of drainage, about one- 
 half its bulk of water; if this is true, the amount required 
 to moisten a dry soil, four feet deep, giving no excess to be 
 drained away, would amount to a rain fall of from 20 to 30 
 inches in depth. If we consider, in addition to this, the 
 amount of water drained away, we shall see that the soil 
 has sufficient capacity for the reception of all the rain wa- 
 ter that falls upon it. 
 
 In connection with the question of absorption and filtra- 
 tion, it is interesting to investigate the movements of 
 water in the ground. The natural tendency of water, in the 
 soil as well as out of it, is to descend perpendicularly 
 toward the center of the earth If it meet a flat layer of 
 gravel lying upon clay, and having a free outlet, it will 
 follow the course of the gravel, laterally, and find the 
 outlet ; if it meet water which is dammed up in the soil, 
 and which has an outlet at a certain elevation, as at the 
 floor of a drain, it will raise the general level of the water, 
 ani force it out through the drain ; if it meet water which 
 fcas no outlet, it will raise its level until the soil is filled, or 
 until it accumulates sufficient pressure, (head,) to force it 
 way through the adjoining lands, or until it finds an out- 
 let at the surface. 
 
 The first two cases named represent the condition which 
 it is desirable to obtain, by either natural or artificial 
 drainage ; the third case is the only one which makes
 
 HOW D14AINS ACT, AND AFFECT THE SOIL. 83 
 
 drainage necessary. It is a fixed rule that water, descend- 
 ing in the soil, will find the lowest outlet to which there 
 exists a channel through which it can flow, and that if, after 
 heavy rains, it rise too near the surface of the ground, the 
 proper remedy is to tap it at a lower level, and thus re- 
 move the water table to the proper distance from the sur- 
 face. This subject will be more fully treated hi a future 
 chapter, in considering the question of the depth, and the 
 intervals, at which drains should be placed. 
 
 Evaporation. By evaporation is meant the process by 
 which a liquid assumes the form of a gas or vapor, or 
 " dries up." Water, exposed to the air, is constantly under- 
 going this change. It is changed from the liquid form, and 
 becomes a vapor in the air. Water in the form of vapor 
 occupies nearly 2000 times the space that it filled as a 
 liquid. As the vapor at the time of its formation is of the 
 same temperature with the water, and, from its highly ex- 
 panded condition, requires a great amount of heat to main- 
 tain it as vapor, it follows that a given quantity of water 
 contains, in the vapory form, many times as much heat aa 
 in the liquid form. This heat is taken from surrounding 
 substances, from the ground and from the air, which are 
 thereby made much cooler. For instance, if a showei 
 moisten the ground, on a hot summer day, the drying up 
 of the water will cool both the ground and the air. If we 
 place a wet cloth on the head, and hasten the evaporation 
 of the water by fanning, we cool the head ; if we wrap 
 a wet napkin around a pitcher of water, and place it in a 
 current of air, the water in the pitcher is made cooler, 
 by giving up its heat to the evaporating water of the 
 napkin ; when we sprinkle water on the floor of a room, 
 its evaporation cools the air of the room. 
 
 So great is the effect of evaporation, on the temperature 
 of the soil, that Dr. Madden found that the soil of a 
 drained field, in A* hich most of the water was removed 
 3*
 
 34 DBAFnXG FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 from below, was 6^ Far. wanner than a similar soil ur> 
 drained, from which the water had to be removed by 
 evaporation. This difference of 6^ is equal to a difference 
 of elevation of 1,950 feet. 
 
 It has been found, by experiments made in England, that 
 the average evaporation of water from wet soils is equal 
 to a depth of two inches per month, from May to August, 
 inclusive ; in America it must be very much greater than 
 this in the summer months, but this is surely enough for 
 the purposes of illustration, as two inches of water, over an 
 acre of land, would weigh about two hundred tons. The 
 amount of heat required to evaporate this is immense, and 
 a very large part of it is taken from the soil, which, thereby, 
 becomes cooler, and less favorable for a rapid growth It 
 is usual to speak of heavy, wet lands as being " cold,*' and 
 it is now seen why they are so. 
 
 .If none of the water which falls on a field is removed by 
 drainage, (natural or artificial,) and if none runs off from 
 the surface, the whole rain-fall of a year must be removed 
 by evaporation, and the cooling of the soil will be propor- 
 tionately great. The more completely we withdraw this 
 water from the surface, and carry it off in under-ground 
 drains, the more do we reduce the amount to be removed 
 by evaporation. In land which is well drained, the amount 
 evaporated, even in summer, will not be sufficient to so 
 lower the temperature of the soil as to retard the growth 
 of plants ; the small amount dried out of the particles of 
 the soil, (water of absorption,) will only keep it from being 
 raised to too great a heat by the mid-summer sun. 
 
 An idea of the amount of heat lost to the soil, by the 
 evaporation of water, may be formed from the fact that to 
 evaporate, by artificial heat, the amount of water contained 
 in a rain-fall of two inches on an acre, (200 tons,) would 
 require over 20 tons of coal. Of course a considerable- 
 probably by far the larger, part of the heat taken up La
 
 HOW DRAINS ACT, AND AFFECT TUB SOU* 35 
 
 the process of evaporation is furnished by the air; but the 
 amount abstracted from the soil is great, and is in direct 
 proportion to the amount of water removed by this pro- 
 cess ; hence, the more we remove by draining, the more 
 heat we retain in the ground. 
 
 The season of growth is lengthened by draining, be 
 cause, by avoiding the cooling effects of evaporation, ger- 
 mination is more rapid, and the young plant grows stead- 
 ily from the start, instead of struggling against the re- 
 tarding influence of a cold soil. 
 
 Temperature The temperature of the soil has great 
 effect on the germination of seeds, the growth of plants, 
 and the ripening of crops. 
 
 Gisborne says : " The evaporation of 1 Ib. of water 
 ** lowers the temperature of 100 Ibs. of soil 10, that is 
 " to say, that, if to 100 Ibs. of soil, holding all the water 
 " it can by attraction, but containing no water of drain- 
 " age, is added 1 Ib. of water which it has no means of 
 " discharging, except by evaporation, it will, by the time 
 " that it has so discharged it, be 10 colder than it would 
 " have been, if it had the power of discharging this 1 Ib. 
 " by nitration ; or, more practically, that, if rain, entering 
 " in the proportion of 1 Ib. to 100 Ibs. into a retentive 
 " soil, which is saturated with water of attraction, is dis- 
 " charged by evaporation, it lowers the temperature of 
 "that soil 10. If the soil has the means of discharging 
 " that 1 Ib. of water by nitration, no effect is produced be- 
 " yond what is due to the relative temperatures of the 
 " rain and of the soil." 
 
 It has been established by experiment that four time 
 as much heat is required to evaporate a certain quantity 
 of water, as to raise the same quantity from the freezing 
 to the boiling point. 
 
 It is, probably, in consequence of this cooling effect 
 of evaporation, that wet lands are warmest when shaded,
 
 36 DBAHTOTG FOE PROFIT AKT> HEALTH. 
 
 because, under this condition, evaporation is lesfe active 
 Such lands, in cloudy weather, form an unnatural growth, 
 such as results in the "lodging" of grain crops, from the 
 deficient strength of the straw which this growth produces, 
 
 In hot weather, the temperature of the lower soil is, of 
 course, much lower than that of the air, and lower than 
 that of the water of warm rains. If the soil is saturated 
 with water, the water will, of course, be of an even tem- 
 perature with the soil in which it lies, but if this be drained 
 off, warm air will enter from above, and give its heat to 
 the soil, while each rain, as it falls, will also carry its heat 
 with it Furthermore, the surface of the ground is some- 
 times excessively heated by the summer sun, and the heat 
 thus contained is carried down to the lower soil by the 
 descending water of rains, which thus cool the surface and 
 warm the subsoil, both beneficial 
 
 Mr. Josiah Parkes, one of the leading draining engi- 
 aeers of England, has made some experiments to test the 
 extent to which draining affects the temperature of the 
 soil The results of his observations are thus stated by 
 Gisborne: "Mr. Parkes gives the temperature on a 
 " Lancashire flat moss, but they only commence 7 inches 
 " below the surface, and do not extend to mid-summer. 
 " At that period of the year the temperature, at 7 inches, 
 " never exceeded 66, and was generally from 10 to 15 
 " below the temperature of the air in the shade, at 4 feet 
 " above the earth. Mr. Parkes' experiments were made 
 " simultaneously, on a drained, and on an undrained por- 
 u tion of the moss ; and the result was, that, on a mean 
 " of 35 observations, the drained soil at 7 inches in depth 
 " was 10 warmer than the undrained, at the same depth. 
 " The undrained soil never exceeded 47, whereas, after a 
 u thunder storm, the drained reached 66 at 7 inches, ana 
 u 48 at 31 inches. Such were the effects, at an early 
 " period of the year, on a black bog. They suggest some
 
 HOW DBATXS ACT, AND AFFECT THE SOIL. 37 
 
 " idea of what they were, when, in July or August, thunder 
 " rain at 60 or 70 falls on a surface heated to 130, and 
 " carries down with it, into the greedy fissures of the earth, 
 " its augmented temperature. These advantages, porous 
 " soils possess by nature, and retentive ones only acquire 
 " them by drainage." 
 
 Drained land, being more open to atmospheric circula- 
 tion, and having lost the water which prevented the tem- 
 perature of its lower portions from being so readily 
 affected by the temperature of the air as it is when dry, 
 will freeze to a greater depth in winter and thaw out ear- 
 lier in the spring. The deep freezing has the effect to 
 greatly pulverize the lower soil, thus better fitting it for 
 the support of vegetation ; and the earlier thawing makes 
 it earlier ready for spring work. 
 
 Drought. At first thought, it is not unnatural to sup 
 pose that draining will increase the ill effect of too dry 
 seasons, by removing water which might keep the soil 
 moist. Experience has proven, however, that the result 
 is exactly the opposite of this. Lands which suffer most 
 from drought are most benefited by draining, more in 
 their greater ability to withstand drought than in any 
 other particular. This applies to heavy soils. 
 
 The reasons for this action of draining become obvious, 
 when its effects on the character of the soil are examined. 
 There is always the same amount of water in, and about, 
 the surface of the earth. In winter there is more in the 
 soil than in summer, while in summer, that which has 
 been dried out of the soil exists in the atmosphere in the 
 form of a vapor. It is held in the vapory form by heat^ 
 which may be regarded as braces to keep it distended. 
 When vapor comes in contact with substances sufficiently 
 colder than itself, it gives up its heat, thus losing it 
 braces, contracts, becomes liquid water, and is deposited 
 as dew.
 
 B8 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEAL PH. 
 
 Many instrances of this operation are familiar to all* 
 For instance, a cold pitcher in the summer robs the 
 vapor in the air of its heat, and causes it to be deposited 
 on its own surface, of course the water comes from the 
 atmosphere, not through the wall of the pitcher ; if we 
 breathe on a knife blade, it condenses, in the same manner, 
 the moisture of the breath, and becomes covered with a 
 film of water ; stone-houses are damp in summer, because 
 the inner surface of their walls, being cooler than the 
 atmosphere, causes its moisture to be deposited in the 
 manner described ;* nearly every night, in summer, the 
 cold earth receives moisture from the atmosphere in the 
 form of dew ; a single large head of cabbage, which at 
 night is very cold, often condenses water to the amount of 
 a gill or more. 
 
 The same operation takes place in the soil. "When the 
 air is allowed to circulate among its lower and cooler, 
 (because more shaded,) particles, they receive moisture by 
 the same process of condensation. Therefore, when, by 
 the aid of under-drains, the lower soil becomes sufficiently 
 loose and open to allow a circulation of air, the deposit of 
 atmospheric moisture will keep it supplied with water, at 
 a point easily accessible to the roots of plants. 
 
 If we wish to satisfy ourselves that this is practically 
 correct, we have only to prepare two boxes of finely ptil 
 verized soil, one three or four inches deep, and the other 
 fifteen or twenty inches deep, and place them in the sun, at 
 midday, in summer. The thinner soil will soon be com- 
 pletely dried, while the deeper one, though it may have 
 been previously dried in an oven, will soon accumulate a 
 
 * By leaving a space between the wall and the plastering,this moisture 
 Is prevented from being au annoyance, and if the inclosed space is not 
 tpen from top to bottom, so as to allow a circulation of air, but little 
 vapor will come in contact with the wall, and but an inconsiderabU 
 amount will be deposited.
 
 HOW DRAINS ACT, AND AFFECT THE BOIL. 39 
 
 large amount of water on those particles which, being 
 lower and better sheltered from the sun's heat than the 
 particles of the thin soil, are made cooler. 
 
 We have seen that even the most retentive soil, the 
 stiffest clay, is made porous by the repeated passage of 
 water from the surface to the level of the drains, and that 
 the ability to admit air, which plowing gives it, is main- 
 tained for a much longer time than if it were usually sat- 
 urated with water which has no other means of escape 
 than by evaporation at the surface. The power of dry 
 soils to absorb moisture from the air may be seen by an 
 examination of the following table of results obtained by 
 Schuebler, who exposed 1,000 grains of dried soil of the 
 various kinds named to the action of the air : 
 
 Amount of Water Absorbed In 24 Houn\ 
 
 Common Soil 22 grains. 
 
 Loamy Cla^ 26 grains. 
 
 Garden Soil 45 grains. 
 
 Brickmakere' Clay. . . 30 grains. 
 
 The effect of draining in overcoming drought, by admit 
 ting atmospheric vapor will, of course, be very much in- 
 creased if the land be thoroughly loosened by cultivation, 
 and especially if the surface be kept in an open and mellow 
 condition. 
 
 In addition to the moisture received from the air, as 
 above described, water is, in a porous soil, drawn up from 
 the wetter subsoil below , by the same attractive force 
 which acts to wet the whole of a sponge of which only the 
 lower part touches the water; as a hard, dry, compact 
 sponge will absorb water much less readily than one 
 which is loose and open, so the hard clods, into which un- 
 drained clay is dried, drink up water much less freely than 
 they will do after draining shall have made them more 
 friable. 
 
 The source of this underground moisture is the " watei 
 table," the level of the soil below the influence of the
 
 40 DBAINIX'J FOB PEOFIT LSD HEALTH. 
 
 drains, and this should be so placed that, while its watei 
 will easily rise to a point occupied by the feeding roots ot 
 the crop, it should yield as little as possible for evapora- 
 tion at the surface. 
 
 Another source of moisture, in summer, is the deposit of 
 devr on the surface of the ground. The amount of this ia 
 very difficult to determine, and accurate American experi- 
 ments on the subject are wanting. Of course the amount 
 of dew is greater here than in England, where Dr. Dalton, 
 a skillful examiner of atmospheric phenomena, estimates 
 the annual deposit of dew to equal a depth of five inches, 
 or about one-fifth of the rain-fall. Water thus deposited 
 on the soil is absorbed more or less completely, in propor- 
 tion to the porosity of the ground. 
 
 The extent to which plants will be affected by drought 
 depends, other things being equal, on the depth to which 
 they send their roots. If these lie near the surface, they 
 will be parched by the heat of the sun. If they strike 
 deeply into the damper subsoil, the sun will have less effect 
 on the source from which they obtain their moisture. 
 Nothing tends so much to deep rooting, as the thorough 
 draining of the soil. If the free water be withdrawn to 
 a considerable distance from the surface, plants, even 
 without the valuable aid of deep and subsoil plowing, 
 will send their roots to great depths. Writers on this 
 subject cite many instances in which the roots of ordinary 
 crops " not mere hairs, but strong fibres, as large as pack- 
 thread," sink to the depth of 4, 6, and in some instances 
 12 or 14 feet. Certain it is that, in a healthy, well aerated 
 soil, any of the plants ordinarily cultivated in the garden 
 or field will send their roots far below the parched surface 
 soil ; but if the subsoil is wet, cold, and soggy, at the 
 time when the young crop is laying out its plan of future 
 action, it will perforce accommodate its roots to the 
 limited space which the comparatively dry surface soU 
 affords.
 
 HOW DRALNTS ACT, AND AFFECT THE SOIL. 41 
 
 It is well known among those who attend the meetings 
 of the Farmers' Club of the American Institute, in New 
 York, that the farm of Professor Mapes, near Newark, N. 
 J., which maintains its wonderful fertility, year after year, 
 without reference to wet or dry weather, has been ren- 
 dered almost absolutely indifferent to the severest drought, 
 by a course of cultivation which has been rendered possi- 
 ble only by under-draining. The lawns of the General 
 Park, which are a marvel of freshness, when the lands about 
 the Park are burned brown, owe their vigor mainly to the 
 complete drainage of the soil. What is true of these thor- 
 oughly cultivated lands, it is practicable to attain on all 
 soils, which, from their compact condition, are now almost 
 denuded of vegetation in dry seasons. 
 
 Porosity OF Mellowness. An open and mellow condf 
 tion of the soil is always favorable for the growth of 
 plants. They require heat, fresh air and moisture, to ena- 
 ble them to take up the materials on which they live, and 
 by which they grow. We have seen that the heat of re- 
 tentive soils is almost directly proportionate to the com- 
 pleteness with which their free water is removed by under- 
 ground draining, and that, by reason of the increased 
 facility with which air and water circulate within them, 
 their heat is more evenly distributed among all those parts 
 of the soil which are occupied by roots. The word moisture, 
 in this connection, is used in contradistinction to wetness, 
 and implies a condition of freshness and dampness, not 
 at all of saturation. In a saturated, a soaking-\vet soil, 
 every space between the particles is filled with water to 
 the entire exclusion of the atmosphere, and in such a soil 
 only aquatic plants will grow. In a dry soil, on the other 
 hand, when the earth is contracted into clods and baked, 
 almost as in an oven, one of the most important condi- 
 tions for growth being wanting, nothing can thrive, save 
 those plants which ask of the earth only an anchoring 
 place, and seek their nourjehmep* frc m t' o air. Both ail
 
 42 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 plants and water plants have their wisely assigned placet 
 in the economy of nature, and nature provides them with 
 ample space for growth. Agriculture, however, is directed 
 to the production of a class of plants very different from 
 either of these, to those which can grow to their great- 
 est perfection only in a soil combining, not one or two 
 only, but all three of the conditions named above. While 
 they require heat, they cannot dispense with the moisture 
 which too great heat removes ; while they require mois- 
 ture, they cannot abide the entire exclusion of air, nor the 
 dissipation of heat which too much water causes. The 
 interior part of the pellets of a well pulverized soil should 
 contain all the water that they can hold by their own ab- 
 sorptive power, just as the finer walls of a damp sponge 
 hold it ; while the spaces between these pellets, like the 
 pores of the sponge, should be filled with air. 
 
 In such a soil, roots can extend in any direction, and to 
 considerable depth, without being parched with thirst, or 
 drowned in stagnant water, and, other things being equal, 
 plants will grow to their greatest possible size, and all 
 their tissues will be of the best possible texture. On 
 rich land, wliich is maintained in this condition of porosity 
 and mellowness, agriculture will produce its best results, 
 and will encounter the fewest possible chances of failure. 
 Of course, there are not many such soils to be found, and 
 such absolute balance between warmth and moisture in the 
 soil cannot be maintained at all times, and under all cir- 
 cumstances, but the more nearly it is maintained, the more 
 nearly perfect will be the results of cultivation. 
 
 Chemical Action in the Soil, Plants receive certain 01 
 their constituents from the soil, through their roots. The 
 raw materials from which these constituents are obtained 
 are the minerals of the soil, the manures which are artifi- 
 cially applied, water, and certain substances which are 
 taken from the air by the absorptive action of the soil,
 
 HOW DRAINS ACT, AND AFFECT THE SOU. 43 
 
 or are brought to it by rains, or by water flowing over the 
 surface from other land. 
 
 The mineral matters, which constitute the ashes of 
 plants, when burned, are not mere accidental impurities 
 which happen to be carried into their roots in solution in 
 the water which supplies the sap, although they vary in 
 character and proportion with each change in the min- 
 eral composition of the soil. It is proven by chemical 
 analysis, that the composition of the ashes, not only of 
 different species of plants, but of different parts of the 
 same plant, have distinctive characters, some being rich 
 in phosphates, and others in silex ; some in potash, and oth- 
 ers in lime, and that these characters are in a measure 
 the same, in the same plants or parts of plants, without 
 especial reference to the soil on which they grow. The 
 minerals which form the ashes of plants, constitute but a 
 very small part of the soil, and they are very sparsely dis- 
 tributed throughout the mass ; existing in the interior of 
 its particles, as well as upon their surfaces. As roots can- 
 not penetrate to the interior of pebbles and compact par 
 tides of earth, in search of the food which they require, 
 but can only take that which is exposed on their surfaces, 
 and, as the oxydizing effect of atmospheric air is useful in 
 preparing the crude minerals for assimilation, as well as in 
 decomposing the particles in which they are bound up, a 
 process which is allied to the rusting of metals, the more 
 freely atmospheric air is allowed, or induced, to circulate 
 among the inner portions of the soil, the more readily are 
 its fertilizing parts made available for the use of roots. 
 By no other process, is air made to enter so deeply, nor to 
 circulate so readily in the soil, as by under-draining, and 
 the deep cultivation which under-draining facilitates. 
 
 Of the manures which are applied to the land, those of 
 a mineral character are affected by draining, in the same 
 manner as the minerals which are native to the soil
 
 44 DBAIN1NG FOB PBOFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 while organic, or animal and vegetable, manures, (espe- 
 cially when applied, as is usual, in an incompletely fer- 
 mented condition,) absolutely require fresh supplies of 
 atmospheric air, to continue the decomposition which 
 alone can prepare them for their proper effect on vegeta- 
 tion. 
 
 If kept saturated with water, so that the air is excluded, 
 animal manures lie nearly inert, and vegetable matters 
 decompose but incompletely, yielding acids which are in- 
 jurious to vegetation, and which would not be formed in 
 the presence of a sufficient supply of air. An instance is 
 cited by H. Wauer where sheep dung was preserved, for 
 five years, by excessive moisture, which kept it from the 
 air. If the soil be saturated with water in the spring, and, 
 in summer, (by the compacting of its surface, which is 
 caused by evaporation,) be closed against the entrance of 
 air, manures will be but slowly decomposed, and will act 
 but imperfectly on the crop, if, on the other hand, a 
 complete system of drainage be adopted, manures, (and 
 the roots winch have been left in the ground by the pre- 
 vious crop,) will be readily decomposed, and will exercise 
 their full influence on the soil, and on the plants growing 
 in it. 
 
 Again, manures are more or less effective, in proportion 
 as they are more or less thoroughly mixed with the soil 
 In an undrained, retentive soil, it is not often possible to 
 attain that perfect tilth, which is best suited for a proper 
 admixture, and which is easily given after thorough 
 draining. 
 
 The soil must be regarded as the laboratory in whicl* 
 nature, during the season of growth, is carrying on those 
 hidden, but indispensable chemical separations, combina- 
 tions, and re-combinations, by which the earth is made to 
 bear its fruits, and to sustain its myriad life. The chief 
 demand of this laboratory is for free ventilation. Th
 
 HOW DRAIXS ACT, AND AFFECT THE SOIL. 45 
 
 raw material for the work is at hand, as well in the wet 
 soil as in the dry ; but the door is sealed, the damper is 
 closed, and only a stray whiff of air can, now and then, 
 gain entrance, only enough to commence an analysis, or a 
 combination, which is choked off when half complete, 
 leaving food for sorrel, but making none for grass. We 
 must throw open door and window, draw away the water 
 in which all is immersed, let in the air, with its all de- 
 atroying, and, therefore, all re-creating oxygen, and leave 
 the forces of nature's beneficent chemistry free play, 
 deep down in the ground. Then may we hope for the 
 full benefit of the fertilizing matters which our good soil 
 contains, and for the full effect of the manures which we 
 add. 
 
 With our land thoroughly improved, as has been de- 
 scribed, we may carry on the operations of farming with 
 as much certainty of success, and with as great immunity 
 from the ill effects of unfavorable weather, as can be ex- 
 pected in any business, whose results depend on such a 
 variety of circumstances. We shall have substituted cer- 
 tainty for chance, as far as it is in our power to do so, and 
 shall have made farming an art, rather than a venture. 
 
 NOTE. (Third edition.) As indicated in the note to the third edition 
 at the end of Chapter I, the expression above "the forces of nature's 
 beneflcient chemistry " should probably read "the development of 
 bacteria, nature's beneficent agent of final decomposition." 
 
 There is reason to suppose that bacterial action is much less ener- 
 getic "deep down in the ground" than quite near the surface. Cer- 
 tain it is that manurial matters to be subjected to the action of these 
 organisms should not be placed so deep in the ground as to be out of 
 the tolerably easy reach of atmospheric air.
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 HOW TO GO TO WORK TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OF 
 DRAINS. 
 
 How to lay out tlie drains; whwe to place the outlet; 
 where to locate the main collecting lines ; how to arrange 
 the laterals which are to take the water from the soil and 
 deliver it at the mains ; how deep to go ; at what inter- 
 vals; what fall to give; and what S'zes of tile to use, 
 these are all questions of great importance to one who is 
 about to drain land. 
 
 On the proper adjustment of these points, depend the 
 economy and effectiveness of the work. Time and attention 
 given to them, before commencing actual operations, will 
 prevent waste and avoid failure. Any person of ordinary 
 intelligence may qualify himself to lay out under-drama 
 and to superintend their construction, but the knowl- 
 edge which is required does not come by nature. Those 
 who have not the time for the necessary study and prac- 
 tice to make a plan for draining their land, will find it 
 economical to employ an engineer for the purpose. In 
 this era of railroad building, there is hardly a county io 
 America which has not a practical surveyor, who may 
 easily qualify himself, by a study of the principles and 
 directions herein set forth, to lay out an economical plan 
 for draining any ordinary agricultural land, to stake the 
 lines, and to determine the grade of the drains, and the 
 Bizes of tile with which they should be furnished* 
 46
 
 HOW TO LA? OUT A SYSTEM OF DRAINS. 47 
 
 Oil this subject Mr. Gisborne says : " If we should give 
 " a stimulus to amateur draining, we shall do a great deal 
 u of harm. We wish we could publish a list of the moneys 
 w which have been squandered in the last 40 years in amateur 
 ' draining, either ineffectually or with very imperfect effi- 
 ** ciency. Our own name would be inscribed in the list for a 
 " very respectable sum. Every thoughtless squire supposes 
 " that, with the aid of his ignorant bailiff, he can effect a per- 
 " feet drainage of his estate ; but there is a worse man behind 
 " the squire and the bailiff, the draining conjuror. * * 
 u * * * * These fellows never go direct about their 
 *' work. If they attack a spring, they try to circumvent 
 " it by some circuitous route. They never can learn that 
 " nature shows you the weakest point, and that you should 
 " assist her, that hit him straight in the eye is as good a 
 " maxim in draining as in pugilism. ****** 
 " If you wish to drain, we recommend you to take advice. 
 " We have disposed of the quack, but there is a faculty, 
 " not numerous but extending, and whose extension ap- 
 " pears to us to be indispensable to the satisfactory 
 " progress of improvements by draining, a faculty of 
 " draining engineers. If we wanted a profession for a lad 
 " who showed any congenial talent, we would bring him 
 " up to be a draining engineer." He then proceeds to 
 speak of his own experience in the matter, and shows that, 
 after more than thirty years of intelligent practice, he 
 employed Mr. Josiah Parkes to lay out and superintend 
 his work, and thus effected a saving, (after paying all pro- 
 fessional charges,) of fully twelve pel cent, on the cost of 
 the draining, which was, at the same time, better executed 
 than any that he had previously done. 
 
 It is probable that, in nearly all amateur draining, the 
 unnecessary frequency of the lateral drains; the extrava- 
 gant size of the pipes used ; and the number of useless 
 angles which result from an unskillful arrangement, would 
 amount to an expense equal to ten times the cost of the
 
 48 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH 
 
 proper superintendence, to say nothing of the imperfect 
 manner in which the work is executed. A common im- 
 pression seems to prevail, that if a 2-inch pipe is good, a 
 3-inch pipe must be better, and that, generally, if draining 
 is \vorth doing at all, it is worth overdoing; while 
 the great importance of having perfectly fitting connec- 
 tions is not readily perceived. The general result is, that 
 most of the tile-draining in this country has been too expen- 
 sive for economy, and too careless for lasting efficiency. 
 
 It is proposed to give, in this chapter, as complete a 
 description of the preliminary engineering of draining aa 
 can be concentrated within a few pages, and a hope is en- 
 tertained, that it will, at least, convey an idea of the im- 
 portance of giving a full measure of thought and inge- 
 nuity to the maturing of the plan, before the execution of 
 the work is commenced. "Farming upon paper" has 
 never been held in high repute, but draining upon paper 
 is less a subject for objection. With a good map of the 
 farm, showing the comparative levels of outlet, hill, dale, 
 and plain, and the sizes and boundaries of the different 
 inclosures, a profitable winter may be passed, with pen- 
 cil and rubber, in deciding on a plan which will do the 
 required work with the least possible length of drain, and 
 which will require the least possible extra deep cutting ; 
 and in so arranging the main drains as to require the 
 smallest possible amount of the larger and more costly 
 pipes ; or, if only a part of the farm is to be drained dur- 
 ing the coming season, in so arranging the work that it will 
 dovetail nicely with future operations. A mistake in actual 
 work is costly, and, (being buried under the ground,) is 
 not easily detected, while errors in drawing upon paper 
 are always obvious, and are remedied without cost. 
 
 For the purpose of illustrating the various processes 
 connected with the laying out of a system of drainage, 
 the mode of operating on a field of ten acres will be d
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OF DRAINS. 49 
 
 tailed, in connection with a series of diagrams showing 
 the progress of the work. 
 
 A Map Of the Land is first made, from a careful sur- 
 vey. This should be plotted to a scale of 50 or 100 feet 
 to the iuch,* and should exhibit the location of obsta- 
 cles which may interfere with the regularity of tLo 
 drains, such as large trees, rocks, etc., and the existing 
 swamps, water courses, springs, and open drains. (Fig. 4.) 
 
 The next stop is to locate the contour lines of the land, 
 or the lines of equal elevation, also called the horizontal 
 lines, which serve to show the shape of the surface. To do 
 this, stake off the field into squares of 50 feet, by first running 
 a base line through the center of the greatest length of the 
 field, marking it with stakes at intervals of 50 feet, then stake 
 other lines, also at intervals of 50 feet, perpendicular to the 
 base line, and then note the position of the stakes on the 
 maps ; next, by the aid of an engineer's level and staff, ascer- 
 tain the height, (above an imaginary plain below the lowest 
 part of the field,) of the surface of the ground at each stake, 
 and note this elevation at its proper point on the map. This 
 gives a plot like Fig. 5. The best instrument with which to 
 take these levels, is the ordinary telescope-level used by rail- 
 road engineers, shown in Fig. 6, which has a telescope with 
 cross hairs intersecting each other in the center of the line 
 of sight, and a " bubble " placed exactly parallel to this 
 .ine. The instrument, fixed on a tripod, and so adjusted 
 that it will turn to any point of the compass without dis- 
 turbing the position of the bubble, will, (as will its " line of 
 sight,") revolve in a perfectly horizontal plane. It is so 
 placed as to command a view of a considerable stretch of 
 the field, and its height above the imaginary plane is 
 measured, an attendant places next to one of the stakes 
 a levelling rod, (Fig. 7,) which is divided into feet and 
 
 * The maps in this book are, for convenience, drawn to a scale of 161 
 feet to the iuch. 
 8
 
 50 
 
 DRAINING FOK PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 *^%^\ ?\ \ \ \ \ \\ \\' \\\\\\"" --" -^ -",_-- " - 
 
 ',^\ '&& 
 
 Fig. 4. MAP OF LANT>, WITH SWAMPS, ROCKS, SPRINGS, AND TREES. 
 INTENDED TO REPRESENT A FIELD OF TEN ACRES BEFORE 
 DRAINING.
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OF DRAINS. 51 
 
 / 
 
 Is \ 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 IS.2 
 
 lS~.3^ 
 
 6 1 ./ 
 
 IS-- "^ 
 
 IS. 5 
 
 IS.Z 
 
 5.3 
 
 14.3 
 
 3.2. 
 
 2:7 \ 
 
 4.2 
 
 ~^_ 
 
 -.^ 
 
 -r- 
 
 -..-- 
 
 /4.3 
 
 141 
 
 4.5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ttlz ! 
 
 2 '3 
 
 \ 
 1.0 \ 
 
 2> 
 
 'JZ 
 
 /3.2 
 
 J2 
 
 tf.4- 
 
 3.3 
 
 37 
 
 4. 
 
 I 
 
 [ 
 
 
 x 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^, 
 
 
 ti 
 
 in 
 
 
 *.8 \ 
 
 2.1..-"' 
 
 
 ArjS 
 
 2.5 
 
 13?" 
 
 3.5 ,' 
 
 4;2 J_ 
 
 13.7 
 
 
 1.5 j / 
 
 i'& 
 
 -^ 
 
 10.3 
 
 )y i 
 
 I2 
 
 13.5 ' 
 
 // 
 
 '". 
 
 til / 
 
 ,./' 
 
 H, 
 
 7.7 
 
 \ \ 
 
 10. / 
 
 // ( 
 
 
 ,/, 
 
 5.?' 
 
 6.7 
 
 ii.9 1 
 
 oA / 
 
 8.9 / 
 
 7.4 
 
 y/ 
 
 ids ' 
 
 /2./ 
 
 /3.9\ 
 
 ( 
 
 
 
 'lti.7/ 
 
 f 
 
 1.9/ 
 
 6.5 
 
 <s. 
 
 II 2 \ 
 
 i 
 
 \ 
 
 /2.4\ 
 
 ^ 
 
 to- 
 
 .-- - 
 
 -::::: 
 
 ?.'(? 
 
 7.9 / 
 
 &.'"" 
 
 r-\ 1 
 
 8. 
 
 ^ ] 
 
 \ 
 
 12. 
 
 IT 
 
 
 /as 
 
 7.4 / 
 
 ;;/' 
 
 
 \ ' ( j 
 
 \ 
 8. \ 
 
 9S^ 
 
 /O. 
 
 10.1 "~ 
 
 7^.5 
 
 
 iO.fi 
 
 6.4 / 
 
 ?''' 
 
 ^k 
 
 \ \ 
 
 \ 
 
 8. 
 
 3.1 
 
 8.1 
 
 j^ 
 
 9. 
 
 i.A N 
 
 *V'' 
 
 ',/ 
 
 f-3, \ 
 
 ^c- 
 
 >;; 
 
 fe 
 
 ~6. 
 
 6.9 
 
 ^ 
 
 ! 9 
 
 /o.a 
 
 i// 
 
 IK 
 
 1.8 
 
 ' x x 
 
 >':; 
 
 3.9 \ 
 
 J. / 
 
 i 
 6/5 
 
 7-1 L 
 
 A/ 
 
 /a/' 
 
 '" 
 
 1.8 
 
 1.8 
 
 1.8 
 
 \ \ 
 
 ,) / 
 
 /''' 
 
 7.3-' , 
 
 k'/ 
 
 /fl^'' 
 
 //.s 7 
 
 1.8 
 
 1.8 
 
 1.3 
 
 /'. 
 
 ' <'-' 
 
 '''''''< 
 
 f SA ,- 
 
 
 10/9 
 
 </' 
 
 W.9 
 
 1. 8 
 
 1 8 
 
 1.8 ''/, 
 
 '4. / , 
 
 /-' 
 
 fi.9'''.- 
 
 ^ 
 
 /'.' 
 
 ?2.2 x 
 
 fa ,, 
 
 14.3 
 
 Fig. 5. MAP WITH 50-FOOT SQUARES, AND CONTOUR LINES.
 
 52 DBAmCfG FOB PROFIT AXD HEALTH. 
 
 fractions of a foot, and is furnished with a movable tar* 
 get, so painted that its center point may be plainly seen. 
 The attendant raises and lowers the target, until it comes 
 exactly in the line of sight ; its height on the rod de- 
 notes the height of the instrument above the level of the 
 ground at that stake, and, as the height of the instrument 
 
 Fig. 6. LEVELLING INSTRUMENT.* 
 
 above the imaginary plane has been reached, by subtract- 
 ing one elevation from the other, the operator determines 
 the height of the ground at that stake above the imagi- 
 nary plane, which is called the " d<itum." 
 
 The next operation is to trace, on the plan, lines follow- 
 ing the same level, wherever the land is of the proper 
 height for its surface to meet them. For the purpose of 
 illustrating this operation, lines at intervals of elevation of 
 
 * The instrument from which this cut was taken, (as also Fi#. 7,) wa* 
 made by Messrs. Blunt & Nichols, Water-st., N. T, 1867.
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OF DRAIXS. 
 
 53 
 
 one foot are traced on the plan in Fig. 8. And these lines 
 show, with sufficient accuracy for practical purposes, the 
 elevation and rate of inclination of all parts 
 of the field, whore it is level or nearly so, 
 where its rise is rapid, and where slight. As 
 the land rises one foot from the position of 
 one line to the position of the line next above 
 it, where the distance from one line to the 
 next is great, the land is more nearly level, 
 and when it is short the inclination is steeper. 
 For instance, in the southwest corner of the 
 plan, the land is nearly level to the 2-foot 
 line ; it rises slowly to the center of the field, 
 and to the eastern side about one-fourth of 
 the distance from the southern boundary, 
 while an elevation coming down between 
 these two vallevs, and others skirting the 
 west side of the former one and the southern 
 side of the latter, are indicated by the greater 
 nearness of the lines. The points at which 
 the contour lines cross the section lines are 
 found in the following manner: On the 
 second line from the west side of the field we 
 find the elevations of the 4th, 5th and Gth 
 stakes from the southern boundary to be 1.9, 
 3.o, and 5.1. The contour lines, representing 
 points of elevation of 2, 3, 4, and 5 feet above 
 the datum line, will cross the 50-foot lines at 
 their intersections, only where these intersec- 
 tions are marked in even feet. When they are 
 marked with fractions of a foot, the lines must 
 be made to cross at points between two in- 
 tersections, nearer to one or the other, ac- 
 cording to their elevations, thus bet ween 1.9 Fig. 7. LEVEI/ 
 and 3.3, the 2-foot and 3-foot contour lines 
 must cross. The total difference of elevation, between the
 
 DRAINING FOE PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 Fig. 8. MAP "WITH CONTOUR LINKS.
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OP DRAINS. 55 
 
 two points is 3.3 1.9=1.4; J-J of the space must be given 
 to the even foot between the lines, and the 2-foot line should 
 be T ' T of the space above the point 1.9; the 3-foot line 
 will then come T \ below the point 3.3. In the same man- 
 ner, the line from 3.3 to 5.1 is divided into 18 parts, of 
 which 10 go to the space between the 4. and 5. lines, 7 are 
 between 3.3 and the 4-foot line, and 1 between the 5-foot 
 line and 5.1. 
 
 With these maps, made from observations taken in the 
 field, we are prepared to lay down, on paper, our system 
 of drainage, and to mature a plan which shall do the neces- 
 sary work with the least expenditure of labor and mate- 
 rial. The more thoroughly this plan is considered, the 
 more economical and effective will be the work. Having 
 already obtained the needed information, and having it al. 
 before us, we can determine exactly the location and size of 
 each drain, and arrange, before hand, for a rapid and satis- 
 factory execution of the work. The only thing that may 
 interfere with the perfect application of the plan, is the 
 presence of masses of underground rock, within the depth 
 to which the drains are to be laid.* Where these are sup- 
 posed to exist, soundings should be made, by driving a 
 1-inch pointed steel rod to the rock, or to a depth of five 
 feet where the rock falls away. By this means, measuring 
 the distance from the soundings to the ranges of the 
 stakes, we can denote on the map the shape and depth of 
 sunken rocks. The shaded spot on the east side of the 
 map, (Fig. 8,) indicates a rock three feet from the surface, 
 which will be assumed to have been explored by sounding. 
 
 In most cases, it will be sufficient to have contour lines 
 taken only at intervals of two feet, and, owing to the 
 Braallness of the scale on which these maps are engraved, 
 and to avoid complication in the finished plan, where so 
 
 *The slight deviations caused by carrying the drains around large 
 stones, which are found in cutting the ditches, do not affect the general 
 arrangement of the lines
 
 56 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AXD HEALTH. 
 
 much else must be shown, each alternate line is omitted. 
 Of course, where drains are at once staked out on the 
 land, by a practiced engineer, no contour lines are taken, 
 as by the aid of the level and rod for the flatter portions, 
 and by the eye alone for the steeper slopes, he will be able 
 at once to strike the proper locations and directions ; but 
 for one of less experience, who desires to thoroughly 
 mature his plan before commencing, they are indispensa- 
 ble ; and their introduction here will enable the novice to 
 understand, more clearly than would otherwise be possible, 
 the principles on which the plan should be made. 
 
 Fig. 9. THE CLINOMETER. 
 
 For preliminary examinations, and for all purposes in 
 which great accuracy is not required, the little instru- 
 ment shown in Fig. 9, the Clinometer, is exceedingly 
 simple and convenient. Its essential parts are a flat side, 
 or base, on which it stands, and a hollow disk just half 
 filled with some heavy liquid. The jjlass face of the disk is 
 surrounded by a graduated scale that marks the angle at 
 which the surface of the liquid stands, with reference to 
 the flat base. The line 0. 0. being parallel to the 
 base, when the liquid stands on that line, the flat side is 
 horizontal; the line 90. 90. being perpendicular to
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OP L RAINS. 
 
 57 
 
 the base, when the liquid stands on that line, the flat side 
 is perpendicular or plumb. In like manner, the intervening 
 angles are marked, and, by the aid of the following tables, 
 the instrument indicates the rate of fall per hundred feet 
 of horizontal measurement, and per hundred feet measured 
 upon the sloping line.* 
 
 Table No. 1 shows the rise of the slope for 100 feet of 
 the horizontal measurement. Example: If the horizontal 
 distance is 100 feet, and the slope is at an angle of 10, 
 the rise will be 17^ feet. 
 
 Table No. 2 shows the rise of the slope for 100 feet of 
 its own length. If the sloping line, (at an angle of 15,) 
 is 100 feet long, it rises 25.882 feet. 
 
 TABLE No. 1. 
 
 TABLE No. 2. 
 
 DEO. 
 
 FEET. 
 
 DEG. 
 
 FEKT. 
 
 DEO. 
 
 FEET. | DEG. 
 
 FEET. 
 
 5 
 
 8.749 
 
 50 
 
 119.175 
 
 5 
 
 8.716 
 
 50 
 
 76.604 
 
 10 
 
 17.633 
 
 55 
 
 142.815 
 
 10 
 
 17.365 
 
 55 
 
 81.915 
 
 15 
 
 26.795 
 
 60 
 
 173.205 
 
 15 
 
 25.882 
 
 60 
 
 86.602 
 
 20 
 
 36.397 
 
 65 
 
 214.451 
 
 20 
 
 34.202 
 
 65 
 
 90.631 
 
 25 
 
 46,631 
 
 70 
 
 274.748 
 
 25 
 
 42.262 
 
 70 
 
 93.9(19 
 
 30 
 
 57.735 
 
 75 
 
 373.205 
 
 30 
 
 50. 
 
 75 
 
 96.593 
 
 35 
 
 70.021 
 
 80 
 
 567.128 
 
 35 
 
 57.358 
 
 80 
 
 98.481 
 
 40 
 
 83.910 
 
 85 
 
 1143.01 
 
 40 
 
 64.279 
 
 85 
 
 99.619 
 
 45 
 
 100. 
 
 
 
 45 
 
 70.711 
 
 
 
 With the maps before him, showing the surface features 
 of the field, and the position of the under-ground rock, 
 the drainer will have to consider the following points : 
 
 1. Where, and at what depth, shall the outlet be 
 placed ? 
 
 2. What shall be the location, the length and the depth 
 of the main drain ? 
 
 3. What subsidiary mains, or collecting drains, shall 
 Connect the minor valleys with the main ? 
 
 4. What may best be done to collect the water of large 
 springs and carry it away ? 
 
 5. What provision is necessary to collect the water 
 that flows over the surface of out-cropping rock, or 
 
 * The form of this instrument has been considerably improved, and its effl 
 ciency increased. (%d edition.) 
 
 3*
 
 58 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 along springy lines on side hills or under banks' 
 
 6. What should be the depth, the distance apart, the 
 direction, and the rate of fall,of the lateral drains? 
 
 7. What kind and sizes of tile should be used to form 
 the conduits ? 
 
 8. What provision should be made to prevent the ob- 
 struction of the drains, by an accumulation of silt or sand, 
 which may enter the tiles immediately after they are laid, 
 and before the earth becomes compacted about them ; and 
 from the entrance of vermin ? 
 
 1. The outlet should be at the lowest point of the boun- 
 dary, unless, (for some especial reason which does not 
 exist in the case under consideration, nor in any usual 
 case,) it is necessary to seek some othor than the natural 
 outfall ; and it should be deep enough to take the water of 
 the main drain, and laid on a sufficient inclination for a free 
 flow of the water. It should, where sufficient fall can be 
 obtained without too great cost, deliver this water over a 
 step of at least a few inches in height, so that the action of 
 the drain may be seen, and so that it may not be liable to 
 be clogged by the accumulation of silt, (or mud,) in the 
 open ditch into which it flows. 
 
 2. The main drain should, usually, be run as nearly in 
 the lowest part of the principal valley as is consistent with 
 tolerable slraightness. It is better to cut across the point 
 of a hill, to the extent of increasing the depth for a few 
 rods, than to go a long distance out of the direct course 
 to keep in the valley, both because of the cost of 
 the large tile used in the main, and of the loss of fall 
 occasioned by the lengthening of the line. The main should 
 be continued from the outlet to the point at which it is 
 most convenient to collect the more remote sub-mains, 
 which bring together the water of several sets of laterals. 
 As is the case in the tract under consideration, the depth 
 of the main is often restricted, in nearly level land, to- 
 ward the upper end of the flat which lies next to the out
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OP DRAINS. 
 
 let, by the necessity for a fall and the difficulty which often 
 exists in securing a sufficiently low outlet. In such case, 
 the only rule is to make it as deep as possible. When the 
 fall is sufficient, it should be placed at such depth as will 
 allow the laterals and sub-mains which discharge into it 
 to enter at its top, and discharge above the level of the 
 water which flows through it. 
 
 3. Subsidiary mains, or sub-mains, connecting with the 
 main drains, should be run up the minor valleys of the 
 
 land, skirting the 
 bases of the hills. 
 Where the valley is 
 aflat one, with rising 
 ground at each side, 
 there should be a 
 sub-main, to receive 
 the laterals from 
 each hill side. As a 
 general rule, it may 
 be stated, that the 
 collecting drain at 
 the foot of a slope 
 should be placed on 
 the line which is first 
 reached by the wa- 
 ter flowing directly 
 down over its surface, before it commences its lateral 
 movement down the valley ; and it should, if possible, be 
 so arranged that it shall have a uniform descent for its 
 whole distance. The proper arrangement of these col- 
 lecting drains requires more skill and experience than 
 any other branch of the work, for on their disposition 
 depends, in a great measure, the economy and success of 
 the undertaking. 
 
 4. Where springs exist, there should be some provision 
 made for collecting their water in pits filled with loose 
 
 Fig. 10. STONE PIT TO CONNECT SPRING 
 WITH DKAIN.
 
 60 
 
 DRAIXIXG FOR PROFIT AXD HEALTH. 
 
 stone, gravel, brush or other rubbish, or furnished with 
 
 several lengths of tile set on end, one above the other, or 
 
 with a barrel or other vessel ; and a line of tile of proper 
 
 size should be run directly 
 
 to a main, or sub-main 
 
 drain. The manner of 
 
 doing this by means of a 
 
 pit tilled with stone is 
 
 shown in Fig. 10. The 
 
 collection of spring water 
 
 in a vertical tile basin is 
 
 shown in Fig. 11. 
 
 5. Where a ledge of 
 shelving rock, of consider- 
 able size, occurs on land 
 to be drained, it is best to 
 make some provision for 
 collecting, at its base, the 
 water flowing over its sur- 
 face, and taking it at once 
 into the drains, so that it 
 
 may not make the land Fig. 11. STONE AND TILE BASIN FOB 
 near it unduly wet. To 
 
 effect this, a ditch should be dtisj along the base of the rock, 
 and quite down to it, considerably deeper than the level of 
 the proposed drainage ; and this should be filled with small 
 stones to that level, with aline of tile laid on top of the 
 stones, a uniform bottom for the tile to rest upon being 
 formed of coarse sand or gravel. The tile and stone should 
 then be covered with inverted sods, with wood shavings, 
 or with other suitable material, which will prevent the en- 
 trance of earth, (from the covering of the drain,) to choke 
 them. The water, following down the surface of the rock, 
 will rise through the stone work and, entering the tile, will 
 flow off. This method may be used for springy hill sides. 
 
 6. The points previously considered relate only to the
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OF DRAINS. 61 
 
 collection of unusual quantities of water, (trom springs 
 and from rock surfaces,) and to the removal from the land 
 of what is thus collected, and of that which flows from 
 the minor or lateral drains. 
 
 The lateral drains themselves constitute the real drain- 
 age of the field, for, although main lines take water from 
 the land on each side, their action in this regard is not 
 usually considered, in determining either their depth or 
 their location, and they play an exceedingly small part in 
 the more simple form of drainage, that in which a large 
 tract of land, of practically uniform slope,is drained by par- 
 allel lines of equal length, all discharging into a single 
 main, running across the foot of the field. The land would 
 be equally well drained, if the parallel lines were continued 
 to an open ditch beyond its boundary, the main tile drain 
 is only adopted for greater convenience and security. It 
 will simplify the question if, in treating the theory of lat- 
 eral drains, it be assumed that our field is of this uniform 
 inclination, and admits of the use of long lines of pai-allel 
 drains. In fact, it is best in practice to approximate as 
 nearly as possible to this arrangement, because deviations 
 from it, though always necessary in broken land, are 
 always more expensive, and present more complicated 
 engineering problems. If all the land to be drained had 
 a uniform fall, in a single direction, there would be but 
 little need of engineering skill, beyond that which is re- 
 quired to establish the depth, fall, and distance apart, at 
 which the drains should be laid. It is chiefly when the 
 land pitches in different directions, and with varying in- 
 clination, that only a person skilled in the arrangement of 
 drains, or one who will give much consideration to the 
 subject, can effect the greatest economy by avoiding unne- 
 cessary complication, and secure the greatest efficiency 
 by adjusting the drains to the requirements of the land. 
 
 Assuming the land to have an unbroken inclination, so 
 as to require only parallel drams, it becomes important to
 
 62 DRAINING FOE PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 know how these parallel drains, (corresponding to tn 
 lateral drains of an irregular system,) should be made. 
 
 The history of land draining is a history of the gradual 
 progress of an improvement, from the accomplishment of 
 a single purpose, to the accomplishment of several pur- 
 poses, and most of the instruction which modern agri- 
 cultural writers have given concerning it, has shown too 
 great dependence upon the teachings of their predecessors, 
 who considered well the single ohject which they sought 
 to attain, but who had no conception that draining was to 
 be so generally valuable as it has become. The effort, (proba- 
 bly an unconscious one,) to make the theories of modern 
 thorough-draining conform to those advanced by the early 
 practitioners, seems to have diverted attention from some 
 more recently developed principles, which are of much 
 importance. For example, about a hundred years ago, 
 Joseph Elkington, of Warwickshire, discovered that, where 
 Jand is made too wet by under-ground springs, a skillful 
 tapping of these, drawing off their water through suita- 
 ble conduits, would greatly relieve the land, and for 
 many years the Elkington System of drainage, beihg a 
 great improvement on every thing theretofore practiced, 
 naturally occupied the attention of the agricultural world, 
 and the Board of Agriculture appointed a Mr. Johnstone 
 to study the process, and write a treatise on the subject. 
 
 Catch-water drains, made so as to intercept a flow of 
 surface water, have been in use from immemorial time, and 
 are described by the earliest writers. Before the advent 
 of the Draining Tile, covered drains were furnished with 
 stones, boards, brush, weeds, and various other rubbish 
 and their good effect, very properly, claimed the attention 
 of all improvers of wet land. When the tile first made 
 its appearance hi general practice, it was of what is called 
 the " horse-shoe " form, and, imperfect though it was, 
 it was better than anything that had preceded it, and was 
 received with high approval, wherever it became known
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OF DBAIN8. 63 
 
 The general use of all these materials for making drains 
 was confined to a system of partial drainage, until the 
 publication of a pamphlet, in 1833, by Mr. Smith, of Dean- 
 ston, who advocated the drainage of the whole field, with- 
 out reference to springs. From this plan, but with impor- 
 tant modifications in matters of detail, the modern sys- 
 tem of tile draining has grown. Many able men have 
 aided its progress, and have helped to disseminate a 
 knowledge of its processes and its effects, yet there are 
 few books on draining, even the most modern ones, which 
 do not devote much attention to Elkington's discovery ; 
 to the various sorts of stone and brush drains ; and to the 
 manufacture and use of horse-shoe tile; not treating them 
 as matters of antiquarian interest, but repeating the in- 
 structions for their application, and allowing the reasoning 
 on which their early use was based,to influence, often to a 
 damaging extent, their general consideration of the mod- 
 ern practice of tile draining. 
 
 These processes are all of occasional use, even at this 
 day, but they are based on no fixed rules, and are so much 
 a matter of traditional knowledge, with all farmers, that 
 instruction concerning them is not needed. The kind of 
 draining which is now under consideration, has for its ob- 
 ject the complete removal of all of the surplus water that 
 reaches the soil, from whatever source, and the assimila- 
 tion of all wet soils to a somewhat uniform condition, as to 
 the ease with which water passes through them. 
 
 There are instances, as has been shown, where a large 
 spring, overflowing a considerable area, or supplying the 
 water of an annoying brook, ought to be directly con- 
 nected with the under-ground drainage, and its flow neatly 
 carried away ; and, in other cases, the surface flow over 
 large masses of rock should be given easy entrance into 
 the tile; but, in all ordinary lands, whether swamps, 
 springy hill sides, heavy clays, or light soils lying on re- 
 tentive subsoil, all ground, in fact, which needs under
 
 W DRAINING FOE PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 draining at all, should be laid dry above the level to which 
 it is deemed best to place the drains ; not only secured 
 against the wetting of springs and soakage water, but 
 rapidly relieved of the water of heavy rains. The water 
 table, in short, should be lowered to the proper depth, and, 
 by permanent outlets at that depth, be prevented from 
 ever rising, for any considerable time, to a higher level. 
 This being accomplished, it is of no consequence to know 
 whence the water comes, and Elkington's system need 
 have no place in our calculations. As round pipes, with col- 
 lars, are far superior to the " horse-shoe " tiles, and are 
 equally easy to obtain, it is not necessary to consider the 
 manner in which these latter should be used, only to say 
 that they ought not to be used at all. 
 
 The water which falls upon the surface is at once ab- 
 sorbed, settles through the ground, until it reaches a 
 point where the soil is completely saturated, and raises the 
 general water level. When this level reaches the floor of 
 the drains, the water enters at the joints and is carried 
 off. That which passes down through the land lying 
 between the drains, bears down upon that which has al- 
 ready accumulated in the soil, and forces it to seek an out- 
 let by rising into the drains.* For example, if a barrel, 
 standing on end, be filled with earth which is saturated 
 with water, and its bung be removed, the water of satura- 
 tion, (that is, all which is not held by attraction in the par 
 tides of earth,) will be removed from so much of the 
 mass as lies above the bottom of the bung-hole. If a 
 bucket of water be now poured upon the top, it will not all 
 run diagonally toward the opening ; it will trickle down to 
 the level of the water remaining in the barrel, and this level 
 will rise and water will run off at the bottom of the orifice. 
 In this manner, the water, even below the drainage level, 
 
 * Except from quite near to the drain, It is not probable that the 
 irater In the soil runs laterally towards it.
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OP DRAINS. 65 
 
 is changed with each addition at the surface. In a barrel 
 filled with coarse pebbles, the water of saturation would 
 maintain a nearly level surface ; if the material were more 
 compact and retentive, a true level would be attained only 
 after a considerable time. Toward the end of the flow, 
 the water would stand highest at the points furthest dis- 
 tant from the outlet. So, in the land, after a drenching 
 rain, the water is first removed to the full depth, near the 
 line of the drain, and that midway between two drains 
 settles much more slowly, meeting more resistance from 
 below, and, for a long time, will remain some inches 
 higher than the floor of the drain. The usual condition 
 of the soil, (except in very dry weather,) would be some- 
 what as represented in the accompanying cut, (Fig. 12.) 
 
 Fjir. 12. LINE OF SATURATION BETWEEN BRAINS. 
 
 Y Tare the drains. The currtrl line b is the line of saturation, which has de- 
 sceniled fmm a. and is approaching c. 
 
 To provide for this deviation of the line of saturation, 
 in practice, drains are placed deeper than would be neces- 
 sary if the water sank at once to the level of the drain 
 floor, the depth of the drains being increased with the in- 
 creasing distance between them. 
 
 Theoretically, every drop of water which falls on a field 
 should sink straight down to the level of the drains, and 
 force a drop of water below that level to rise into the drain 
 and flow oflf. How exactly this is true in nature cannot 
 be known, and is not material. Drains made in pursuance 
 of this theory will be effective for any actual condition.
 
 66 DBAINING FOE PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 The depth to which the water table should be with- 
 drawn depends, not at all on the character of the soil, 
 but on the requirements of the crops which are to be 
 grown upon it, and these requirements are the same in all 
 soils, consequently the depth should be the same in all. 
 
 What, then, shall that depth be ? The usual practice 
 of the most experienced drainers seems to have fixed four 
 feet as about the proper depth, and the arguments against 
 anything less than this, as well as some reasons for sup 
 posing that to be sufficient, are so clearly stated by Mr. 
 Gisborne that it has been deemed best to quote his own 
 words on the subject : 
 
 " Take a flower-pot a foot deep, filled with dry soil. 
 * Place it in a saucer containing three inches of water. 
 " The first effect will be, that the water will rise through 
 " the hole in the bottom of the pot till the water which 
 " fills the interstices between the soil is on a level with the 
 " water in the saucer. This effect is by gravity. The 
 " upper surtace of this water is our water-table. From it 
 
 water will ascend by attraction through the whole 
 " body of soil till moisture is apparent at the surface. Put 
 " in your soil at 60, a reasonable summer heat for nine 
 *' inches in depth, your water at 47, the seven inches' 
 " temperature of Mr. Parke's undrained bog ; the attracted 
 " water will ascend at 47, and will diligently occupy 
 *' itself in attempting to reduce the 60 soil to its own 
 " temperature. Moreover, no sooner will the soil hold 
 " water of attraction, than evaporation will begin to carry 
 " it off, and will produce the cold consequent thereon. 
 " This evaporated water will be replaced by water of at 
 *' traction at 47, and this double cooling process will go 
 u on till all the water in the water-table is exhausted. 
 " Supply water to the saucer as fast as it disappears, and 
 " then the process will be perpetual. The system of saucer* 
 " watering is reprobated by every intelligent gardener; it 
 " ia found by experience to chill vegetation ; besides which,
 
 HOW TO LAY ODT A SYSTEM OP 1 RAINS. 67 
 
 ** scarcely any cultivated plant can dij, its roots into stag- 
 " nant water with impunity. Exactly the process which 
 " we have described in the flower-pot is constantly in 
 " operation on an undrained retentive soil ; the water- 
 " table may not be within nine inches of the surface, but 
 " in very many instances it is within a foot or eighteen 
 " inches, at which level the cold surplus oozes into some 
 " ditch or other superficial outlet. At eighteen inches, 
 " attraction will, on the average of soils, act with consid- 
 " erable power. Here, then, you have two obnoxious 
 " principles at work, both producing cold, and the one 
 " administering to the other. The obvious remedy is, to 
 "destroy their united action; to break through their line 
 * of communication. Remove your water of attraction 
 " to such a depth that evaporation cannot act upon it, or 
 "but feebly. What is that depth ? In ascertaining this 
 " point we are not altogether without data. No doubt 
 *' depth diminishes the power of evaporation rapidly. Still, 
 *' as water taken from a 30-inch drain is almost invariably 
 " two or three degrees colder than water taken from four 
 " feet, and as this latter is generally one or two degrees 
 " colder than water from a contiguous well several feet 
 " below, we can hardly avoid drawing the conclusion that 
 " the cold of evaporation has considerable influence at 30 
 " inches, a much-diminished influence at four feet, and little 
 "or none below that depth. If the water-table is removed 
 " to the depth of four feet, when we have allowed 18 
 " inches of attraction, we shall still have 30 inches of de- 
 " fence against evaporation ; and we are inclined to be- 
 " lieve that any prejudicial combined action of attraction 
 " and evaporation is thereby well guarded against. The 
 ' facts stated seem to prove that less will not suffice. 
 
 " So much on the score of temperature ; but this is not 
 " all. Do the roots of esculents wish to penetrate into 
 " the earth at least, to the depth of some feet ? We be- 
 " lieve that they do. We are sure of the brassica tribe,
 
 68 DRATSING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 " of grass, and clover. All our experience and observation 
 " deny the doctrine that roots only ramble when they ar 
 " stinted of food ; that six inches well manured is quite 
 " enough, better than more. Ask the Jerseyman ; h 
 " will show you a parsnip as thick as your thigh, and as 
 " long as your leg, and will tell you of the advantages of 
 "14 feet of dry soil. You will hear of parsnips whose 
 " i oots descend to unsearchable depths. We will not 
 " appeal to the Kentucky carrot, which was drawn out 
 " by its roots at the antipodes ; but Mr. Mechi's, if we 
 " remember right, was a dozen feet or more. Three years 
 " ago, in a midland county, a field of good land, in good 
 " cultivation, and richly manured, produced a heavy crop 
 " of cabbages. In November of that year we saw that 
 " field broken into in several places, and at the depth of 
 k four feet the soil (a tenacious marl, fully stiff enough for 
 
 * brick-earth) was occupied by the roots of cabbage, not 
 sparingly not mere capillae but fibres of the size of 
 
 " small pack-thread. A farmer manures a field of four or 
 
 " five inches of free soil reposing on a retentive clay, and 
 
 " sows it with wheat. It comes up, and between the ker- 
 
 " nel and the manure, it looks well for a time, but anon it 
 
 sickens. An Irish child looks well for five or six years, 
 
 but after that time potato-feeding, and filth, and hard- 
 
 " ship, begin to tell. You ask what is amiss with the 
 
 u wheat, and you are told that when its roots reach the 
 
 * clay, they are poisoned. This field is then thorough- 
 " drained, deep, at least four feet. It receives again from 
 " the cultivator the previous treatment ; the wheat comes 
 " up well, maintains throughout a healthy aspect, and 
 " gives a good return. What has become of the poison ? 
 " We have been told that the rain water filtered through 
 " the soil has taken it into solution or suspension, and has 
 " carried it off through the drains; and men who assume 
 " to be of authority put forward this as one of the ad- 
 u vantages of draining. If we believed it, we could not
 
 HOW TO LAT OUT A SYSTEM OP DRA.IXS. 69 
 
 u advocate draining. We really should not have the face 
 " to tell our readers that water, passing through soils con- 
 " taining elements prejudicial to vegetation, would carry 
 " them off, but would leave those which are beneficial be- 
 " hind. We cannot make our water so discriminating; the 
 " general merit of water of deep drainage is, that it con- 
 " tains very little. Its perfection would be that it should 
 M contain nothing. We understand that experiments are 
 " in progress which have ascertained that water, charged 
 " with matters which are known to stimulate vegetation, 
 " when filtered through four feet of retentive soil, comes 
 " out pure. But to return to our wheat. In the first case 
 " it shrinks before the cold of evaporation and the cold of 
 " water of attraction, and it sickens because its feet are 
 " never dry ; it suffers the usual maladies of cold and wet. 
 "In the second case, the excess of cold by evaporation 
 " is withdrawn ; the cold water of attraction is removed 
 " out of its way ; the warm air from the surface, rushing 
 " in to supply the place of the water which the drains re- 
 " move, and the warm summer rains, bearing down with 
 " them the temperature which they have acquired from 
 " the upper soil, carry a genial heat to its lowest roots. 
 " Health, vigorous growth, and early maturity are the 
 " natural consequences. ********* 
 
 "The practice so derided and maligned referring to 
 " deep draining has advanced with wonderful strides. 
 " We remember the days of 15 inches ; then a step to 20; a 
 " stride to 30; and the last (and probably final) jump to 50, a 
 " few inches under or over. We have dabbled in them all, 
 :< generally belonging to the deep section of the day. We 
 " have used the words ' probably final,' because the first 
 "advances were experimental, and, though they were jus- 
 " tified by the results obtained, no one attempted to ex 
 " plain the principle on which benefit was derived from 
 " them. The principles on which the now prevailing 
 'depth is founded, and which we believe to be true, go
 
 70 DRAINING FOE PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 u far to show that we have attained all the advaniagei 
 " which can be derived from the removal of water in 
 u ordinary agriculture. We do not mean that, even in the 
 u most retentive soil, water would not get into drains 
 "which were laid somewhat deeper; but to this there 
 " must be a not very distant limit, because pure clay, lying 
 " below the depth at which wet and drought applied at 
 " surface would expand and contract it, would certainly 
 " part with its water very slowly. We find that, in coal 
 " mines and in deep quarries, a stratum of clay of only a 
 " few inches thick interposed between two strata of per- 
 " vious stone will form an effectual bar to the passage of 
 *' water ; whereas, if it lay within a few feet of the sur- 
 " face, it would, in a season of heat and drought become 
 " as pervious as a cullender. But when we have got rid 
 " of the cold arising from the evaporation of free water, 
 " have given a range of several feet to the roots of grass 
 " and cereals, and have enabled retentive land to filter 
 " through itself all the rain which Mis upon its surface, 
 " we are not, in our present state of knowledge, aware of 
 " any advantage which would arise from further lowering 
 " the surface of water in agricultural land. Smith, of 
 " Deanston, first called prominent attention to the fertiliz- 
 " ing effects of rain filtered through land, and to evils pro- 
 " duced by allowing it to flow off the surface. Any one 
 " will see how much more effectually this benefit will be 
 " attained, and this evil avoided, by a 4-foot than a 2-foot 
 u drainage. The latter can only prepare two feet of soil 
 " for the reception and retention of rain, which two feet, 
 " being saturated, will reject more, and the surplus must 
 ' ran off the surface, carrying whatever it can find with it. 
 " A 4-foot drainage will be constantly tending to have four 
 " feet of soil ready for the reception of rain, and it will 
 " take much more rain to saturate four feet than two, 
 " Moreover, as a gimlet-hole bored four feet from the sur- 
 " face of a barrel filled with, water will discharge much
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OP DRAINS. 71 
 
 'more in a given time than a similar hole bored at the 
 u depth of two feet, so will a 4-foot drain discharge in a 
 " given time much more water than a drain of two feet. 
 " One is acted on by a 4-foot, and the other by a 3-foot 
 
 * pressure." 
 
 If any single fact connected with tile-drainage is estab- 
 lished, beyond all possible doubt, it is that in the stiffest 
 clay soils ever cultivated, drains four feet deep will act 
 effectually ; the water will find its way to them, more and 
 more freely and completely, as the drying of successive 
 years, and the penetration and decay of the roots of suc- 
 cessive crops, modify the character of the land, and they 
 will eventually be practically so porous that, so far as 
 the ease of drainage is concerned, no distinction need, in 
 practice, be made between them and the less retentive 
 loams. For a few years, the line of saturation between 
 the drains, as shown in Fig. 11, may stand at all seasons 
 considerably above the level of the bottom of the tile, hut 
 it will recede year by year, until it will be practically 
 level, except immediately after rains. 
 
 Mr. Josiah Parkes recommends drains to be laid 
 
 " At a minimum depth of four feel, designed with the two-fold object of 
 not only freeing the active soil from stagnant and injurious water, but 
 of converting the water falling on the surface into an agent for fertiliz- 
 ing; no drainage being deemed efficient that did not both remove the 
 water falling on the surface, and ' keep down the subterranean water at 
 a depth exceeding the power of capillary attraction to elevate it near the 
 Surface.' " 
 
 Alderman Mechi says : 
 
 "Ask nineteen farmers out of twenty, who hold strong clay laud, and 
 they will tell you it is of no u>e placing deep four- foot drains in such soil/ 
 tht water cannot get in; a horse's foot-hole (without an opening 
 under it) will hold water like a basin ; and so on. Well, five minutes 
 aftor, you tell the same farmers you propose digging a cellar, well 
 bricked, six or ei^ht feet deep ; what is their remark ? ' Oh ! it's of no 
 Ufee your making an underground cellar in our soil, you can't keep tfie 
 water OUT!' Was there ever such an illustration of prejudice as this? 
 What is a drain pipe but a small cellar full of air? Then, again, common 
 sense tells us, you can't keep a light fluid under a heavy one. You might 
 a well try to keep a cork under water, as to try and keep air nudef
 
 TS DRAINING FOE PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 water. Oh I but then our soil is n't porous.' If not, how can it hold 
 water so readily ? I am led to these observations by the strong contro- 
 versy I am having with some Essex folks, who protest that I am mad, or 
 foolish, for placing 1-inch pipes, at fonr-foot depth, in strong clays. II 
 is in vain I refer to the numerous proofs of my soundness, brought for- 
 ward by Mr. Parkes, engineer to the Royal Agricultural Society, and 
 confirmed by Mr. Pusey. They still dispute it. It is in vain I tell them 
 I cannot keep the rainwater out of socketed pipes, twelve feet deep, that 
 convey a spring to my farm yard. Let us try and convince this large 
 class of doubters ; for it is of national importance. Four feet of good 
 porous clay would afford a fur better meal to some strong bean, or other 
 tap roots, than the usual six Inches ; and a saving of $4 to $5 per acre, 
 in drainage, is no trifle. 
 
 "The shallow, r non-drainers, assume that tenacious subsoils are Im- 
 pervious or non-absorbent This is entirely an erroneous assumptioa 
 If soils were impervious, how could they get wet ? 
 
 " I assert, and pledge my agricultural reputation for the fact, that there 
 are no earths or clays in this kingdom, be they ever so tenacious, that 
 will not readily receive, filter, and transmit rain water to drains placed 
 five or more feet deep. 
 
 "A neighbor of mine drained twenty inches deep in strong clay; th 
 ground cracked widely ; the contraction destroyed the tiles, and th< 
 rains washed the surface soils into the cracks and choked the drains. Hi 
 has since abandoned shallow draining. 
 
 " When I first began draining, I allowed myself to be overruled bf 
 my obstinate man, Pearson, who insisted that, for top water, two fee* 
 was a sufficient depth in a veiny soiL I allowed him to try the exper*. 
 ment on two small fields ; the result was, that nothing prospered ; ani 
 I am redraining those fields at one-half the cost, five and six feet deep 
 at intervals of 70 and 80 feet. 
 
 " I found iron-sand rocks, strong clay, silt, iron, etc., and an enor- 
 mous quantity of water, all Mow the 2 foot drains. This accounted at 
 once for the sudden check the crops always met with in May, when they 
 wanted to send their roots down, but could not, without going into stag- 
 nant water." 
 
 " There can be no doubt that it is the depth of the drain which regu- 
 lates the escape of the surface water in a given time ; regard being had, 
 as respects extreme distances, to the nature of the soil, and a due capac- 
 ity of the pipe. The deeper the drain, even in the strongest soils, the quicker 
 the water escapes. This is an astounding but certain fact : 
 
 " That deep and distant drains, where a sufficient fall can be obtained, 
 are by far the most profitable, by affording to the roots of the plants a 
 greater rangi! for food." 
 
 Of course, where the soil is underlaid by rock, less thau 
 four feet from the surface ; and where an outlet at that 
 depth cannot be obtained, we must, per force, drain less
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OP DBAINS, 73 
 
 deeply, but where there exists no such obstacle, drains 
 should be laid at a general depth of four feet, general, 
 not uniform, because the drain should have a uniform in- 
 clination, which the surface of the land rarely has. 
 
 The Distance between the Drains, Concerning this, 
 there is less unanimity of opinion among engineers, than 
 prevails with regard to the question of depth. 
 
 In tolerably porous soils, it is generally conceded that 40 
 or even 50 feet is sufficiently near for 4-foot drains, but, for 
 the more retentive clays, all distances from 18 feet to 50 
 feet are recommended, though those who belong to the 
 more narrow school are, as a rule, extending the limit, 
 as they see, in practice, the complete manner in which 
 drains at wider intervals perform their work. A careful 
 consideration of the experience of the past twenty yeara 
 and of the arguments of writers on drainage, leads to the 
 belief that there are few soils, which need draining at all, 
 on which it will be safe to place 4-foot drains at much 
 wider intervals than 40 feet. In the lighter loams there 
 are many instances of the successful application of 
 Professor Mapes' rule, that "3-foot drains should be 
 " placed 20 feet apart, and for each additional foot in 
 " depth the distance may be doubled ; for instance, 4-foot 
 " drains should be 40 feet apart, and 5-foot drains 80 feet 
 " apart." But, with reference to the greater distance, 
 (80 feet,) it is not to be recommended in stiff clays, for 
 any depth of drain. Where it is necessary, by reason of 
 insufficient fall, or of underground rock, to go only three 
 feet deep, the drains should be as near together as 20 feet. 
 
 At first thought, it may seem akin to quackery to rec- 
 ommend a uniform depth and distance, without reference 
 to the character of the land to be drained ; and it is un- 
 questionably true that an exact adaptation of the work to 
 the varying requirements of different soils would be bene- 
 ficial, though no system can be adopted which will make 
 4
 
 74 DBAINttfG FOB PROFIT ANT) HEALTH. 
 
 clay drain as freely as sand. The fact is that the adjust 
 ment of the distances between drains is very far from 
 partaking of the nature of an exact science, and there is 
 really very little known, by any one, of the principles on 
 which it should be based, or of the manner in which the 
 bearing of those principles, in any particular case, is af- 
 fected by several cii cumstances which vary with each 
 change of soil, inclination and exposure. 
 
 In the essays on drainage which have been thus far 
 published, there is a vagueness in the arguments on this 
 branch of the subject, which betrays a want of definite 
 conviction in the minds of the writers ; and which tends 
 quite as much to muddle as to enlighten the ideas of the 
 reader. In so far as the directions are given, whether forti- 
 fied by argument or not, they are clearly empirical, and 
 are usually very much qualified by considerations which 
 weigh with unequal force in different cases. 
 
 In laying out work, any skillful drainer will be guided, 
 in deciding the distance between the lines, by a judgment 
 which has grown out of his former experience ; and which 
 will enable him to adapt the work, measurably, to the 
 requirements of the particular soil under consideration ; 
 but he would probably find it impossible to so state the 
 reasons for his decision, that they would be of any general 
 value to others. 
 
 Probably it will be a long time before rules on this subject, 
 based on well sustained theory, can be laid down with dis- 
 tinctness, and, in the mean time, we must be guided by 
 the results of practice, and must confine ourselves to a 
 distance which repeated trial, in various soils, has proven 
 to be safe for all agricultural land. In the drainage of 
 the Central Park, after a mature consideration of all that 
 had been published on the subject, and ot a considerable 
 previous observation and experience, it was decided to 
 adopt a general depth of four feet, and to adhere as closely 
 as possible to a uniform distance of forty feet. No instanci
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OF DRAINS. 75 
 
 was known of a failure to produce good results by drain- 
 ing at that distance, and several cases were recalled where 
 drains at fifty and sixty feet had proved so inefficient that 
 intermediate lines became necessary. After from seven 
 to ten years' trial, the Central Park drainage, by its re- 
 sults, has shown that, although some of the land is of a 
 very retentive character, this distance is not too great ; 
 and it is adopted here for recommendation to all who have 
 no especial reason for supposing that greater distances 
 will be fully effective in their more porous soils. 
 
 As has been before stated, drains at that distance, (or 
 at any distance,) will not remove all of the water of sat- 
 uration from heavy clays so rapidly as from more porous 
 soil; but, although, in some cases, the drainage may be 
 insufficient during the first year, and not absolutely per- 
 fect during the second and third years, the increased por- 
 osity which drainage causes, (as the summer droughts 
 make fissures in the earth, as decayed roots and other 
 organic deposits make these fissures permanent, and as 
 chemical action in the aerated soil changes its character,) 
 will finally bring clay soils to as perfect a condition as they 
 are capable of attaining, and will invariably render them 
 excellent for cultivation. 
 
 The Direction of the Laterals should be right up and 
 down the slope of the land, in the line of steepest descent. 
 For a long time after the general adoption of thorough- 
 draining, there was much discussion of this subject, and 
 much variation in practice. The influence of the old rules 
 for making surface or " catch- water " drains lasted for a 
 long time, and there was a general tendency to make tile 
 drains follow the same directions. An important require- 
 ment of these was that they should not take so steep an 
 inclination as to have their bottoms cut out and their 
 banks undermined by the rapid flow of water, and that 
 they should arrest and carry away the water flowing 
 down over the surface of hill sides. Tho arguments for the
 
 76 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 line of steepest descent were, however, so clear, ano 
 drains laid on that line were so universally successful in 
 practice, that it was long ago adopted by all, save those 
 novices who preferred to gain their education in draining 
 in the expensive school of their own experience. 
 
 The more important reasons why this direction is thj 
 best are the following : First, it is the quickest way tc 
 get the water off. Its natural tendency is to run straight 
 down the hill, and nothing is gained by diverting it from 
 this course. Second, if the drain runs obliquely down the 
 hill, the water will be likely to run out at the joints of the 
 tile and wet the ground below it ; even if it do not 
 mainly, run past the drain from above into the land be 
 low, instead of being forced into the tile. Third, a drain, 
 lying obliquely across a hillside will not be able to dratf 
 the water from below up the hill toward it, and the 
 water of nearly the whole interval will have to seek it 
 outlet through the drain below it. Fourth, drains run- 
 ning directly down the hill will tap any porous water 
 bearing strata, which may crop out, at regular intervals, and 
 will thus prevent the spewing out of the water at the sur- 
 face, as it might do if only oblique drains ran for a long 
 distance just above or just below them. Very steep, and 
 very springy hill sides, sometimes require very frequent 
 drains to catch the water which has a tendency to flow to 
 the surface ; this, however, rarely occurs. 
 
 In laying out a plan for draining land of a broken sur- 
 face, which inclines in different directions, it is impossible 
 to make the drains follow the line of steepest descent, and 
 at the same time to have them all parallel, and at uniform 
 distances. In all such cases a compromise must be made 
 between the two requirements. The more nearly the par- 
 allel arrangement can be preserved, the less costly will 
 the work be, while the more nearly we follow the steepest 
 slope of the ground, the more efficient will each drain be. 
 No rule for this adjustment can be given, but a careful
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OF DRAINS. Tl 
 
 study of the plan of the ground, and of its contour lines, 
 will aid in its determination. On all irregular ground it 
 requires great skill to secure the greatest efficiency consis- 
 tent with economy. 
 
 The fall required in. well made tile drains is very much 
 ess than would be supposed, by an inexperienced person, 
 to be necessary. Wherever practicable, without too great 
 cost, it is desirable to have a fall of one foot in one hun- 
 dred feet, but more than this in ordinary work is not es- 
 pecially to be sought, although there is, of course, no 
 objection to very much greater inclination. 
 
 One half of that amount of fall, or six inches in one 
 hundred feet, is quite sufficient, if the execution of the 
 work is carefully attended to. 
 
 The least rate of fall which it is prudent to give to a 
 drain, in using ordinary tiles, is 2.5 in 1,000, or three inches 
 in one hundred feet, and even this requires very careful 
 work.* A fall of six inches in one hundred feet is recom- 
 mended whenever it can be easily obtained not as being 
 more effective, but as requiring less precision, and conse- 
 quently less expense. 
 
 Kinds and Sizes Of Tiles, Agricultural drain-tiles are 
 made of clay similar to that which is used for brick. 
 When burned, they are from twelve inches to fourteen 
 inches long, with an interior diameter of from one to 
 eight inches, and with a thickness of wall, (depending on 
 the strength of the clay, and the size of the bore,) of from 
 one-quarter of an inch to more than an inch. They are 
 porous, to the extent of absorbing a certain amount of 
 water, but their porosity has nothing to do with their use 
 for drainage, for this purpose they might as well be of 
 glass. The water enters them, not through their walls, 
 
 * Some of the drains in the Central Park have a fall of only 1 In 
 1,000, and they work perfectly ; but they are lar^e mains, laid with an 
 amount of care, and with certain costly precautions, (including precisely 
 graded wooden floors,) which could hardly be expected in private work
 
 78 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND IIEALTH. 
 
 but at their joints, which cannot be made so tight that 
 they will not admit the very small amount of water that 
 will need to enter at each space. Gisborne says : 
 
 " If an acre of land be intersected with parallel drains 
 " twelve yards apart, and if on that acre should fall the 
 " very unusual quantity of one inch of rain in twelve 
 " hours, in order that every drop of this rain may be dis- 
 " charged by the drains in forty-eight hours from the eom- 
 " mencement of the rain (and in a less period that quan- 
 " tity neither will, not is it desirable that it should, filter 
 "through an agricultural soil) the interval between two 
 " pipes will be called upon to pass two-thirds of a table- 
 " spoonful of water per minute, and no more. Inch pipes, 
 " lying at a small inclination, and running only half-full, 
 " will discharge more than double this quantity of water 
 " in forty-eight hours." 
 
 Tiles may be made of any desired form of section, the 
 usual forms are the "horse-shoe," the "sole," the "dou- 
 ble-sole," and the *' round." The latter may be used with 
 collars, and they constitute the " pipes and collars," fre- 
 quently referred to in English books on drainage. 
 
 Horse-shoe tiles, Fig. 13, are condemned by all modern 
 engineers. Mr. Gisborne disposes of them by an argument 
 of some length, the quotation 
 of which in these pages is 
 probably advisable, because 
 
 dints than stones, and to that extent have been so success- 
 fully employed, that they are still largely used in this coun- 
 try by " amateurs." 
 
 " We shall shock some and surprise many of our readers, when we 
 state confidently that, in average soils, and, still more, in those which 
 are inclined to be tender, hor.-e shoe tiles form the weakest and most 
 failing conduit which has ever been used for a deep drain. It is so, how- 
 ever ; and a little thought, even if we had no experience, will tell us 
 that it must be so. A doggrel son-r, quite destitute of humor, informs 
 ts that tiles of this sort were used in 1760 at Grandesburg Hall, in Suf-
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OP toRAINS. 79 
 
 folk, by Mr. Charles Lawrence, the owner of the estate. The earliest of 
 which we had experience were of large area and of weak form. Constant 
 failures resulted from their use, and the cause was investigated ; many 
 of the tiles were found to be choked up with clay, and many to be bro- 
 ken longitudinally through the crown. For the first evil, two remedies 
 were adopted; a sole of slate, of wood, or of its own material, was 
 sometimes placed under the tile, but the more usual practice was to form 
 them wiih club-feet To meet the case of longitudinal fracture, the tiles 
 were reduced in size, and very much thickened in proportion to their 
 area. The first of these remedies was founded on an entirely mistaken, 
 and the second on no conception at all of the cause of the evil to which 
 they were respectively applied. The idea was, that this tile, standing on 
 narrow feet, and pressed by the weight of the refilled soil, sank into the 
 floor of the drain ; whereas, in fact, the floor of the drain rose into the 
 tile. Any one at all conversant with collieries is aware that when a xlrail 
 work (which is a small subterranean tunnel six feet high and four feet 
 wide or thereabouts) is driven in coal, the rising of the floor is a more 
 usual and far more inconvenient occurrence than the falling of the roof: 
 the weight of the two sides squeezes up the floor. We have seen it 
 formed into a very decided arch without fracture. Exactly a similar 
 operation takes place in the drain. No one had till recently dreamed of 
 "orming a tile drain, the bottom of which a man was not to approach 
 personally within twenty inches or two feet. To no one had it then oc- 
 curred that width at the bottom of the drain was a great evil. For the 
 convenience of the operator the drain was formed with nearly perpen- 
 dicular sides, of a width in which he could stand and work conveniently, 
 shovel the botlom level with his ordinary spade, and lay the tiles by his 
 hand ; the result was a drain with nearly perpendicular sides, and a wide 
 bottom. No sort of clay, particularly when softened by water standing 
 on it or running over it, could fail to rise under such circumstances ; and 
 the deeper the drain the greater the pressure and the more certain the 
 rising. A horse-shoe tile, which may be a tolerably secure conduit in a 
 drain of two feet, in one of four feet becomes an almost certain failure. 
 As to the longitudinal fractura not only is the tile subject to be broken 
 by one of those slips which are so troublesome in deep draining, and to 
 which the lightly-filled material, even when the drain is completed, 
 offers an imperfect resistance, but the constant pressure together of the 
 sides, even when it does not produce a fracture of the soil, catches hold 
 of the feet of the tile, and breaks it through the crown. Consider the 
 case of a drain formed in clay when dry, the conduit a horse-shoe tile. 
 When the clay expands with moisture, it necessarily presses on the tile 
 and breaks it through the crown, its weakest part.* When the Regent's 
 
 * The tile has been said, by great authorities, to be broken by contraction, 
 under some idea that the clay envelops the tile and presses it when it contracts. 
 That is nonsense. The contraction would liberate the tile. Drive a stake into 
 wet clay ; and when the clay is dry. observe whether it clasps the stake tighter 01 
 has released it, and you will no longer have any doubt whether expansion or ecu 
 tnction breaks the tile. Shrink is a better word than contract.
 
 80 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 Park was first drained, large conduits were in fashion, rnd they were 
 made circular by placing one horse-shoe tile upon another. It would be 
 difficult to invent a weaker conduit. On re-drainage, innumerable in- 
 stances were found in which the upper tile was broken through the 
 crown, and had dropped into the lower. Next came the Q form, tile and 
 sole in one, and much reduced in size a great advance; and when some 
 skillful operator had laid this tile bottom upwards we were evidently on 
 the eve of pipes. For the 3 tile a round pipe moulded with a flat-bot- 
 tomed solid sole is now generally substituted, and is an improvement ; 
 but is not equal to pipes and collars, nor generally cheaper than they 
 are." 
 
 One chief objection to the Sole-tiles is, that, in the dry- 
 ing which they undergo, preparatory to the burning, the 
 upper side is contracted, by 
 the more rapid drying, and 
 they often require to be trim- 
 med off with a hatchet before 
 
 they will form even tolerable joints ; another is, that they 
 cannot be laid with collars, which form a joint so perfect 
 and so secure, that their use, in the smaller drains, should 
 be considered indispensable. 
 
 The double-sole tiles, which can be laid either side up 
 
 but they are so heavy as to 
 
 make the cost of transpor- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ -" 
 
 . . . T , ! Fig. 15. DOUBLE-SOLE TILE. 
 
 tation considerably greater. 
 
 They are also open to the grave objection that they can- 
 not be fitted with collars. 
 
 Experience, in both public and private works in this 
 country, and the cumulative testimony of English and 
 French engineers, have demonstrated that the only tile 
 which it is economical to use, is the best that can be found, 
 and that the best, much the best thus far invented, is 
 the " pipe, or round tile, and collar," and these are un- 
 hesitatingly recommended for tise in all cases. Round 
 tiles of small sizes should not be laid without collars, as the 
 ability to use these constitutes their chief advantage; 
 holding them perfectly in place, preventing the rattling
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OF DRAINS. 81 
 
 in of loose dirt in laying, and giving twice the space for 
 the entrance of water at the joints. A chief advantage 
 of the larger sizes is, that they may be laid on any side 
 and thus made to fit closely. The usual sizes of these 
 tiles are 1| inches, 2| inches, and 3^ inches in interior di- 
 ameter. Sections of the Z\ inch make collars for the 1} 
 
 . 16. ROUND TILE AND COLLAR, AND THE SAME AS LAID. 
 
 inch, and sections of the 3 inch make collars for the 2f 
 inch. The 3| inch size does not need collars, as it is easily 
 secured in place, and is only used where the flow of water 
 would.be sufficient to wash out the slight quantity of for- 
 eign matters that might enter at the joints. 
 
 The Size of tile to be used is a question of consequence. 
 In England, 1-inch pipes are frequently used, but 1} inch* 
 are recommended for the smallest drains. Beyond this 
 limit, the proper size to select is, the smallest that can con- 
 vey the water which rrill ordinarily reach it after a heavy 
 rain. The smaller the pipe, the more concentrated the 
 flow, and, consequently, the more thoroughly obstructions 
 will be removed, and the occasional flushing of the pipe, 
 when it is taxed, for a few hours, to its utmost capacity, 
 will insure a thorough cleansing. No inconvenience can 
 result from the fact that, on rare occasions, the drain is 
 unable, for a short time, to discharge all the water that 
 reaches it, and if collars are used, or if the clay be well 
 packed about the pipes, there need be no fear of the tile 
 being displaced by the pressure. An idea of the drying 
 capacity of a IJ-inch tile may be gained from observing 
 its wetting capacity, by connecting a pipe of this size with 
 
 * Taking the difference of friction into consideration, 1^ inch pipe* 
 have hilly twice the discharging capacity of 1-inch pipes.
 
 82 DRATXIXG FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 ft sufficient body of water, at its surface, and discharging, 
 over a level dry field, all the water which it will carry. 
 A IJ-inch pipe will remove all the water which would fall 
 on an acre of land in a very heavy rain, in 24 hours, 
 much less tune than the water would occupy in getting tc 
 the tile, in any soil which required draining ; and tiles of 
 this size are ample for the draining of two acres. In like 
 manner, 2^-inch tile will suffice for eight, and 3.^ -inch tile 
 for twenty acres. The foregoing estimates are, of course, 
 made on the supposition that only the water which falls 
 on the land, (storm water,) is to be removed. For main 
 drains, when greater capacity is required, two tiles may be 
 laid, (side by side,) or in such cases the larger sizes of 
 sole tiles may be used, being somewhat cheaper. Where 
 the drains are laid 40 feet apart, about 1,000 tiles per acre 
 will be required, and, in estimating the quantity of tiles of 
 the different sizes to be purchased, reference should be 
 had to the following figures ; the first 2,000 feet of drains 
 require a collecting drain of 2}-inch tile, which will take 
 the water from 7,000 feet ; and for the outlet of from 
 7,000 to 20,000 feet 3Hnch tile may be used. Collars, 
 being more subject to breakage, should be ordered in some- 
 what larger quantities. 
 
 Of course, such guessing at what is required, which is 
 especially uncertain if the surface of the ground is so 
 irregular as to require much deviation from regular par- 
 allel lines, is obviated by the careful preparation of a plan 
 of the work, which enables us to measure, beforehand, the 
 length of drain requiring the different sizes of conduit 
 and, as tiles are usually made one or two inches more than 
 a foot long, a thousand of them will lay a thousand feet, 
 leaving a sufficient allowance for breakage, and for such 
 slight deviations of the lines as may be necessary to pass 
 around those stones which are too large to remove. In very 
 stony ground, the length of lines is often materially in- 
 creased, but in such ground, there is usually rock enough
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OF DKA.IJSS. 83 
 
 or such accumulations of boulders in some ports, to re- 
 duce the lengti of drain which it is possible to lay, at 
 least as much as the deviations will increase it. 
 
 It is always best to make a contract for tile considera- 
 bly in advance. The prices which are given in the adver- 
 tisements of the makers, are those at which a single thou 
 sand, or even a few hundred, can be purchased, and 
 very considerable reductions of price may be secured on 
 large orders. Especially is this the case if the land is so 
 situated that the tile may be purchased at either one of 
 two tile works, for the prices of all are extravagantly 
 high, and manufacturers will submit to large discounts 
 rather than lose an important order. 
 
 It is especially recommended, in making the contract, 
 to stipulate that every tile shall be hard-burned, and that 
 those which will not give a clear ring when struck with 
 a metallic instrument, shall be rejected, and the cost of 
 their transportation borne by the maker. The tiles used 
 in the Central Park drainage were all tested with the aid 
 of a bit of steel which had, at one end, a cutting edge. 
 With this instrument each tile was "sounded," and its 
 hardness was tested by scraping the square edge of the 
 bore. If it did not " ring " when struck, or if the edge 
 was easily cut, it was rejected. From the first cargo there 
 were many thrown out, but as soon as the maker saw that 
 they were really inspected, he sent tile of good quality 
 only. Care should also be taken that no over-burned 
 tile, such as have been melted and warped, or very much 
 contracted in size by too great heat, be smuggled into 
 the count. 
 
 A little practice will enable an ordinary workman to 
 throw out those which are imperfect, and, as a single tile 
 which is so underdone that it will not last, or which, from 
 over-burning, has too small an orifice, may destroy a long 
 drain, or a whole system of drains, the inspection should 
 be thorough.
 
 84 DBAIXLN'G FOE PEOFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 The collars should be examined with equal cart>. Con 
 cerning tlie use of these, Gisborne says: 
 
 " To one advantage which is derived from the use of 
 " collars we have not yet adverted the increased facility 
 " with which free water existing in the soil can find en- 
 " trance into the conduit. The collar for a 1-inch pipe 
 ' has a circumference of three inches. The whcle space 
 ; ' between the collar and the pipe on each side of the 
 " collar is open, and affords no resistance to the en- 
 " trance of water; while at the same time the superin- 
 " cuuibent arch of the collar protects the junction of two 
 "pipes from the intrusion of particles of soil. We con- 
 *' fess to some original misgivings that a pipe resting only 
 " on an inch at each end, and lying hollow, might prove 
 " weak and liable to fracture by weight pressing on it 
 " from above ; but the fear was illusory. Small particles 
 " of soil trickle down the sides of every drain, and the 
 " first flow of water will deposit them in the vacant space 
 " between the two collars. The bottom, if at all soft, will 
 also swell up into any vacancy. Practically, if you re- 
 " open a drain well laid with pipes and collars, you will 
 " find them reposing in a beautiful nidus, which, when they 
 " are carefully removed, looks exactly as if it had been 
 " moulded for them." 
 
 The cost of collars should not be considered an objec-* 
 *ion to their use ; because, without collars it would not be 
 safe, (as it is difficult to make the orifices of two pieces 
 come exactly opposite to each other,) to use less than 2- 
 inch tiles, while, with collars, 1 j-inch are sufficient for tha 
 same use, and, including the cost of collars, are hardly 
 moi*e expensive. 
 
 It is usual, in all works on agricultural drainage, to in- 
 sert tables and formulae for the guidance of those who 
 are to determine the size of tile required to discharge the 
 water of a certain area. The practice is not adopted heie t
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OP DKADTS. 85 
 
 for the reason that all such tables are without practical 
 va.ue. The smoothness and uniformity of the bore; the 
 rate of fall ; the depth of the drain, and consequent 
 " head," or pressure, of the water ; the different effects of 
 different soils in retarding the flow of the water to the 
 drain ; the different degrees to which angles in the line of 
 tile affect the flow ; the degree of acceleration of the flow 
 which is caused by greater or less additions to the stream 
 at the junction of branch drains; and other considera- 
 tions, arising at every step of the calculation, render it 
 impossible to apply delicate mathematical rules to work 
 which is, nt best, rude and unmathematical in the extreme. 
 In sewerage, and the water supply of towns, such tables 
 are useful, though, even in the most perfect of these 
 operations, engineers always make large allowances for 
 circumstances whose influence cannot be exactly meas 
 ured, but in land drainage, the ordinary rules of hydrau 
 lies have to be considered in so many different bearings 
 that the computations of the books are not at all reliable. 
 For instance, Messrs. Shedd & Edson, of Boston, have 
 prepared a series of tables, based on Smeaton's experi- 
 ments, for the different sizes of tile, laid at different incli- 
 nations, in which they state that li-mch tile, laid with a 
 fall of one foot in a length of one hundred feet, will dis- 
 charge 12,054.81 gallons of water in 24 hours. This is 
 equal to a rain-fall of over 350 inches per year on an acre 
 of land. As the average annual rain-fall in the United 
 States is about 40 inches, at lenst one-half of which is re- 
 moved by evaporation, it would follow, from this table, 
 that a 1 i-inch pipe, with the above named fall, would 
 serve for the drainage of about 17 acre*. But the calcu- 
 lation is again disturbed by the fact that the rain-fall is 
 not evenly distributed over all the days of the year, as 
 much as six inches having, been known to fall ia a single 
 24 hours, (amounting to about 150,000 gallons per acre,) 
 and the removal of this water in a single day would ve
 
 86 DRAINING FOE PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 quire a tile nearly five inches in diameter, laid at tne 
 given fall, or a 3-inch tile laid at a fall of more than 7, feet 
 in 100 feet. But, again, so much water could not reach a 
 drain four feet from the surface, in so short a time, and 
 the time required would depend very much on the charac- 
 ter of the soil. Obviously, then, these tables are worthless 
 for our purpose. Experience has fully shown that the sizes 
 which are recommended below are ample for practical 
 purposes, and probably the areas to be drained by the 
 given sizes might be greatly increased, especially with ref- 
 erence to such soils as do not allow water to percolate very 
 freely through them. 
 
 In connection with this subject, attention is called to the 
 following extract from the Author's Report on the Drain- 
 age, which accompanies the "Third Annual Report of the 
 Board of Commissioners of the Central Park : " 
 
 " In order to test the efficiency of the system of drainage 
 " employed on the Park, I have caused daily observations 
 "to be taken of the amount of water discharged from the 
 "principal drain of ' the Green,' and have compared it 
 " with the amount of rain-fall. A portion of the record ol 
 " those observations is herewith presented. 
 
 "In the column headed 'Rain-Fall,' the amount of 
 "water falling on one acre during the entire storm, is given 
 " in gallons. This is computed from the record of a rain 
 " gauge kept on the Park. 
 
 "Under the head of 'Discharge,' the number of gallons 
 "of water drained from one acre during 24 hours is given. 
 "Tins is computed from observations taken, once a day or 
 "oftener, and supposes the discharge during the entire 
 " day to be the same as at the time of taking the observa 
 **tious. It is, consequently, but approximately correct:
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OP DRAINS. 
 
 87 
 
 DATB. 
 
 HOUR. 
 
 RAIN-FALL. 
 
 )ISCHAKGE. 
 
 REMABK8. 
 
 
 
 
 
 / Ground dry. No rain since 3d 
 
 July 13. 
 
 10 A. X. 
 
 49,916 galls. 
 
 184 galls. 
 
 j inst.; 2 inches rain fell between 
 j 5.15 and 5.45 P. M., and l-5th of an 
 
 
 
 
 
 ( inch between 5.45 and 7.15. 
 
 44 14. 
 
 44 15. 
 
 jit 
 
 
 4,968 " 
 1,325 " 
 
 
 44 16. 
 
 
 
 1,104 44 
 
 
 44 16. 
 
 6 p. x. 
 
 33,398 " 
 
 7,764 4% 
 
 ) Ground saturated at a depth o. 
 ) 2 feet when this rain commenced. 
 
 44 17. 
 
 
 
 4,819 44 
 
 
 44 18. 
 
 9 A. X. 
 
 
 2,208 44 
 
 
 44 19. 
 
 7 
 
 
 1,325 " 
 
 
 44 20. 
 
 gi/ 
 
 
 993 44 
 
 
 44 21. 
 
 11 
 
 
 662 " 
 
 
 44 22. 
 
 6V6 
 
 
 660 44 
 
 
 44 23. 
 44 24. 
 
 10 
 
 1,698 " 
 
 515 44 
 442 " 
 
 This slight rain only affected the 
 ratio of decrease. 
 
 Aug. 3. 
 44 6. 
 
 P 
 
 8,490 " 
 13,018 " 
 45,288 " 
 
 191 44 
 
 184 " 
 368 44 
 
 Nothing worthy of note until Aug. 8. 
 Rain from 3 P. x. to 3.30 P. x. 
 44 4.45 P. x. to 12 x. H. 
 44 12 x. to 6 P. x. 
 
 
 
 
 8,280 44 
 
 
 44 6. 
 
 
 
 3,954 " 
 
 
 44 7. 
 
 
 
 2 'fi2S " 
 
 
 44 8. 
 44 9. 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 662 " 
 
 
 " 12. 
 
 i^ 
 
 
 368 44 
 
 Rain 12 x. Aug. 12 to 7 A. M. Aug. 18. 
 
 ' 13. 
 
 
 19,244 " 
 
 1,104 4t 
 
 
 14 14. 
 
 
 
 736 44 
 
 
 " 24. 
 
 
 1,132 " 
 
 191 44 
 
 44 8 A. x. to 4.15 A .x. 
 
 14 25. 
 
 
 6,547 " 
 
 9,936 " 
 
 44 3.30 P. x. 24th, to 7 A. x. 26th 
 
 14 25. 
 
 
 566 " 
 
 7,740 44 
 
 14 7 A. x. to 12 x. 
 
 4 ' 26. 
 
 Vi 
 
 
 3,974 44 
 
 
 44 26. 
 
 
 
 2,208 44 
 
 
 44 27. 
 
 < l / 
 
 666 44 
 
 1,529 || 
 
 44 4 p. x. to 6 P. x. 
 
 ** 28. 
 Sep. 11. 
 " 12. 
 
 
 566 " 
 5,094 u 
 
 165 " 
 
 147 44 
 
 44 12 x. N. (10th) to 7 A. x. (l.lth.) 
 44 12 M. (llth) to 7 A. x. (12th.) 
 
 44 13. 
 
 
 566 " 
 
 132 44 
 
 44 4 p. x. to 6 P. x. 
 
 44 16. 
 
 
 15,848 " 
 
 110 44 
 
 44 12 x. to 12 x. N. 
 
 44 17. 
 
 
 27.552 44 
 
 1,104 " 
 
 Rain continued until 12 x. 
 
 44 17. 
 
 
 
 6,624 ' 
 
 
 44 18. 
 
 
 666 4t 
 
 4,968 44 
 
 
 44 19. 
 
 K 
 
 
 2,208 44 
 
 
 44 19. 
 
 
 
 1,805 " 
 
 
 44 20. 
 
 
 566 " 
 
 1,324 " 
 
 Rain fm 12 x. (19th) to 7 A. x. (20th.) 
 
 44 21. 
 44 22. 
 
 44 23. 
 
 
 5,094 4t 
 10.185 " 
 40,756 44 
 
 945 " 
 1,656 " 
 7,948 4t 
 
 44 8.20 P.x.(20th) to 6 A.x.(21s1.) 
 44 12 x. (21st) to 7 A. x. (22d.) 
 Rain continued until 7 A. x. (23d.) 
 
 44 24. 
 
 
 
 4,968 " 
 
 
 44 25. 
 
 
 666 " 
 
 2,984 44 
 
 
 44 26. 
 
 
 
 2,484 " 
 
 
 Oct. 1. 
 Vov. 18. 
 
 
 
 828 44 
 83 44 
 
 ( There was not enough rain dnr- 
 -< ing this period to materially affect 
 | the flow of water. 
 
 44 19. 
 
 
 1,132 44 
 
 184 " 
 
 Rain 4.50 P. x. (18th) to 8 A. x. (19th.) 
 
 4i 20. 
 
 
 
 119 44 
 
 
 44 22. 
 i 22 
 
 
 29,336 4I 
 
 6,624 " 
 6 624 4i 
 
 Rain all of the previous night. 
 
 u 23. 
 
 
 
 4)968 " 
 
 
 44 24. 
 
 
 
 1 711 44 
 
 
 44 S4. 
 
 8 
 
 
 l!417 " 
 
 
 Dec. 17. 
 
 9 
 
 
 552 " 
 
 
 44 18. 
 
 
 
 4,968 44 
 
 Rain during the prerlwu night 
 
 
 
 
 681 " 

 
 88 DBAIKING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 " The tract drained by this system, though very swampy 
 u before being drained, is now dry enough to walk upon, 
 "almost immediately after a storm, except when underlaid 
 " by a stratum of frozen ground." 
 
 The area drained by the main at which these gaugingi 
 were made, is about ten acres, and, in deference to the 
 prevailing mania for large conduits, it had been laid with 
 6-ineh sole-tile. The greatest recorded discharge in 24 
 hours was (August 25th,) less than 100,000 gallons from 
 the ten acres, an amount of water which did not half fill 
 the tile, but which, according to the tables referred to, 
 would have entirely filled it. 
 
 In view of all the information that can be gathered 
 on the subject, the following directions are given as per- 
 fectly reliable for drains four feet or more in depth, laid 
 on a well regulated fall of even three inches in a hundred 
 feet: 
 
 For 2 acres 1 inch pipes (with collars.) 
 
 For 8 acres 2| " " ( ) 
 
 For 20 acres 3 " 
 
 For 40 acres 2 3 " " or one 5-inch sole-tile. 
 
 For 50 acres 6 " " sole-tile. 
 
 For 100 acres 8 " " or two 6-inch sole-tiles. 
 
 It is not pretended that these drains will immediately 
 remove all the water of the heaviest storms, but they will 
 always remove it fast enougli for all practical purposes, 
 and, if the pipes are securely laid, the drains will only be 
 benefited by the occasional cleansing they will receive 
 when running " more than full" In illustration of this 
 statement, the following is quoted from a paper communi- 
 cated by Mr. Parkes to the Royal Agricultural Society ot 
 England in 1843 : 
 
 "Mr. Thomas Hammond, of Penshuret, (Kent,) now 
 "uses no other size for the parallel drains than the inch 
 " tile in the table (No. 5,) having commenced with No
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OF DRAIN'S. 89 
 
 u 4,* and it may be here stated, that the opinion of all the 
 u farmers who have used them in the Weald, is that a bore 
 "of an inch area is abundantly large. A piece of 9 acres, 
 " now sown with wheat, was observed by the writer, 36 
 *' hours after the termination of a rain which fell heavily 
 " and incessantly during 12 hours on the 7th of Novem- 
 " ber. This field was drained in March, 1842, to the depth 
 u of 30 to 36 inches, at a distance of 24 feet asunder, the 
 " length of each drain being 235 yards. 
 
 " Each drain emptied itself through a fence bank into 
 u a running stream in a road below it ; the discharge 
 " therefore was distinctly observable. Two or three of 
 " the pipes had now ceased running ; and, with the ex- 
 " ception of one which tapped a small spring and gave a 
 " stream about the size of a tobacco pipe, the run from 
 " the others did not exceed the size of a wheat straw 
 " The greatest flow had been observed by Mr. Hammond 
 " at no time to exceed half the bore of the pipes. The 
 " fall in this field is very great, and the drains are laid ic 
 " the direction of the fall, which has always been the prao 
 " tice in this district. The issuing water was transpa- 
 " rently clear ; and Mr. Hammond states that he has 
 " never observed cloudiness, except for a short time after 
 "very heavy flushes of rain, when the drains are quickly 
 " cleared of all sediment, in consequence of the velocity 
 " and force of the water passing through so small a channel. 
 "Infiltration through the soil and into the pipes, must, 
 " in this case, be considered to have been perfect ; and 
 " their observed action is the more determinate and valua- 
 * ble as regards time and effect, as the land was saturated 
 " with moisture previous to this particular fall of rain. 
 " and the pipes had ceased to run when it commenced 
 " This piece had, previous to us drainage, necessarily 
 t; been cultivated in narrow stetches, with an open water 
 
 * Jf j 5 was one inch in diameter; No. 4, about 1} incbeo.
 
 90 DRAINING FOE PROFIT AND HEALTH 
 
 4< farrow between them; but it was now laid c,aite plain, 
 " by which one-eighth of the continuation of acreage has 
 " been saved. Xot, however, being confident as to the 
 u soil having already become so porous as to dispense en- 
 " tirely with surface drains, Mr. Hammond had drawu 
 u two long water furrows diagonally across tho field. On 
 " examining these, it appeared that very little water had 
 "ilowed along any part of them during these 12 hours of 
 " rain, no water had escaped at their outfall ; the entire 
 *' body of rain had permeated the mass of the bed, and 
 " passed off through the inch pipes ; no water perceptible 
 "on the surface, which used to carry it throughout. The 
 " subsoil is a brick clay, but it appears to crack very 
 " rapidly by shrinkage consequent to drainage." 
 
 Obstructions. The danger that drains will become 
 obstructed, if not properly laid out and properly made, is 
 very great, and the cost of removing the obstructions, 
 (often requiring whole lines to be taken up, washed, and 
 relaid with the extra care that is required in working in 
 old and soft lines,) is often greater than the original cost 
 of the improvement. Consequently, the possibility of tile 
 drains becoming stopped up should be fully considered 
 at the outset, and every precaution should be taken to 
 prevent so disastrous a result. 
 
 The principal causes of obstruction are silt, vermin, and 
 roots. 
 
 Silt is earth which is washed into the tile with thfi 
 water of the soil, and which, though it may be carried 
 along in suspension in the water, when the fall is good, 
 will be deposited in the eddies and slack-water, which 
 occur whenever -there is a break in the fall, or a defect in 
 the laying of the tile. 
 
 When it is practicable to avoid it, no drain should 
 have a decreasing rate of fall as it approaches its outlet. 
 
 If the first hundred feet from the upper end of th
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OF DRAINS. 91 
 
 drain has a fall of three inches, the next hundred feet 
 should not have less than three inches, lest the diminished 
 velocity cause silt, which required the speed which that 
 fall gives for its removal, to be deposited and to choke 
 the tile. This defect of grade is shown in Fig. 17. If the 
 second hundred feet has an inclination of more than 
 three inches, (Fig. 18,) the removal of silt will be even bet- 
 ter secured than if the fall continued at the original rate. 
 Some silt will enter newly made drains, in spite of our 
 utmost care, but the amount should be very slight, and 
 if it is evenly deposited throughout the whole length of 
 the drain, it will do no especial harm ; but it becomes 
 dangerous when it is accumulated within a short distance, 
 by a decreasing fall, or by a single badly laid tile, or im- 
 perfect joint, which, by arresting the flow, may cause as 
 much mischief as a defective grade. The use of muslin 
 bands practically prevents the entrance of silt. 
 
 Owing to the general conformation of the ground, it is 
 sometimes absolutely necessary to adopt such a grade as 
 is shown in Fig. 19, even to the extent of bringing the 
 drain down a rapid slope, and continuing it with the least 
 possible fall through level ground. When such changes 
 must be made, they should be effected by angles, and not 
 by curves. In increasing the fall, curves in the grade are 
 always advisable, in decreasing it they are always objec- 
 tionable, except when the decreased fall is still considera- 
 ble, say, at least 2 feet in 100 feet. The reason for mak- 
 ing an absolute angle at the point of depression is, that it 
 enables us to catch the silt at that point, in a silt basin, 
 from which it may be removed as occasion requires. 
 
 A Silt Basin is a chamber, below the grade of the drain, 
 into which the water flows, becomes comparatively quiet, 
 and deposits its silt, instead of carrying it into the tile 
 beyond. It may be large or small, in proportion to the 
 amount of drain abovo, which it has to accommodate. Foi 
 a few hundred feet of the smallest tile, it may be only a
 
 92 
 
 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 j 
 
 t 
 
 : 
 
 > 
 
 ! 
 
 FALL. 3. INCHES 
 
 l~ . -- 
 
 rALL = 6jNCH^ =====i== J 
 
 <; 100 FEET 100 FEET } 
 
 Fig. 17. 
 
 T 
 
 
 1 s 
 
 u 
 r 
 
 rAUU6.1NCHES ========= , 
 100 FEET > 
 
 Fig. 
 
 F*LL. 3. INCHES 
 
 I 100 FEET ~~> 
 18. 
 
 1 ' i 
 
 ! 
 
 i 
 
 5 
 
 .,, R INCHES 
 
 FALL.5.INCHES 
 
 Fig. 19. 
 
 THBEE PROFILES OF BRAINS, WITII DIFFERENT INCLINATIONS.
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OF DRAINS. 93 
 
 d-inch tile placed on end and sunk so as to receive and 
 discharge the water at its top. For a large main, it may 
 be a brick reservoir with a capacity of 2 or 3 cubic feet. 
 The position of a silt basin is shown in Fig. 19. 
 
 The quantity of silt which enters the drain depends very 
 much on the soil. Compact clays yield very little, and 
 wet, running sands, (quicksands,) a great deal. In a soil 
 of the latter sort, or one having a layer of running sand at 
 the level of the drain, the ditch should be excavated a lit- 
 Je below the grade of the drain, and then filled to that 
 level with a retentive clay, and rammed hard. In all cases 
 when the tile is well laid, (especially if the collars, or, 
 better, muslin bands are used,) and a stiff earth is well 
 packed around the tile, silt will not enter the drain to an 
 injurious extent, after a few months' operation shall 
 have removed the loose particles about the joints, and 
 especially after a few very heavy rains, which, if the tiles 
 are small, will sometimes wash them perfectly clean, 
 although they may have been half filled with dirt. 
 
 Vermin, field mice, moles, etc., sometimes make 
 their nests in the tile and thus choke them, or, dying in 
 them, stop them up with their carcasses. Their entrance 
 should be prevented by placing a coarse wire cloth or 
 grating in front of the outlets, which afford the only 
 openings for their entrance. 
 
 Roots, The roots of water-loving trees willows, elms 
 and swamp-maples will often force their entrance into 
 the joints of the tile and fill the whole bore with masses of 
 fibre which entirely prevent the flow of water. Collars 
 make it more difficult for them to enter, but even these 
 are not a sure preventive. Gisborne says : 
 
 " My own experience as to roots, in connection with 
 " deep pipe draining, is as follows : I have never known 
 ** roots to obstruct a pipe through which there was not a 
 "perennial stream. The flow of water in summer and 
 " early autumn appears to furnish the attraction. I have
 
 94 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 " never discovered that the roots of any esculent vegetable 
 " have obstructed a pipe. The trees which, by my own 
 " personal observation, I have found to be most danger- 
 " ous, have been red willow, black Italian poplar, alder 
 " ash, and broad-leaved elm. I have many alders in close 
 " contiguity with important drains, and, though I have 
 " never convicted one, I cannot doubt that they are dan- 
 " gerotis. Oak, and black and white thorns, I have not 
 " detected, nor do I suspect them. The guilty trees have 
 *' in every instance been young and free growing ; I have 
 "neer convicted an adult. These remarks apply solely 
 " to my own observation, and may of course be much 
 " extended by that of other agriculturists. I know an in- 
 " stance in which a perennial spring of very pure and (I 
 " believe) soft water is conveyed in socket pipes to a 
 " paper mill. Every junction of two pipes is carefully 
 " fortified with cement. The only object of cover being 
 "protection from superficial injury and from frost, the 
 " pipes are laid not far below the sod. Year by year these 
 " pipes are stopped by roots. Trees are very capricious in 
 " this matter. I was told by the late Sir R. Peel that he 
 " sacrificed two young elm trees in the park at Drayton 
 " Manor to a drain which had been repeatedly stopped by 
 " roots. The stoppage was nevertheless repeated, and 
 " was then traced to an elm tree far more distant than 
 " those which had been sacrificed. Early in the autumn 
 " of 1850 I completed the drainage of the upper part of a 
 " boggy valley, lying, with ramifications, at the foot of 
 " marly banks. The main drains converge to a common. 
 " outlet, to which are brought one 3-inch pipe and three of 4 
 "inches each. They lie side by side, and water flows pe- 
 " rennially through each of them. Near to this outlet did 
 " grow a red willow. In February, 1852, 1 found the 
 " water breaking out to the surface of the ground about 
 " 10 yards above the outlet, and was at no loss for the 
 " cause, as the roots of the red willow showed themselves
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OF DRAINS. 95 
 
 " at the orifice of the 3-inch and of two of the 4-inch pipes, 
 u On examination I found that a root had entered a joint 
 " between two 3-inch pipes, and had traveled 5 yards to 
 " the mouth of the drain, and 9 yards up the stream, 
 " forming a continuous length of 14 yards. The root which 
 '' first entered had attained about the size of a lady's little 
 " finger ; and its ramifications consisted of very fine and 
 " almost silky fibres, and would have cut up into half a 
 " dozen comfortable boas. The drain was completely 
 " stopped. The pipes were not in any degree displaced. 
 " Roots from the same willow had passed over the 3-inch 
 "pipes, and had entered and entirely stopped the first 
 " 4-inch drain, and had partially stopped the second. At 
 " a distance of about 50 yards a black Italian poplar, 
 " which stood on a bank over a 4-inch drain, had com- 
 pletely stopped it with a bunch of roots. The whole of 
 " this had been the work of less than 18 months, including 
 " the depth of two winters. A 3-inch branch of the same 
 " system runs through a little group of black poplars. 
 " This drain conveys a full stream in plashes of wet, and 
 " some water generally through the winter months, but 
 " has not a perennial flow. I have perceived no indica- 
 " tion that roots have interfered with this drain. I draw 
 " no general conclusions from these few facts, but they 
 " may assist those who have more extensive experience in 
 " drawing some, which may be of use to drainers." 
 
 Having considered some of the principles on which our 
 work should be based, let us now return to the map of the 
 field, and apply those principles in planning the work to be 
 done to make it dry. 
 
 The Outlet should evidently be placed at the present 
 point of exit of the brook which runs from the springs, 
 collects the water of the open ditches, and spreads over 
 the flat in the southwest corner of the tract, converting 
 it into a swarnp. Suppose that, by going some distance 
 into the next field, we can secure an outlet of 3 feet and
 
 96 DBAINING FOE PliOFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 9 inches (3.75) below the level of the swampi and that we 
 decide to allow 3 inches drop between the bottom of the 
 tile at that point, and the reduced level of the brook to 
 secure the drain against the accumulation of sand, which 
 might result from back water in time of heavy rain. This 
 fixes the depth of drain at the outlet at 3| (3.50) feet. 
 
 At that side of the swamp which lies nearest to the 
 main depression of the up-land, (See Fig. 21,) is the prop 
 er place at which to collect the water from so much of 
 the field as is now drained by the main brook, and at that 
 point it will be well to place a silt basin or well, buiit up 
 to the surface, which may, at any time, be uncovered for 
 an observation of the working of the drains. The land 
 between this point and the outlet is absolutely level, re- 
 quiring the necessary fall in the drain which connects the 
 two, to be gained by raising the upper end of it. As tht 
 distance is nearly 200 feet, and as it is advisable to give a 
 fall at least five-tenths of a foot per hundred feet to so im- 
 portant an outlet as this, the drain at the silt basin may 
 be fixed at only 2| feet. The basin being at the foot of 
 a considerable rise in the ground, it will be easy, within a 
 short distance above, to carry the drains which come to it 
 to a depth of 4 feet, were this not the case, the fall be- 
 tween the basin and the outlet would have to be very 
 much reduced. 
 
 Main Drains, The valley through which the brook 
 now runs is about 80 feet wide, with a decided rise in the 
 land at each side. If one main drain were laid in the cen- 
 ter of it, all of the laterals coming to the main would first 
 run down a steep hillside, and then across a stretch of 
 more level land, requiring the grade of each lateral to be 
 broken at the foot of the hill, and provided with a silt 
 basin to collect matters which might be deposited when 
 the fall becomes less rapid. Consequently, it is best to 
 provide two mains, or collecting drains, (A and (7,) one 
 lying at the foot of each bill, when they will receive the
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OF DRAINS. 97 
 
 laterals at their greatest fall ; but, as these are too far 
 apart to completely drain the valley between them, and 
 are located on land higher than the center of the valley, a 
 drain, (-5,) should be run up, midway between them. 
 
 The collecting drain, A, will receive the laterals from the 
 hill to the west of it, as far up as the 10-foot contour line, 
 and, above that point, running up a branch of the valley, 
 it will receive laterals from both sides. The drain, J3, 
 may be continued above the dividing point of the valley, 
 and will act as one of the series of laterals. The drain, C, 
 will receive the laterals and sub-mains from the rising 
 ground to the east of it, and from both sides of the minor 
 valley which extends in that direction. 
 
 Most of the valley which runs up from the easterly side 
 of the swamp must be drained independently by the drain 
 E, which might be carried to the silt basin, did not its 
 eontinuation directly to the outlet offer a shorter course 
 for the removal of its water. This drain will receive lat- 
 erals from the hill bordering the southeasterly side of the 
 swamp, and, higher up, from both sides of the valley in 
 Khich it runs. 
 
 In laying out these main drains, more attention should 
 be given to placing them where they will best receive the 
 water of the laterals, and on lines which offer a good and 
 tolerably uniform descent, than to their use for the imme- 
 diate drainage of the 'land through which they pass. 
 Afterward, in laying out the laterals, the use of these lines 
 as local drains should, of course, be duly considered. 
 
 The Lateral Drains should next receive attention, and 
 in their location and arrangement the following rules 
 should be observed : 
 
 1st. They should run down the steepest descent of the 
 land. 
 
 2d. They should be placed at intervals proportionate to 
 their depth ; if 4 feet deep, at 40 feet intervals; if 3 feet 
 deep, at 20 feet intervals. 
 6
 
 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 Fig. 20. MAP WITH DRAINS AND CONTOUR LINES.
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A 8TSTKM OF DRAINS. 99 
 
 3d. They should, as nearly as possible, run parallel to 
 each other. 
 
 On land of perfectly uniform character, (all sloping in 
 the same direction,) all of these requirements may be 
 complied with, but on irregular land it becomes constantly 
 necessary to make a compromise between them. Drains 
 running do\vn the line of steepest descent cannot be par- 
 allel, and, consequently, the intervals between them can- 
 not be always the same ; those which are farther apart at 
 one end than at the other cannot be always of a depth 
 exactly proportionate to their intervals. 
 
 In the adjustment of the lines, so as to conform as near- 
 ly to these requirements as the shape of the ground will 
 allow, there is room for the exercise of much skill, and on 
 such adjustment depend, in a great degree, the success and 
 economy of the -work. Remembering that on the map, the 
 line of steepest descent is exactly perpendicular to the con- 
 tour lines of the land, it will be profitable to study care- 
 fully the system of drains first laid out, erasing and mak- 
 ing alterations wherever it is found possible to simplify 
 the arrangement. 
 
 Strictly speaking, all angles are, to a certain extent, 
 wasteful, because, if two parallel drains will suffice to drain 
 the land between them, no better drainage will be effected 
 by a third drain running across that land. Furthermore 
 the angles are practically supplied with drains at less in 
 tervals than are required, for instance, at G 7 a on the 
 map the triangles included within the dotted line , y, 
 will be doubly drained. So, also, if any point of a 
 4-foot drain will drain the land within 20 feet of it, 
 the land included within the dotted line forming a 
 semi-circle about the point (714, might drain into the 
 end of the lateral, and it no more needs the action of 
 the main drain than does that which lies between the 
 laterals. Of course, angles and connecting lines are in- 
 dispensable, except where the laterals can run inde
 
 100 DRAINING FOE PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 pendently across the entire field, and discharge beyond it 
 The longer the laterals can be made, and the more angles 
 can be avoided, the more economical will the arrangement 
 be ; and, until the arrangement of the lines has been made 
 as nearly perfect as possible, the time of the drainer can 
 bo in no way so profitably spent as in amending his plan. 
 
 The series of laterals which discharge through, the 
 mains A, (7, D and E, on the accompanying map, have 
 been very carefully considered, and are submitted to the 
 consideration of the reader, in illustration of what has 
 been said above. 
 
 At one point, just above the middle of the east side of 
 the field, the laterals are placed at a general distance of 
 20 feet, because, as will be seen by reference to Fig. 4, a 
 ledge of rock, underground, will prevent their being made 
 more than 3 feet deep. 
 
 The line from H to 7", (Fig. 20,) at the north side of 
 the field, connecting the heads of the laterals, is to be a 
 stone and tile drain, such as is described on page 60, in- 
 tended to collect the water which follows the surface of 
 the lock. (See Fig. 4.) 
 
 The swamp is to be drained by itself, by means of two 
 series of laterals discharging into the main lines .Fand <?, 
 which discharge at the outlet, by the side of the main 
 drain from the silt-basin. By this arrangement, these 
 laterals, especially at the north side of the swamp, being 
 accurately laid, with very slight inclinations, can be placed 
 more deeply than if they ran in an east and west direction, 
 and discharged into the main, which lias a greater inclina- 
 tion, and is only two and a half feet deep at the basin. 
 Being 3i (3.50) feet deep at the outlet, they may 
 be madt fully 3 feet deep at their upper ends, and, being 
 only 20 feet apart, they will drain the land as well as is 
 possible. The drains being now laid out, over the whole 
 Geld, the next thing to be attended to is
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OP DRAINS. 10\ 
 
 The Ordering of the Tile, The main line from the outlet 
 op to the silt-basin, should be of 3i-inch tiles, of which 
 about 190 feet will be required. The main drain A should 
 be laid with 2^-inch tiles to the point marked m, near its 
 upper end, as the lateral entering there carries the water 
 of a spring, which is supposed to fill a l^-inch tile. The 
 length of this drain, from the silt-basin to that point is 
 575 feet. The main drain C will require &f inch tiles from 
 the silt-basin to the junction with the lateral, which is 
 marked C 10, above which point there is about 1,700 feet 
 of drain discharging into it, a_ portion of which, being a 
 stone-and-tile drain at the foot of a rock, may be supposed 
 to receive more water than that which lies under the rest 
 of the land ; distance 450 feet. The main drain E requires 
 2^-inch tiles from the outlet to the point marked o, a dis- 
 tance of 380 feet. This tile will, in addition to its other 
 work, carry as much water from the spring, on the line of 
 its fourth lateral, as would fill a 1^-inch pipe.* 
 
 The length of the main drains above the points indi- 
 cated, and of all the laterals, amounts to about 12,250 feet 
 These all require 1^-inch tiles. 
 
 Allowing about five per cent, for breakage, the order in 
 round numbers, will be as follows : f 
 
 3|-inch round tiles 200 feet. 
 
 2 " " 1,500 " 
 
 1 " 13,000 " 
 
 3 " Collars 1,600 
 
 2* " " ...... 13,250 
 
 *If the springs, when running at their greatest volume, be found to 
 require more than 1^-inch tiles, due allowance must be made for the 
 increase. 
 
 t Owing to the irregularity of the ground, and the necessity foi placing 
 some of the drains at narrower intervals, the total length of tile exceeds 
 by nearly 50 per cent, what would be required if it had a uniform slope, 
 and required no collecting drains. It is much greater than will be re- 
 quired in any ordinary case, as a very irregular surfac. oao oecn adopted 
 here for purposes of illustration.
 
 102 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 Order, also, 25 6-inch sole-tiles, to be used in making 
 email silt-basins. 
 
 It should be arranged to have the tiles all on the ground 
 before the work of ditching commences, so that there may 
 be no delay and consequent danger to the stability of the 
 banks of the ditches, while waiting for them to arrive. As 
 has been before stated, it should be especially agreed with 
 the tile-maker, at the time of making the contract, that 
 every tile should be perfect ; of uniform shape, and 
 neither too much nor too little burned. 
 
 Staking Out, Due consideration having been given to 
 such preliminaries as are connected with the mapping of 
 the ground, and the arrangement, on paper, of the drains 
 to be made, the drainer may now return to his field, and, 
 while awaiting the arrival of his tiles, make the necessary 
 preparation for the work to be done. Ihe first step is to 
 fix certain prominent points, which will serve to connect 
 the map with the field, by actual measurements, and this 
 will very easily be done by the aid of the stakes which 
 are still standing at the intersections of the 50-foot lines, 
 which were used in the preliminary levelling. 
 
 Commencing at the southwest corner of th.e field, and 
 measuring toward the east a distance of 34 feet, set a pole 
 to indicate the position of the outlet. Next, mark the 
 center of the silt-basin at the proper point, which will be 
 found by measuring 184 feet up the western boundary, and 
 thence toward the east 96 feet, on a line parallel with the 
 nearest row of 50-foot stakes. Then, in like manner, fix 
 the points (71, (76, C 9, G 10, and G 17, and the angles 
 of the other main lines, marking the stakes, when placed, 
 to correspond with the same points on the map. Then 
 stake the angles and the upper ends of thp laterals, and 
 mark these stakes to correspond with the map. 
 
 It will greatly facilitate this operation, if the plan of 
 the drains which is used in the field, from which the hori
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OF DEA1N8. 103 
 
 rental lines should be omitted, have the intersecting 50- 
 foot lines drawn upon it, so that the measurements may 
 be made from the nearest points of intersection.* 
 
 Having staked these guiding points of the drains, it is 
 advisable to remove all of the 50-foot stakes, as these are 
 of no further use, and would only cause confusion. It 
 will now be easy to set the remaining stakes, placing one 
 at every 50 feet of the laterals, and at the intersections 
 of all the lines. 
 
 A system for marking the stakes is indicated on the 
 map, (in the G series of drains,) which, to avoid the con- 
 fusion which would result from too much detail on such a 
 small scale, has been carried only to the extent necessary 
 tor illustration. The stakes of the line G are marked (71, 
 (72, (73, etc. The stakes of the sub-main (77, are marked 
 (77a, (77*, (77c, etc. The stakes of the lateral which 
 enters this drain at (77a, are marked J? 1* ^ etc. 
 etc. This system, which connects the lettering of each 
 lateral with its own sub-main and main, is perfectly sim 
 pie, and avoids the possibility of confusion. The position 
 of the stakes should all be lettered on the map, at the 
 original drawing, and the same designating marks put on 
 the stakes in the field, as soon as set. 
 
 Grade Stakes, (pegs about 8 or 10 inches long,) should 
 be placed close at the sides of the marked stakes, and 
 driven nearly their full length into the ground. The tops 
 of these stakes furnish fixed points of elevation from 
 which to take the measurements, and to make the compu- 
 tations necessary to fix the depth of the drain at each 
 stake. If the measurements were taken from the surface 
 of the ground, a slight change of position in placing the 
 instrument, would often make a difference of some inches 
 in the depth of the drain. 
 
 *Thc stakes used may be 18 inches long, and driven one half of their 
 length into the ground. They should have one side sufficiently smooth 
 to he dist'nctly marked with red chalk.
 
 104 DBAINING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 Taking the Levels. For accurate work, it is necessarj 
 to ascertain the comparative levels of the tops of all of 
 the grade stakes ; or the distance of each one of them 
 below an imaginary horizontal plane. This plane, (in which 
 we use only such lines as are directly above the drains,) 
 may be called the " Datum Line." Its elevation should 
 be such that it will be above the highest part of the land, 
 and, for convenience, it is fixed at the elevation of the lev- 
 elling instrument when it is so placed as to look over the 
 highest part of the field. 
 
 Levelling Instruments are of various kinds. The best 
 for the work in hand, is the common railroad level, which 
 is shown in Fig. 6. This is supported on three legs, which 
 bring it to about the level of the eye. Its essential parta 
 are a telescope, which has two cross-hairs intersecting each 
 other in the line of sight, and which may be turned on its 
 pivot toward any point of the horizon; a bubble glass 
 placed exactly parallel to the line of sight, and firmly 
 secured in its position so as to turn with the telescope ; 
 and an apparatus for raising or depressing any side of the 
 instrument by means of set-screws. The instrument is 
 firmly screwed to the tripod, and placed at a point conve- 
 nient for looking over a considerable part of the highest 
 land. By the use of the set-screws, the plane in which the 
 instrument revolves is brought to a level, so that in what- 
 ever direction the instrument is pointed, the bubble will be 
 in the center of the glass. The line of sight, whichever 
 way it is turned, is now in our imaginary plane. A con- 
 venient position for the instrument in the field under con 
 sideration, would be at the point, east of the center, marked 
 K, which is about 3 feet below the level of the highest 
 part of the ground. The telescope should stand about 5 
 feet above the surface of the ground directly under it. 
 
 The Levelling-Rod, (See Fig. 7,) is> usually 12 feet long, 
 is divided into feet and hundredth^ rf a foot, and has a
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OF DRAINS. 
 
 105 
 
 movable target which may be placed at any part of itb 
 entire length. This is carried by an attendant, who holds 
 it perpendicularly on the top of the grade-stake, while the 
 operator, looking through the telescope, directs him to 
 move the target up and down until its center is exactly in 
 'he line of sight. The attendant then reads the elevation, 
 and the operator records it as the distance below the 
 datum-line of the top of the grade-stake. For conveni- 
 ence, the letterings of the stakes should be systematically 
 entered in a small field book, before the work commences, 
 and this should be accompanied by such a sketch of the 
 plan as will serve as a guide to the location of the lines on 
 the ground. 
 
 The following is the form of the field book for the main 
 drain (7, with the levels recorded : 
 
 LETTERING OF THE STAKE. 
 
 DEPTH FROM DATUM LINK. 
 
 Silt Basin 
 
 18.30 
 
 C 1 
 
 15.44 
 
 C 2 
 
 14.36 
 
 C 3 
 
 12.85 
 
 C 4 
 
 12.18 
 
 C 5 
 
 11.79 
 
 8? 
 
 11.69 
 11.55 
 
 C 8 
 
 11.37 
 
 C 9 
 
 11.06 
 
 CIO 
 
 8.94 
 
 Oil 
 
 8.52 
 
 C 13 
 
 7.86 
 
 C 13 
 
 7.70 
 
 C 14 
 C 15 
 
 7.39 
 7.06 
 
 C 16 
 
 6.73 
 
 C 17 
 
 5.90 
 
 The levelling should be continued in this manner, until 
 the grades of all the points are recorded in the field book. 
 
 If, from too great depression of the lower parts of the 
 
 field, or too great distances for observation, it becomes 
 
 necessary to take up a new position with the instrument, 
 
 the new level should be connected, by measurement, with 
 
 5*
 
 50 <- 18.20 - 
 
 r go. 70 
 
 106
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OF DKA1KS. 107 
 
 the old one, and the new observations should be computed 
 to the original plane. 
 
 It is not necessary that these levels should be noted on 
 the map, they are needed only for computing the depth 
 of cutting, and if entered on the map, might be mistaken 
 for the figures indicating the depth, which it is more irn 
 pcrtant to have recorded in their proper positions, for con- 
 venience of reference during the work. 
 
 The Depth and Grade of the Drains, Having now 
 staked out the lines upon the land, and ascertained and 
 recorded the elevations at the different stakes, it becomes 
 necessary to determine at what depth the tile shall be 
 placed at each point, so as to give the proper fall to each 
 line, and to bring all of the lines of the system into accord. 
 As the simplest means of illustrating the principle on 
 which this work should be done, it will be convenient to 
 go through with the process with reference to the main 
 drain (7, of the plan under consideration. A profile of this 
 line is shown in Fig. 21, where the line is broken at stake 
 No. 7, and continued in the lower section of the diagram. 
 The topmost line, from " Silt Basin " to " 17," is the hori- 
 zontal datum-line. The numbers above the vertical lines in- 
 dicate the stakes ; the figures in brackets between these, the 
 number of feet between the stakes ; and the heavy figures 
 at the left of the vertical lines, the recorded measurements 
 of depth from the datum-line to the surface of the ground, 
 which is indicated by the irregular line next below the 
 datum-line. The vertical measurements are, of course, 
 very much exaggerated, to make the profile more marked, 
 but they are in the proper relation to each other. 
 
 The depth at the silt-basin is fixed at 2 feet (2.50.) 
 The rise is rapid to stake 3, very slight from there to stake 
 7, very rapid from there to stake 10, a little less rapid from 
 there to stake 11, and still less rapid from there to 
 stake 17. 
 
 To establish the grade by the profile alone, the proper
 
 108 
 
 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 course would be to fix the depth at the stakes at which 
 the inclination is to be changed, to draw straight lines be- 
 tween the points thus found, and then to measure the 
 vertical distance from these lines to the line indicating the 
 surface of the ground at the different stakes ; thus, fixing 
 the depth at stake 3, at 4 feet and 13 hundredths,* the line 
 drawn from that point to the depth of 2.50, at the silt- 
 basin, will be 3 feet and 62 hundredths (3.62) below stake 
 1, and 3 feet and 92 hundredths (3.92) below stake 2. At 
 stake 7 it is necessary to go sufficiently deep to pass from 7 
 to 10, without coming too near the surface at 9, which is at 
 the foot of a steep ascent. A line drawn straight from 
 4.59 feet below stake 10 to 4.17 feet at stake 17, would be 
 unnecessarily deep at 11, 12, 13, and 14; and, conse- 
 quently it is better to rise to 4.19 feet at 11. So far as 
 this part of the drain is concerned, it would be well to 
 continue the same rise to 12, but, in doing so, we would 
 come too near the surface at 13, 14, and 15 ; or must con- 
 siderably depress the line at 16, which would either make 
 a bad break in the fall at that point, or carry the drain 
 too deep at 17. 
 
 By the arrangement adopted, the grade is broken at 3, 
 7, 10, and 11. Between these points, it is a straight line, with 
 the rate of fall indicated in the following table, which 
 commences at the upper end of the drain and proceeds to- 
 ward its outlet : 
 
 FBOM n 
 STAKE, Ul PTH - 
 
 8r2^, " 
 
 DlSTAXC*. 
 
 TOTAL FALL. 
 
 RATE OP FALL 
 PER 100 FKET. 
 
 No. 17.. 4.17 feet. 
 No. 11.. 4.19 " 
 No. 10.. 4.59 " 
 No. 7..4.4T " 
 No. 3.. 4.13 " 
 
 No. 11.. 4 19 feet. 
 No. 10.. 4.59 " 
 No "..4.47 " 
 No. d.,4.13 " 
 S. Basin2.25 " 
 
 24 feet. 
 41 " 
 91 " 
 173 " 
 186 " 
 
 2.64 feet. 
 82 " 
 2.49 " 
 9fi ** 
 3.47 " 
 
 1.09 feet. 
 2.00 " 
 2.83 " 
 56 " 
 
 1.87 " 
 
 It will be seen that the fall becomes more rapid as we 
 ascend from stake 7, but below this point it is very much 
 
 * The depth of 4.13, in Fig. 21, as well as the other depths at the points 
 at which the grade changes, happen to be those found by the computation 
 as hereafter described, ard they are used here fcr illustration.
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A SYSTEM OF DRAINS. 
 
 109 
 
 reduced, so much as to make it very likely that silt will 
 be deposited, (see page 91), and the drain, thereby, ob- 
 structed. To provide against this, a silt-basia must be 
 placed at this point which will collect the silt and prevent 
 its entrance into the more nearly level tile below. The 
 construction of this silt-basin is more particularly des- 
 cribed in the next chapter. From stake 7 to the main silt- 
 basin the fall is such that the drain will clear itself. 
 
 The drawing of regular profiles, for the more imporant 
 drains, will be useful for the purpose of making the be- 
 ginner familiar with the method of grading, and with the 
 principles on which the ^rade and depth are computed; 
 and sometimes, in passing over very irregular surfaces, this 
 method will enable even a skilled drainer to hit upon the 
 best adjustment in less time than by computation. Ordi- 
 narily, however, the form of computation given in the fol- 
 jowing table, which refers to the same drain, ( (7,) will be 
 pore expeditious, and its results are mathematically more 
 torrect.* 
 
 No. of 
 Stake. 
 
 Dittance 
 
 11' hri'fn, 
 Stakes. 
 
 Fall. Feet and 
 Decimals. 
 
 Depth/ram, 
 Datum IAM. 
 
 Depth 
 of 
 Drain. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 PerlOO BeCion 
 Feet. \ Stakes. 
 
 To 
 Drain. 
 
 ToSur- 
 face. 
 
 Silt Basin. 
 
 11 
 
 C. 4. 
 C. 5. 
 C. . 
 
 8: 10: 
 
 C. 11. 
 
 8:11: 
 
 C. 14. 
 C. 15. 
 
 C. 16. 
 C. 17. 
 
 3* 
 
 65 
 51 
 43 
 
 47 
 82 
 41 
 12 
 88 
 41 
 41 
 41 
 41 
 
 2 ** 
 
 do 
 .56 ' 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 do. 
 2.83 
 do. 
 
 2.00' 
 1.09 
 do. 
 do. 
 
 1.64 ft. 
 .78 '* 
 
 20.70 ft. 
 
 I'.I.O'i" 
 18.2S " 
 
 18.20 ft. 
 
 15.41 " 
 
 1 1.:;<; " 
 
 2 50 ft. 
 3.48" 
 3.83 " 
 
 1 Silt-Basin here. 
 1 Made deep at New. 
 [7 and 10 to paw a <le- 
 J pression of the nr- 
 face at No. 9. 
 
 J2S 
 .24 
 
 .26 
 
 ^4 
 .99 
 .82 
 .44 
 .44 
 ,44 
 
 16.70 " 
 
 in. it; - 
 n;.2'i" 
 
 Hi. 02 " 
 
 u. s; ' 
 
 14.52 " 
 13 53 " 
 
 12".27 " 
 
 KMS" 
 
 11.19" 
 
 11 69" 
 
 ii.f>r>" 
 11.37" 
 ll.Oii" 
 8 94" 
 8.5'<> " 
 7.86 " 
 
 4.52" 
 467" 
 4.51" 
 4 47" 
 3.49 " 
 3.4C " 
 4.59 " 
 4.19" 
 4.41" 
 
 |}| 
 
 7.30 " 
 
 ft: 
 
 41 
 41 
 
 do. 
 do. 
 
 .44 
 M 
 
 10 51 " 
 
 10.07 " 
 
 6.73 " 
 5.90" 
 
 3 88 " 
 4.17" 
 
 * The figures in this table, as well as in the next preceding one, ar 
 adopted for the published profile of drain C 1 , Fig. 21, to avoid confusion. 
 ID ordinary cases, the points which are fixed as the basis of the compu- 
 tation are given in round numbers; for instance, the depth at 03 would 
 be assumed to be 4.10 or 4.^0, instead of 4.13. The fraction! given in the 
 table, and in Fig. 21, arise frcm the fact that the decimals are not abs 
 lately correct, being carried out only for two figures.
 
 110 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 NOTE. The method of making the foregoing computa- 
 tion is this ; 
 
 1st. Enter the lettering of the stakes in the first column, commencing 
 at the lower end of the drain. 
 
 2d. Enter the distances between each two stakes in the second col- 
 umn, placing the measurement on the line with the number of th 
 \jiper ^take t the two. 
 
 3d la the next to the last column enter, on tlie line with each stake, 
 ts depth below the datum-line, as recorded in the field book of levels, 
 (See page 105.) 
 
 4th On the tirst line of the last column, place the depth of the lower 
 end of the drain, (this is established by the grade of the main or other 
 outlet at which it discharges.) 
 
 5th. Add this depth to the first number of the line next preceding it, 
 and enter the sum obtained on the first line of the fifth column, as the 
 depth of the drain below the datum-line. 
 
 6th. Having reference to the grade of the surface, (as shown by the 
 figures in the sixth column,) as well as to any necessity for placing the 
 drain at certain depths at certain places, enter the desired depth, in pencil, 
 in the last column, opposite the stakes marking those places. Then add 
 together this depth and the corresponding surf ice measurement in the 
 column next preceding, and enter the sum, in pencil, in the fifth column, 
 as the depth from the datum-line to the desired position of the drain. 
 (In the example in baud, these points are at Nos. 3, 7, 10, 11, and 17.) 
 
 7th. Subtract the second amount in the fifth column from the first 
 amount for the total fall between the two points in the example, ''3" 
 from "Silt-Basin." Divide this total fall, (in feet and huudredths,) by 
 one hundredth of the total number of feet between them. The result 
 will be the rate of fall per 100 feet, and this should be entered, in the 
 third column, opposite each of the intermediate distances between the 
 points. 
 
 iple: Depth of the Drain at the Silt-Basin 20.45 feet 
 
 " " " " " Stake No. 3 16.98 * 
 
 Difference 3.47 
 
 Dtotance between thj two 188. u 
 
 1 8 6) 3.4 7 (1.8 6 5 or 1.8 7 
 186 
 1610 
 1488 
 -T2T6 
 1116 
 1040 
 930 
 
 ITT
 
 HOW TO LAY OUT A. SYSTEM OF DBAIN8. Ill 
 
 8th. Multiply the numbers of the second column by those of the third 
 rod divide the product by 100. The result will be the amount of fall be- 
 tween the stakes, (fourth column.) Example: 1.8? x 82 =153-*- 100 =1.53. 
 
 9th. Subtract the first number of the fourth column from the first 
 number of the fifth column, (on the line above it,) and place the re- 
 mainder on the next line of the fifth column. Example: 20.701.64= 
 19.06. 
 
 Then, from this new amount, subtract the second number of the 
 fourth column, for the next number of the fifth, and so on, until, in 
 place of the entry in pencil, (Stake 3,) we place the exact result of the 
 computation. 
 
 Proceed in like manner with the next interval, 3 to 7. 
 
 10th. Subtract the numbers in the sixth column from those in the 
 fifth, and the remainders will be the depths to be entered in the last. 
 
 Under the head of "Remarks," note any peculiarity of the drain 
 which may require attention in the field. 
 
 > The main lines A, D, and E, and the drain JS, should 
 next be graded on the plan set forth for (7, and their lat- 
 erals, all of which have considerable fall, and being all so 
 steep as not to require silt-basins at any point, can, by 
 a very simple application of the foregoing principles, be 
 adjusted at the proper depths. In grading the stone and 
 tile drain, (H, /,) it is only necessary to adopt the depth of 
 the last stakes of the laterals, with which it is connected, 
 as it is immaterial in which direction the water flows. The 
 ends of this drain, from H to the head of the drain (710, 
 and from /to the head of (717, should, of course, have a 
 decided fall toward the drains. 
 
 The laterals which are placed at intervals of 20 feet, 
 over the underground rock on the east side of the field, 
 should be continued at a depth of about 3 feet for nearly 
 their whole length, dropping in a distance of 8 or 10 feet 
 at their lower ends to the top of the tile of the main. The 
 intervals between the lower ends of (77e, Cld, and (770, 
 being considerably more than 20 feet, the drains may be 
 gradually deepened, throughout their whole length from 3 
 feet at the upper ends to the depth of the top of the main 
 at the lower ends. 
 
 The main drains F and G, being laid in flat land, theii
 
 112 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 outlets being fixed at a depth of 3.50, (the floor of the 
 main outlet,) and it being necessary to have them as deep 
 as possible throughout their entire length, should be 
 graded with great care on the least admissible fall. This, 
 in ordinary agricultural drainage, may be fixed at .25, or 
 3 inches, per 100 feet. Their laterals should commence 
 with the top of their tile even with the top of the 2 col- 
 lar of the main, or .15 higher than the grade of the main, 
 and rise, at a uniform inclination of .25, to the upper end. 
 
 Having now computed the depth at which the tile is to 
 lie, at each stake, and entered it on the map, we are ready 
 to mark these depths on their respective stakes in the field, 
 when the preliminary engineering of the work will be 
 completed. 
 
 It has been deemed advisable in this chapter to consider 
 the smallest details of the work of the draining engineer. 
 Those who intend to drain in the best manner will find 
 such details important. Those who propose to do their 
 work less thoroughly, may still be guided by the princi- 
 ples on which they are based. Any person who will 
 take the pains to mature the plans of his work as closely 
 as has been here recommended, will as a consequence 
 sommence his operations in the field much more under- 
 standingly. The advantage of having everything decided 
 beforehand, so that the workmen need not be delayed for 
 want of sufficient directions, and of making, on the map, 
 such alterations as would have appeared necessary in the 
 field, thus saving the cost of cutting ditches in the wrong 
 places, will well repay the work of the evenings of 
 whole winter,
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HOW TO MAKE THE DRAINS.* 
 
 Kno\\ ing, now, precisely what is to be done ; having 
 the lines all staked out, and the stakes so marked as to be 
 clearly designated ; knowing the precise depth at which 
 the drain is to be laid, at every point ; having the requisite 
 tiles on the ground, and thoroughly inspected, the operator 
 is prepared to commence actual work. 
 
 He should determine how many men he will employ, 
 and what tools they will require to work to advantage. It 
 n*ay be best that the work be done by two or three 
 men, or it may be advisable to employ as many as can 
 work without interfering with each other. In most cases, 
 especially where there is much water to contend with, the 
 latter course will be the most economical, as the ditches 
 will not be so liable to be injured by the softening of their 
 bottoms, and the caving in of their sides. 
 
 The Tools Required are a subsoil plow, two garden 
 lines, spades, shovels, and picks ; narrow finishing spades, 
 a finishing scoop, a tile pick, a scraper for filling the 
 ditches, a heavy wooden maul for compacting the bottom 
 filling, half a dozen boning-rods, a measuring rod, and a 
 plumb rod. These should all be on hand at the outset, so 
 that no delay in the work may result from the want ol 
 them. 
 
 Writers on drainage, almost without exception, recom- 
 mend the use of elaborate sets of tools which are intended 
 
 * The instructions given in this Chapter are somewhat modified by newel 
 processes, which are described in the Supplemental Chapters, especially Chap- 
 ter XIII. These should be well noted.-Ctfcte to 2d edition.)
 
 114 
 
 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 Flat Spades of 
 various lengths 
 and widths, Bill- 
 necked Scoop (.4) ; 
 Tile - layer (B); 
 Pick-axe (C); and 
 Scoop Spades, and 
 Shovel. 
 
 Fig. 22. SET OF TOOLS.
 
 HOW TO MAKE THE DRAINS. 115 
 
 foi cutting very narrow ditches, only wide enough at the 
 bottom to admit the tile, and not allowing the workmen 
 to stand in the bottom of the ditch. A set of these toola 
 is shown in Fig. 22. 
 
 Possibly there may be soils in which these implements, 
 in the hands of men skilled in their use, could be employed 
 with economy, but they are very rare, and it is not be- 
 lieved to be possible with unskilled laborers to regulate 
 the bottom of the ditch so accurately as is advisable, un- 
 less the workman can stand directly upon it, cutting it 
 more smoothly than he could if the point of his tool were 
 a foot or more below the level on which he stands. 
 
 On this subject, Mr. J. Bailey Denton, one of the first 
 draining engineers of Great Britain, in a letter to Judge 
 French, says : 
 
 " As to tools, it is the same with them as it is with the 
 u art of draining itself, too much rule and too much draw- 
 "ing upon paper; all very right to begin with, but very 
 " prejudicial to progress. I employ, as engineer to the 
 " General Land Drainage Company, and on my private 
 " account, during the drainage season, as many as 2,000 
 " men, and it is an actual fact, that not one of them uses 
 " the set of tools figured in print. I have frequently pur- 
 " chased a number of sets of the Birmingham tools, and 
 " sent them down on extensive works. The laborers would 
 " purchase a few of the smaller tools, such as Nos. 290, 
 " 291, and 301, figured in Morton's excellent Cyclopaedia 
 " of Agriculture, and would try them, and then order 
 u others of the country blacksmith, differing in several 
 " respects ; less weighty and much less costly, and more 
 " over, much better as working tools. All I require of the 
 " cutters, is, that the bottom of the drain should be evenly 
 " cut, to fit the size of the pipe. The rest of the work 
 " takes care of itself; for a good workman will economize 
 " his labor for his own sake, by moving as little earth as 
 " practicable ; thus, for instance, a first-class cutter, in
 
 116 DBAINING FOE PEOFTT AND HEALTH. 
 
 " clays, will get down 4 feet with a 12-inch opening, ordtf 
 " narily ; if he wishes to show off, he will sacrifice his 
 * own comfort to appearance, and will do it with a 10-inch 
 " opening." 
 
 In the Central Park work, sets of these tools were pro- 
 cured, at considerable expense, and every effort was made 
 to compel the men to use them, but it was soon found that, 
 even in the easiest digging, there was a real economy in 
 using, for the first 3 feet of the ditch, the common spade, 
 pick, and shovel, finishing the bottoms with the narrow 
 spade and scoop hereafter described, and it is probable 
 that the experience of that work will be sustained by that 
 of the country at large. 
 
 Marking the Lines. To lay a drain directly under the 
 position of its stakes, would require that enough earth be 
 eft at each point to hold the stake, and that the ditch be 
 tunneled under it. This is expensive and unnecessary. It 
 is better to dig the ditches at one side of the lines of 
 stakes, far enough away for the earth to hold them 
 firmly in their places, but near enough to allow measure- 
 ments to be taken from the grade pegs. If the ditch be 
 placed always to the right, or always to the left, of the line, 
 and at a uniform distance, the general plan will remain the 
 same, and the lines will be near enough to those marked 
 on the map to be easily found at any future time. In fact, 
 if it be known that the line of tiles is two feet to the right 
 of the position indicated, it will only be necessary, at any 
 time, should it be desired to open an old drain, to 
 measure two feet to the right of the surveyed position to 
 strike the line at once. 
 
 In soils of ordinary tenacity, ditches 4 feet deep need 
 not be more than twenty (20) inches wide at the surface, 
 and four (4) inches wide at the bottom. This will allow, 
 in each side, a slope of eight (8) inches, which is sufficient 
 except in very loose soils, and even these may be braced 
 up, if inclined to cave in. There are cases where the soil
 
 HOW TO MAKE THE DRAINS. 117 
 
 contains so much running sand, and is so saturated with 
 water, that no precautions will avail to keep up the banks. 
 Ditches in such ground will sometimes fall in, until the ex- 
 cavation reaches a width of 8 or 10 feet. Such instances, 
 however, are very rare, and must be treated as the occa- 
 sion suggests. 
 
 One of the garden lines should be set at a distance 01 
 about 6 inches from the row of stakes, and the other at a 
 further distance of 20 inches. If the land is in grass, the 
 position of these lines may be marked with a spade, and 
 they may be removed at once ; but, if it is arable land, it 
 will be best to leave the lines in position until the ditch is 
 excavated to a sufficient depth to mark it clearly. Indeed, 
 it will be well at once to remove all of the sod and surface 
 coil, say to a depth of 6 inches, (throwing this on the same 
 side with the stakes, and back of them.) The whole force 
 can be profitably employed in this work, until all of the 
 ditches to be dug are scored to this depth over the entire 
 tract to be drained, except in swamps which are still too 
 wet for this work. 
 
 Water Courses. The brooks which carry the water 
 from the springs should be "jumped" in marking out 
 the lines, as it is desirable that their water be kept in sep- 
 arate channels, so far as possible, until the tiles are ready 
 to receive it, as, if allowed to run in the open ditches, it 
 would undermine the banks and keep the bottom too soft 
 for sound work. 
 
 With this object, commence at the southern boundary 
 of our example tract, 10 or 15 feet east of the point of 
 outlet, and drive a straight, temporary, shallow ditch to a 
 point a little west of the intersection of the main line D 
 with its first lateral ; then carry it in a northwesterly 
 direction, crossing G midway between the silt-basin and 
 stake G 1, and thence into the present line of the brook, 
 turning all of the water into the ditch. A branch of thif
 
 118 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 ditch may be run up between the lines .Fand G to receive 
 the water from the spring which lies in that direction. 
 This arrangement will keep the water out of the way 
 until the drains are ready to take it. 
 
 , The Outlet. The water being all discharged through 
 the new temporary ditch, the old brook, beyond the 
 boundary, should be cleared out to the final level (3. 75,) 
 and an excavation made, just within the boundary, suffi- 
 cient to receive the masonry which is to protect the out- 
 let. A good form of outlet is shown in Fig. 23. It may 
 
 Fig. 33. OUTLET, SECURED WITH MASONRY AND QR4.TING. 
 
 be cheaply made by any farmer, especially if he have good 
 stone at hand ; if not, brick may be used, laid on a solid 
 foundation of stout planks, which, (being protected from 
 the air and always saturated with water,) will last a very 
 long time. 
 
 If made of stone, a solid floor, at least 2 feet square, 
 should be placed at, or below, the level of the brook. If 
 this consist of a single stone, it will be better than if of 
 several smaller pieces. On this, place another layer ex- 
 tending the whole width of the first, but reaching only 
 from its inner edge to its center line, so as to leave a foot
 
 HOW TO MAKE THE DRAINS. 11 C 
 
 in width of the bottom stone to receive the fall of the 
 water. This second layer should reach exactly the grade 
 of the outlet (3.50) or a height of 3 inches from the brook 
 level. On the floor thus made, there should be laid the 
 tiles which are to constitute the outlets of the several 
 drains; i. e., one 3|-inch tile for the line from the silt- 
 basin, two 1^-inch for the lines F and G, and one 2^-inch 
 for the main line E. These tiles should lie close to each 
 other and be firmly cemented together, so that no water 
 can pass outside of them, and a rubble-work of stone may 
 with advantage be carried up a foot above them. Stone 
 work, which may be rough and uncemented, but should 
 always be solid, may then be built up at the sides, and 
 covered with a secure coping of stone. A floor and slop- 
 ing sides of stone work, jointed with the previously de- 
 scribed work, and well cemented, or laid in strong clay or 
 mortar, mny, with benefit, be carried a few feet beyond the 
 outlet. This will effectually prevent the undermining of 
 the structure. After the entire drainage of the field is 
 finished, the earth above these sloping sides, and that back 
 of the coping, should be neatly sloped, and protected by 
 sods. An iron grating, fine enough to prevent the entrance 
 of vermin, placed in front of the tile, at a little distance 
 from them, and secured by a flat stone set on edge and 
 hollowed out, so as merely to allow the water to flow freely 
 from the drains, the stone being cemented in its place so 
 as to allow no water to pass under it, will give a sub- 
 stantial and permanent finish to the structure. 
 
 An outlet finished in this way, at an extra cost of a few 
 dollars, will be most satisfactory, as a lasting means of 
 securing the weakest and most important part of the sys- 
 tem of drains. When no precaution of this sort is taken, 
 the water frequently forces a passage under the tile for some 
 distance up the drains, undermining and displacing them, 
 and so softening the bottom that it will be difficult, in 
 making repairs, to secure a solid foundation for the work.
 
 120 DRAINING FOB PEOPIT AND HEALTH 
 
 Usually, repairs of this sort, aside from the annoyance at- 
 tending them, will cost more than the amount required to 
 make the permanent outlet described above. As well con 
 strucled outlets are necessarily rather expensive, as much 
 of the land as possible should be drained to each one that 
 it is necessary to make, by laying main lines which will 
 collect all of the water which can be brought to it. 
 
 The Main Silt-Basin, The silt-basin, at which the 
 drains are collected, may best be built before any drains 
 are brought to it, and the work may proceed simultane- 
 ously with that at the outlet. It should be so placed that 
 its center will lie exactly under the proposed line of the 
 drain, because it will constitute one of the leading land- 
 marks for the survey.* 
 
 Before removing the stake and grade stake, mark their 
 position by four stakes, set at a distance from it of 4 or 5 
 feet, in such positions that two lines, drawn from those 
 which are opposite to each other, will intersect at the point 
 indicated; and place near one of them a grade stake, 
 driven to the exact level of the one to be removed. This 
 being done, dig a well, 4 feet in diameter, to a depth of 
 ty feet below the grade of the outlet drain, (in the exam- 
 ple under consideration this would be 5 feet below the 
 grade stake.) If much water collects in the hole, widen 
 it, in the direction of the outlet drain, sufficiently to give 
 room for baling out the water. Now build, in this well, 
 a structure 2 feet in interior diameter, such as is shown in 
 Fig. 24, having its bottom 2 feet, in the clear, below the 
 grade of the outlet, and carry its wall a little higher than 
 the general surface of the ground. At the proper height 
 insert, in the brick work, the necessary tiles for all incom- 
 ing and outgoing drains ; in this case, a 3^-inch tile for 
 
 * The drains, which are removed a little to one side of the lines of stakes, 
 should strike the center of the silt basin.
 
 HOW TO MAKE THE DRAINS. 121 
 
 the outlet, 2^-inch for the mains A and C, and 1^-inch for 
 B and D. 
 
 This basin being finished and covered with a flat stone 
 or other suitable material, connect it with the outlet by an 
 open ditch, unless the bot- 
 tom of the ditch, when laid 
 open to the proper depth, be 
 found to be of muck or quick- 
 sand. In such case, it will 
 be best to lay the tile at 
 once, and cover it in for the 
 whole distance, as, on a soft 
 bottom, it would be difficult 
 to lay it well when the full 
 drainage of the field is flow- 
 ing through the ditch. The 
 tiles should be laid with all 
 care, on a perfectly regulated 
 fall, using strips of board 
 under them if the bottom is 
 shaky or soft, as on this line 
 depends the success of all the 
 
 Fig. 24.-SILT-BASIN, BUILT TO THE drain* SlboVC' it, which might 
 
 be rendered useless by a 
 
 single badly laid tile at this point, or by any other cause 
 of obstruction to the flo\v. 
 
 While the work is progressing in the field above, there 
 will be a great deal of muddy water and some sticks, 
 grass, atid other rubbish, running from the ditches above 
 the basin, and care must be taken to prevent this drain 
 from becoming choked. A piece of wire cloth, or basket 
 work, placed over the outlet in the basin, will keep out the 
 coarser matters, and the mud which would accumulate in 
 the tile may be removed by occasional flushing. This is 
 done by crowding a tuft of grass, or a bit of sod, into 
 6
 
 122 DRAINING FOE PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 the lower end of the tile (at the outlet,) securing it there 
 until the water rises in the basin, and then removing h. 
 The rush of water will be sufficient to wash the tile clean. 
 This plan is not without objections, and, as a rule, it ia 
 never well to lay any tiles at the lower end of a drain 
 until all above it is finished ; but when a considerable out- 
 let must be secured through soft land, which is inclined to 
 cave in, and to get soft at the bottom, it will save labor 
 to secure the tile in place before much water reaches it, 
 even though it require a daily flushing to keep it clean. 
 
 Opening the Ditches. Thus far it has been sought to 
 secure a permanent outlet, and to connect it by a secure 
 channel, with the silt-basin, which is to collect the 
 water of the different series of drains. The next step 
 is to lay open the ditches for these. It will be best to 
 commence with the main line A and its laterals, as they 
 will take most of the water which now flows through the 
 open brook, and prevent its interference wtth the rest of 
 the work. 
 
 The first work is the opening of the ditches to a depth 
 of about 3 feet, which may be best done with the common 
 spade, pick, and shovel, except that in ground which is 
 tolerably free from stones, a subsoil plow will often take 
 the place of the pick, with much saving of labor. It may 
 be drawn by oxen working in a long yoke, which will allow 
 them to walk one on each side of the ditch, but this is dan- 
 gerous, as they are liable to disturb the stakes, (especially 
 the grade stakes,) and to break down the edges of the 
 ditches. The best plan is to use a small subsoil plow, 
 drawn by a single horse, or strong mule, trained to walk 
 in the ditch. The beast will soon learn to accommodate 
 himself to his narrow quarters, and will work easily in a 
 ditch 2 feet deep, having a width of less than afoot at the 
 bottom; of course there must be a way provided for him 
 to come out at each end. Deeper than this there is no
 
 TO MAKE THE DRAINS. 125 
 
 economy in using horse power, and even for this depth it 
 will be necessary to use a plow having only one stilt. 
 
 Before the main line is cut into the open brook, this 
 should be furnished with a wooden trough, which will 
 carry the water across it, so that the ditch shall 
 receive only the filtration from the ground. 
 Those laterals west of the main line, which are 
 crossed by the brook, had better not be opened 
 at present, not until the water 
 of the spring is admitted to and 
 removed by the drain. 
 
 The other laterals and the 
 whole of the main line, having 
 been cut to a depth of 3 feet, 
 take a finishing spade, (Fig. 25,) 
 M-hich is only 4 inches wide at 
 its point, and dig to within 2 or 
 3 inches of the depth marked 
 on the stakes, making the bot- Fi^. 25. FIN- 
 torn tolerably smooth, with the ISIIIN(i S1 ' A1>P " 
 aid of the finishing scoop, (Fig. 2(>,) and 
 giving it as regular an inclination as can be 
 obtained by the eye alone. 
 
 Often, large stones, which would cost much 
 labor to remove, will be encountered in the 
 digging. If these lie from 6 inches to a 
 foot above the final grade, and are not too 
 large, it will be easier to tunnel under them 
 than to take them out, or to go around them ; 
 but, if they are very large, or lie close to the 
 bottom, (or in the bottom,) the latter course 
 will be necessary. 
 
 p- lfr 20 FIN- If the ground is " rotten," and the banks 
 
 i3H\NG SCOOP. O f t j ie ditches incline to cave in, as is often 
 the case in passing wet places, the earth which is thrown 
 out in digging must be thrown back sufficiently far from
 
 124 
 
 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 edge 
 
 Fig 27. BRACING THE 
 SIDES IX SOFT LAND. 
 
 to prevent its weight from increasing the 
 tendency ; and the sides of the ditch 
 may be supported by bits of board 
 braced apart as is shown in Fig. 27. 
 
 The manner of open- 
 ing the ditches, which 
 is described above, 
 for the main A and 
 its laterals, will apply 
 to the drains of the 
 whole field and to all 
 similar work. 
 
 Grading the Bottoms, The next step 
 in the work is to grade the bottoms of the 
 ditches, so as to afford a bed for the tiles 
 on the exact linos which are indicated by 
 the figures marked on the different stakes. 
 
 The manner in which this is to be 
 done may be illustrated by describing the 
 work required for the line from C 10 to 
 (717, (Fig. 20,) after it< has been opened, 
 as described above, to within 2 or 3 inches 
 of the final depth. 
 
 A measuring rod, or square, such as is 
 shown in Fig. 28,* is set at C 10, so that 
 the lower side of its arm is at the mark 
 4.59 on the staff, (or at a little less than 4.6 
 if it is divided only into feet and tenths,) 
 and is held upright in the ditch, with its 
 arm directly over the grade stake. The 
 earth below it is removed, little by little, until it will touch 
 the top of the stake and the bottom of the ditch at the 
 
 Fig. 28. MEASUR- 
 ING STAFF. 
 
 * The foot of the measuring rod should be shod with iron to prevent 
 Us being worn to less thau the proper length.
 
 HOW TO MAKE THE DKAIKS. 
 
 125 
 
 same time. If the ground is soft, it should be cut out 
 until a flat stone, a block of wood, or a piece of tile, or of 
 brick, sunk in the bottom, Avill have its surface at the exact 
 point of measurement. This point is the bottom of the 
 ditch on which the collar of the tile is to lie at that stake. 
 In the same manner the depth is fixed at (711 (4.19,) and 
 (712 (4.41,) as the rate of fall changes at each 
 of these points, and at C"15 (3.89,) and 6 r 17 
 (4.17,) because (although the fall is uniform 
 from C12 to (717,) the distance is too great 
 for accurate sighting. 
 
 Having provided boning-rods, which are 
 strips of board 7 feet long, having horizontal 
 cross pieces at their upper ends, (see Fig. 
 29,) set these perpendicularly on the spots 
 which have been found by measurement to 
 be at the correct depth opposite stakes 10, 
 11, 12, 15, and 17, and fasten each in its 
 place by wedging it between two strips of 
 board laid across the ditch, so as to clasp it, 
 securing these in their places by laying stones 
 or earth upon their ends. 
 
 As these boning-rods are all exactly 7 feet 
 long, of course, a line sighted across their 
 tops will be exactly 7 feet higher, at all 
 points, than the required grade of the ditch 
 directly beneath it, and if a plumb rod, (similar to 
 the boning-rod, but provided with a line and plummet,) 
 be set perpendicularly on any point of the bottom of 
 the drain, the relation of its cross piece to the line of sight 
 across the tops of the boning-rods will show Avhether the 
 bottom of the ditch at that point is too high, or too low, 
 or just right. The manner of sighting over two boning- 
 rods and an intermediate plumb-rod, is shown in Fig. 31. 
 
 Three persons are required to finish the bottom of the 
 
 iir. 20. BOX- 
 ING KOD.
 
 126 
 
 DRAINING FOH PKOFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 ditch ; one to sight across the tops of the boning-rods, one 
 to hold the plumb-rod at different points as the finishing 
 progresses, and one in the ditch, (see Fig. 30,) provided 
 with the finishing spade and scoop, and, in hard ground, 
 with a pick, to cut down or fill up as the first man calls 
 
 Fig. 30. POSITION OF WORKMAN AND USE OF FINISHING SCOOP. 
 
 " too high," or " too low." An inch or two of filling may- 
 be beaten sufficiently hard with the back of the scoop, 
 but if several inches should be required, it should be well 
 
 Fig. 31. SIGHTING BT TUB BONING-RODS. 
 
 rammed with the top of a pick, or other suitable instrument, 
 as any subsequent settling would disarrange the fall. 
 
 As the lateral drains are to be laid first, they should be 
 the first graded, and as they are arranged to discharge into 
 the tops of the mains, their water will still flow off, 
 although the main ditches are not yet reduced to their final
 
 HOW TO MAKE THE DBAHT8. 127 
 
 depth. After the laterals are laid and filled in, the main 
 should be graded, commencing at the upper end ; the tiles 
 being laid and covered as fast as the bottom is made ready, 
 so that it may not be disturbed by the water of which the 
 main carries so much more than the laterals. 
 
 Tile-Laying. -Gisborne says : "It would be scarcely 
 " more absurd to set a common blacksmith to eye needles 
 " than to employ a common laborer to lay pipes and col- 
 * lars." The work comes under the head of skilled labor, 
 and, while no very great exercise of judgment is required 
 in its performance, the little that is required is impera- 
 tively necessary, and the details of the work should be 
 deftly done. The whole previous outlay, the survey and 
 staking of the field, the purchase of the tiles, the digging 
 and grading of the ditches has been undertaken that we 
 may make the conduit of earthenware pipes which is now 
 to be laid, and the whole may be rendered useless by a 
 want of care and completeness in the performance of this 
 chief operation. This subject, (in connection with that of 
 finishing the bottoms of the ditches,) is very clearly treated 
 in Mr. Hoskyns' charming essay,* as follows : 
 
 " It was urged by Mr. Brunei, as a justification for moro 
 ' attention and expense in the laying of the rails of the 
 " Great Western, than had been ever thought of upon 
 " previously constructed lines, that all the embankments 
 " and cuttings, and earthworks and stations, and law and 
 " parliamentary expenses in fact, the whole of the out- 
 "lay encountered in the formation of a railway, had for its 
 " main and ultimate object a perfectly smooth and level 
 " line of rail ; that to turn btingy at this point, just when 
 ** you had arrived at the great ultimatum of the whole 
 " proceedings, viz : the iron wheel-track, was a sort of 
 " saving which evinced a want of true preception of the 
 ** great object of all the labor that had preceded it. It 
 
 * "Talpa, or the Chronicles of a Clay Farm.' 1
 
 128 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 " may seem curious to our experiences, in these days, that 
 u such a doctrine could ever have needed to be enforced 
 "by argument; yet no one will deem it wonderful who 
 * has personally witnessed the unaccountable and ever new 
 " difficulty of getting proper attention paid to the leveling 
 " of the bottom of a drain, and the laying of the tiles hi 
 " that continuous line, where one single depression or ir- 
 " regularity, by collecting the water at that spot, year 
 " after year, tends toward the eventual stoppage of the 
 " whole drain, through two distinct causes, the softening 
 " ,)f the foundation underneath the sole, or tile flange, and 
 " the deposit of soil inside the tile from the water collected 
 " at the spot, and standing there after the rest had run off. 
 "Every depression, however slight, is constantly doing 
 " this mischief in every drain where the fall is but trifling ; 
 " and if to the two consequences above mentioned, we 
 " may add the decomposition of the tile itself by the 
 " action of water long stagnant within it, we may deduce 
 " that every tile-drain laid with these imperfections in 
 " the finishing of the bottom, has a tendency toward 
 " obliteration, out of all reasonable proportion with 
 " that of a well-burnt tile laid on a perfectly even inclina- 
 " tion, which, humanly speaking, may be called a perma- 
 ** nent thing. An open ditch cut by the most skillful 
 " workman, in the summer, affords the best illustration of 
 " this underground mischief Nothing can look smoother 
 " and more even than the bottom, until that uncompromis- 
 " ing test of accurate levels, the water, makes its appear- 
 " ance : all on a sudden the whole scene is changed, the 
 " eye-accredited level vanishes as if some earthquake had 
 " taken place: here, there is a gravelly scour, along which 
 " the stream rushes in a thousand little angry-looking rip- 
 " pies ; there, it hangs and looks as dull and heavy as if it 
 " had given up running at all, as a useless waste of energy ; 
 " in another place, a few dead leaves or sticks, or a morse) 
 " of soil broken from the side, dams back the water for a
 
 HOW TO MAKE THE DRAINS. 129 
 
 considerable distance, occasioning a deposit . f soil along 
 u the whole reach, greater in proportion to the quantity 
 " and the muddiness of the water detained. All this shows 
 " the paramount importance of perfect evenness in the 
 " bed on which the tiles are laid. The worst laid tile is 
 ''the measure of the goodness and permanence of the 
 "if hole drain, just as the weakest link of a chain is the 
 " measure of its strength." 
 
 The simple laying of the smaller sizes of pipes and col- 
 lars in the lateral drains, is an easy matter. It requires 
 care and precision in placing the collar equally under the 
 end of each pipe, (having the joint at the middle of 
 the collar,) in having the ends of the pipes actually touch 
 each other within the collars, and in brushing away any 
 loose dirt which may have fallen on the spot on which the 
 collar is to rest. The connection of the laterals with 
 the mains, the laying of the larger sizes of tiles so as to 
 form a close joint, the wedging of these larger tiles firmly 
 into their places, and the trimming which is necessary in 
 going around sharp curves, and in putting in the shorter 
 pieces which are needed to fill out the exact length of the 
 drain, demand more skill and judgment than are often 
 found in the common ditcher. Still, any clever workman, 
 who has a careful habit, may easily be taught all that is 
 necessary ; and until he is thoroughly taught, and not 
 only knows how to do the work well, but, also, under- 
 stands the importance of doing it well, the proprietor 
 should carefully watch the laying of every piece. 
 
 Never have tiles laid by the rod, but always by the 
 day. " The more haste, the less speed," is a maxim which 
 applies especially to tile-laying. 
 
 If the proprietor or the engineer does not overlook the 
 laying of each tile as it is done, and probably he will not, 
 he should carefully inspect every piece before it is covered. 
 It is well to walk along the ditches and touch each tile 
 with the end of a light rod, in such a way as to see 
 
 a*
 
 130 DRAINING FOB PBOFTT AND IIEATTH. 
 
 whether it is firm enough in its position not to be dis- 
 placed by the earth which will fall upon it in filling the 
 ditches. 
 
 Preparatory to laying, the tiles should be placed along 
 one side of the ditch, near enough to be easily reached by 
 a man standing in it. When collars are to be used, one of 
 these should be slipp 3d over one end of each tile. The 
 workman stands in the ditch, with his face toward its 
 upper end. The first tile is laid with a collar on its lower 
 end, and the collar is drawn one-half of its length forward, 
 so as to receive the end of the next tile. The upper end 
 of the first tile is closed with a stone, or a bit of broken 
 tile placed firmly against it. The next tile has its nose 
 placed into the projecting half of the collar of the first 
 one, and its own collar is drawn forward to receive the 
 end of the third, and thus to the end of the drain, the 
 workman walking backward as the work progresses. By 
 and by, when he comes to connect the lateral with the 
 main, he may find that a short piece of tile is needed to 
 complete the length ; this should not be placed next to the 
 tile of the main, where it is raised above the bottom of 
 the ditch, but two or three lengths back, leaving the con- 
 nection with the main to be made with a tile of full 
 length. If the piece to be inserted is only two or three 
 inches long, it may be omitted, and the space covered by 
 using a whole 2^-inch tile in place of the collar. In turn- 
 ing corners or sharp curves, the end of the tile may be 
 chipped off, so as to be a little thinner on one side, which 
 will allow it to be turned at a greater angle in the collar. 
 
 If the drain turns a right angle, it will be better to dig 
 out the bottom of the ditch to a depth of about eight 
 inches, and to set a 6-inch tile on end in the hole, per- 
 forating its sides, so as to admit the ends of the pipes at 
 the proper level This 6-inch tile, (which acts as a small 
 silt-basin,) should stand on a board or on a flat stone, and 
 its top should be covered with a stone or with a couple o/
 
 nOW TO MAKE TUB DRAINS. 131 
 
 bricks. Wood will last almost forever below the level of 
 the drain, where it will always be saturated with water, 
 but in the drier earth above the tile, it would be quite 
 sure to decay. 
 
 The trimming and perforating of the tile is done with a 
 " tile-pick," (Fig. 32,) the hatchet end, 
 tolerably sharp, being used for the 
 trimming, and the point, for making 
 the holes. This is done by striking 
 lightly around the circumference of 
 the hole until the center piece falls in, 
 or can easily be knocked in. If the 
 hole is irregular, and does not fit the 
 tile nicely, the open space should be 
 DRESSING AND PER- covered with bits of broken tile, to 
 
 FORATING TILE i i i 
 
 keep the earth out. 
 
 As fast as the laterals are laid and inspected, they should 
 be filled in to the depth of at least a foot, to protect the 
 tile^from being broken by the falling of stones or lumps 
 of earth from the top, and from being displaced by water 
 flowing in the ditch. Two or three feet of the lower 
 end may be left uncovered until the connection with the 
 main is finished. 
 
 In the main drains, when the tiles are of the size with 
 which collars are used, the laying is done in the same man- 
 ner. If it is necessary to use 3^-inch tiles, or any larger 
 size, much more care must be given to the closing of the 
 joints. All tiles, in manufacture, dry more rapidly at the 
 top, which is more exposed to the air, than at the bottom, 
 and they are, therefore, contracted and made shorter at 
 the top. This difference is most apparent in the larger 
 sizes. The large rowwe^tiles, which can be laid on any side, 
 can easily be made to form a close joint, and they 
 should be secured in their proper position by stones or 
 lumps of earth, wedged in between them and the sides of 
 the ditch. The sole tiles must lie with the shortest sidei
 
 132 DBATNING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH 
 
 np, and usually, the space between two tiles, at the x>p, 
 will be from one-quarter to one-half of an inch. To 
 remedy this defect, and form a joint which may be pro- 
 tected against the entrance of earth, the bottom should be 
 trimmed off, so as to allow the tops to come closer to 
 gether. Any opening, of less than a quarter of an inch 
 can be satisfactorily covered, more than that should not 
 be allowed. In turning corners, or in passing around 
 curves, with large tiles, their ends must be beveled off 
 with the pick, so as to fit nicely in this position. 
 
 The best covering for the joints of tiles which are 
 laid without collars, is a scrap of tin, bent so as to fit their 
 shape, scraps of leather, or bits of strong wood shavings, 
 answer a very good purpose, though both of these latter re- 
 quire to be held in place by putting a little earth over their 
 ends as soon as laid on the tile. Very small grass ropes 
 drawn over the joints, (the ends being held down with 
 stones or earth,) form a satisfactory covering, but care 
 should be taken that they be not too thick. Strips of news- 
 paper, doubled and laid over the joints, answer an excel- 
 lent purpose. Care, however, should always be taken, 
 in using any material which will decay readily, to have no 
 more than is necessary to keep the earth out, lest, in its 
 decay, it furnish material to be carried into the tile and ob- 
 struct the flow. This precaution becomes less necessary 
 in the case of drains which always carry considerable 
 streams of water, but if they are at times sluggish in their 
 flow, too much care cannot be given to keep them free 
 of all possible causes of obstruction. As nothing is gained 
 by increasing the quantity of loose covering beyond what 
 is needed to close the joints, and as such covering is only 
 procured with some trouble, there is no reason for its ex- 
 travagant use. 
 
 There seems to remain in the minds of many writers on 
 drainage a glimmering of the old fallacy that underdrains, 
 like open drains, receive their water from above, and it ia
 
 BOW TO MAKE THE DRAINS. 133 
 
 too commonly recommended that porous substances be 
 placed above the tile. If, as is universally conceded, the 
 water rises into the tile from below, this is unnecessary. 
 The practice of covering the joints, and even covering the 
 whole tile, (often to the depth of a foot,) with tan-bark, 
 turf, coarse gravel, etc., is in no wise to be commended ; 
 and, while the objections to it are not necessarily very 
 grave in all cases, it always introduces an element of in- 
 security, and it is a waste of money, if nothing worse. 
 
 The tile layer need not concern himself with the question 
 of affording entrance room for the water. Let him, so far 
 as the rude materials at hand will allow, make the joints 
 perfectly tight, and when the water comes, it will find 
 ample flaws in his work, and he will have been a good 
 workman if it do not find room to flow in a current, car- 
 rying particles of dirt with it, unless muslin is used. 
 
 In ditches in which water is running at the time of lay- 
 ing the tiles, the process should follow closely after the 
 grading, and the stream may even be dammed back, sec- 
 tion after section, (a plugged tile being placed under the 
 dam, to be afterwards replaced by a free one,) and graded, 
 laid and covered before the water breaks in. There is one 
 satisfaction in this kind of work, that, while it is difficult 
 to lay the drain so thoroughly well as in a dry ditch, the 
 amount of water is sufficient to overcome any slight ten- 
 dency to obstruction. 
 
 Connections. As has been before stated, lateral drains 
 should always enter at the top of the main. Even in the 
 mobt shallow work, the slightly decreased depth of the 
 lateral, which this arrangement requires, is well compen- 
 sated for by the free outlet which it secures. (See Chap. 12. ) 
 
 After the tile of the main, which is to receive a side 
 drain, has been fitted to its place, and the point of junc- 
 tion mai'ked, it should be taken up and perforated ; then 
 the end of the tile of the lateral should be so trimmed as
 
 lei 
 
 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AttD HEALTH. 
 
 to fit the hole as accurately as may be, the large tile re* 
 placed in its position, and the small one laid on it, 
 reaching over to the floor of the lateral ditch. Then con- 
 nect it with the lateral as previously laid, fill up solidly 
 the space under the tile which reaches over to the top 
 of the main, (so that it cannot become disturbed in fill- 
 ing,) and lay bits of tile, or other suitable covering, 
 around the connecting joint.* 
 
 When the main drain is laid with collars, it should be 
 so arranged that, by 
 substituting a full 
 tile in the place of 
 the collar, leav- 
 ing, within it, a 
 space between the _ 
 
 Fig. 33. LATERAL DR 
 
 smaller pipes, a 
 connection can be made with this larger tile, as is rep- 
 resented in Figures 33 and 34. 
 
 Silt Basins. I should be used at all points where a drain, 
 after running for any considerable distance at a certain 
 rate of fall, changes to a less rapid fall, unless, indeed, 
 
 the diminished fall be still 
 sufficiently great for the 
 removal of silty matters, 
 (say two feet or more in a 
 hundred). They may be 
 made in any manner which 
 will secure a stoppage of 
 the direct current, and afford room below the floor of the 
 tile for the deposit of the silt which the water has carried 
 in suspension ; and they may be of any suitable material ; 
 even a sound flour barrel will serve a pretty good 
 
 *When such covering is used, it is well to cover them with a mortar of wet 
 Clay, to keep them in place until the ditches are tilled. 
 tSee a note on Silt-basins at the eiid of this chapter. 
 
 Fig. 34. SECTIONAL VIEW OF JOINT.
 
 HOW TO MAKE THE DRAINS. 
 
 135 
 
 purpose for many years. 
 The most complete form 
 of basin is that repre- 
 sented in Figure 24. 
 
 When the object is 
 only to afford room for 
 the collection of the silt 
 of a considerable length 
 of drain, and it is not 
 thought worth while to 
 keep open a communica- 
 tion with the surface, for 
 purposes of inspection, a 
 square box of brick 
 work, (Fig. .'>.">,) having 
 a depth of one and a 
 half or two feet below 
 the floor of the drain, 
 tiles for the drains being 
 built in the walls, and 
 the top covered with a 
 broad stone, will an- 
 swer very well. 
 
 A good sort of basin, to reach 
 to the surface of the ground, may 
 be made of large, vitrified drain 
 pipes, such as are used for town 
 sewerage, having a diameter of 
 from six to twelve inches, accord- 
 ing to the requirements of the work. 
 This basin is shown in Figure 36. 
 
 Figure 37 represents a basin made 
 of a 0-inch tile, similar to that 
 described on page 130, for turning a 
 
 short corner. A larger basin of 
 
 . . ,? i -r Fi S- 36- SILT-BASIN 
 
 the same size, cheaper than it built VITKIFIEI> FLPE
 
 136 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 of brick, may be made by using a large vitrified drain 
 pipe in the place of the one shown in the cut. These 
 vitrified pipes may be perforated in the 
 manner described for the common tile. 
 In laying the main line C", (Fig. 21,) 
 an underground basin of brick work, 
 (Fig. 35,) or its equivalent, should be 
 placed at stake 7, because at that point 
 the water, which has been flowing on an 
 inclination of 1.09, 2.00 and 2.83 per 100, 
 
 Fig. 37. TILE SILT- continues its course over the much less 
 BASIN. f a u O f only o 56 per loo 
 
 If, among the tiles which have passed the inspection, 
 there are some which, from over burning, are smaller than 
 the average, they should be laid at the upper ends of the 
 laterals. The cardinal rule of the tile layer should be 
 never to have a single tile, in the finished drain of smaller 
 size, of more irregular shape, or less perfectly laid, than 
 any tile above it. If there is to be any difference in the 
 quality of the drain, at different points, let it grow better 
 as it approaches the outlet and has a greater length 
 above depending upon its action. 
 
 Covering the Tiles, and Filling-in the Ditches. The 
 
 best material for covering the tiles is that which will the 
 most completely surround them, so as to hold them in 
 their places ; will be the least likely to have passages for 
 the flow of streams of water into the joints, and will af- 
 ford the least silt to obstruct the drain. Clay is the best 
 of all available materials, because it is of the most uniform 
 character throughout its mass, and may be most perfectly 
 compacted around the tiles. As has been before stated, 
 all matters which are subject to decay are objectionable, 
 because they will furnish fine matters to enter the joints, 
 and by their decrease of bulk, may leave openings in the 
 earth through which streams of muddy water may find
 
 HOW TO MAKE THE DRAINS. 137 
 
 their way into the tiles. Gravel is bad, and will remain 
 bad until its spaces are filled with fine dirt deposited by 
 water, which, leaving only a part of its impurities here, 
 carries the rest into the drain. A gravelly loam, free 
 from roots or other organic matter, if it is strong enough 
 to be worked into a ball when wet, will answer a very 
 good purpose. Fine sand is also good. 
 
 Ordinarily, the earth which was thrown out from the 
 bottom of the ditch, and which now lies at the top of the 
 dirt heap, is the best to be returned about the tiles, being 
 first freed from any stones it may contain which are large 
 enough to break or disturb the tiles in falling on to them. 
 
 If the bottom of the ditch consists of quicksand or 
 other silty matters, clay or some other suitable earth 
 should be sought in that which was excavated from a less 
 depth, or should be brought from another place. A thin 
 layer of this having been placed in the bottom of the 
 ditch when grading, a slight covering of the same about 
 the tiles will so encase thorn as to prevent the entrance 
 of the more " slippy" soil. 
 
 The first covering of fine earth, free from stones and 
 clods, should be sprinkled gently over the tiles, no full 
 shovelfuls being thrown on to them until they are covered 
 at least six inches dee]). When the filling has readied a 
 bight of from fifteen to twenty inches, the men may get 
 into the ditch and tramp it down evenly and regularly, 
 not treading too hard in any one place at first. When 
 thus lightly compacted about the tile, so that any further 
 pressure cannot displace them, the filling should be re- 
 peatedly rammed, (the more the better,) by two men 
 standing astride the ditch, facing each other, and working 
 a maul, such as is shown in Figure 38, and which may 
 weigh from 80 to 100 pounds. 
 
 Those to whom this recommendation is new, will, doubt- 
 less, think it unwise. The only reply to their objection 
 tnust be that others who shared their opinion, have, by
 
 138 
 
 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 long observation and experience, been convinced of its 
 correctness. They may practically convince themselves 
 of the value of this sort of covering by a simple and in- 
 expensive experiment : Take two large, water-tight hogs- 
 heads, bore through the side of each, a few inches from 
 the bottom, a hole just large enough 
 to admit a 1^-inch tile ; cover the bot- 
 tom to the hight of the lower edge of 
 the hole with strong, wet clay, beaten 
 to a hard paste ; on this, lay a line of 
 pipes and collars, the inner end sealed 
 with putty, and the tile which passes 
 through the hole so wedged about with 
 putty, that no water could pass out 
 between it and the outside of the hole. 
 Cover the tile in one hogshead with 
 loose gravel, and then fill it to the top 
 with loose earth. Cover the tile in the 
 other, twenty inches deep, with ordi- 
 nary stiff clay, (not wet enough to 
 puddle, but sufficiently moist to pack 
 well,) and ram it thoroughly, so as 
 to make sure that the tiles are com- 
 pletely clasped, and that there is no 
 crack nor crevice through which water 
 can trickle, and then fill this hogs- 
 head to the top with earth, of the 
 same character with that used in 
 the other case. These hogsheads shoidd stand where 
 the water of a small roof, (as that of a hog-pen,) may 
 be led into them, by an arrangement which shall give 
 an equal quantity to each ; this will give them rather 
 more than the simple rain-fall, but will leave them 
 exposed to the usual climatic changes of the season. A 
 vessel, of a capacity of a quart or more, should be con- 
 nected with each outlet, and covered from the dust,* 
 
 Fig. 88. MAUL FOK 
 RAMMING.
 
 HOW TO MAKB THE DRAINS. 139 
 
 these will act as silt-basins. During the first few storms 
 the water will flow off much more freely from the first 
 barrel ; but, little by little, the second one, as the water 
 finds its way through the clay, and as the occasional dry. 
 ing and repeated filtration make it more porous, will in- 
 crease in its flow until it will, by the end of the season, 
 or, at latest, by the end of the second season, drain as 
 well as the first, if, indeed, that be not by this time some- 
 what obstructed with silt. The amount of accumulation 
 in the vessels at the outlet will show which process has 
 best kept back the silt, and the character of the deposit 
 will show which would most probably be carried off by 
 the gentle flow of water in a nearly level drain. 
 
 It is no argument against this experiment that its results 
 cannot be determined even in a year, for it is not pretended 
 that drains laid in compact clay will dry land so com- 
 pletely during the first month as those which give more 
 free access to the water ; only that they will do so in a 
 comparatively short time ; and that, as drainage is a work 
 for all time, (practically as lasting as the farm itself,) the 
 importance of permanence and good working for long 
 years to come, is out of all proportion to that of the tem- 
 porary good results of one or two seasons, accompanied 
 with doubtful durability. 
 
 It has been argued that surface water will be more 
 readily removed by drains having porous filling. Even if 
 this were true to any important degree, which it is not, 
 it would be an argument against the plan, for the remedy 
 would be worse than the disease. If the water flow from 
 the surface down into the drain, it will not fail to carry 
 dirt with it, and instead of the clear water, which alone 
 should rise into the tiles from below, we should have a 
 trickling flow from above, muddy \\ ith wasted manure 
 and silty earth. 
 
 The remaining filling of the ditch is a matter of sim- 
 Vie labor, and may be done in whatever way may be most
 
 140 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 economical under the circumstances of the work. If the 
 amount to be filled is considerable, so that it is desirable 
 to use horse power, the best way will be to use a scraper, 
 such as is represented in Figure 39, which is a strongly 
 ironed plank, G feet long and 18 inches wide, sharp shod 
 at one side, and supplied with handles at the other. It is 
 propelled by menns of the curved rods, which are at- 
 tached to its under side by flexible joints. These rods 
 are connected by a chain which has links large enough to 
 
 Fig. 39. BOARD SCKAPEK FOR FILLING DITCHES. 
 
 receive the hook of an ox-chain. This scraper may be 
 used for any straight-forward work by attaching the power 
 to the middle of the chain. By moving the hook a few- 
 links to the right or left, it will act somewhat after the 
 manner of the mould-board of a plow, and will, if skill- 
 fully handled, shoot the filling rapidly into the ditch. 
 
 If the work is done bv hand, mix the surface soil and 
 turf with the subsoil filling for the whole depth. If with 
 a scraper, put the surface soil at the bottom of the loose 
 filling, and the subsoil at the top, as this will be an imita- 
 tion, for the limited area of the drains, of the process of 
 " trenching," which is used in garden cultivation. 
 
 When the ditches are filled, they will be higher than 
 the adjoining land, and it will be well to make them still 
 more so by digging or plowing out a small trench at each 
 side of the drain, throwing the earth against the mound, 
 which will prevent surface water, (during heavy rains,) 
 from running into the loose filling before it is sufficiently
 
 HOW TO MAKE THE DRAINS. 
 
 141 
 
 settled. A cross section of a filled drain provided with 
 these ditches is shown in Figure 40. 
 
 In order that the silt-basins may be examined, and their 
 accumulations of earth re- 
 moved, during the early ac- 
 tion of the drains, those parts 
 of the ditches which are over 
 them may be left open, care 
 being taken, by cutting sur- 
 face ditches around them, to 
 prevent the entrance of water 
 from above. During this time 
 the covers of the basins 
 should be kept on, and should 
 be covered with inverted sods 
 to keep loose dirt from get- 
 ting into them. 
 
 40. CROSS-SECTION OF 
 DITCH (FILLED), WITH FUK- 
 UOW AT EACH SIDE. 
 
 Collecting the Water of Springs, The lateral which 
 
 connects with the main drain, A, (Fig. 20,) at the point 
 m, and which is to take the water of the spring at the 
 head of the brook, should not be opened until the main 
 has been completed and filled in to the silt-b:isin, the 
 brook having, meantime, been carried over the other 
 ditches in wooden troughs. This lateral may now be 
 made in the following way: Dig down to the tile of 
 the main, and carry the lateral ditch back, a distance of 
 ten feet. In the bottom of this, place a wooden trough, 
 at least six feet long, laid at such depth that its channel 
 shall be on the exact grade required for laying the tiles, 
 and lay long straw, (held down by weights,) lengthwise 
 within it. Make an opening in the tile of the main and 
 connect the trough with it. The straw will prevent any 
 coarse particles of earth from being carried into the tile, 
 and the flow of the water will be sufficient to carry on to 
 the silt-basin any finer matters. Now open the ditch to
 
 142 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AND 
 
 and beyotd the spring, digging at least a foot below the 
 grade in its immediate vicinity, and filling to the exact 
 grade with small stones, broken bricks, or other suitable 
 material. Lay the tiles from the upper end of the ditch 
 across the stone work, and down to the wooden trough. 
 Now spread a sufficient layer of wood shavings over the 
 stone work to keep the earth from entering it, cover 
 the tiles and fill in the ditch, as before directed, and then 
 remove the straw from the wooden trough and lay tile8 
 in its place. In this way, the water of even a strong 
 spring may be carried into a finished drain without danger. 
 In laying the tile which crosses the stone work, it is well 
 to use full 2^-inch tiles in the place of collars, leaving the 
 joints of these, and of the 1^-inch tiles, (which should 
 join near the middle of the collar tile,) about a quarter of 
 an inch open, to give free entrance to the water. 
 
 The stone and tile drain, H t I, is simply dug out to the 
 surface of the rock, if this is not more than two feet below 
 the grade of the upper ends of the laterals with which it 
 connects, and then filled up with loose stones to the line of 
 grade. If the stones are small, so as to form a good bottom 
 for the tiles, they may be laid directly upon it ; if not, a 
 bottom for them may be made of narrow strips of cheap 
 boards. Before filling, the tiles and stone work should be 
 covered with shavings, and the filling above these should 
 consist of a strong clay, which will remain in place after 
 the shavings rot away. 
 
 Amending the Map, When the tiles are laid, and be 
 fore they are covered, all deviations of the lines, as in pass 
 ing around large stones and other obstructions, which 
 may have prevented the exact execution of the original plan, 
 and the location and kind of each underground silt-basin 
 ihould also be carefully noted, so that they may be trans- 
 ferred to the map, for future reference, in the event of re- 
 pairs becoming necessary. In a short time after the work
 
 HOW TO MAKE TIIE DRAINS. 143 
 
 is finished, the surface of the field will show no trace of 
 the lines of drain, and it should be possible, in case of 
 need, to find any point of the drains with precision, so that 
 no labor will be lost in digging for it. It is much cheapei 
 to measure over the surface than to dig a four foot trench 
 through the ground. 
 
 NOTE. (Third edition.) All that is said in the former chapter on tbe 
 subject of silt basins, should be heeded ouly as modified by what is 
 said on the same subject in Chapter XII and its supplemental note.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HOW TO TAKE CARE OF DRAINS AND DRAINED 
 LAND. 
 
 So far as tile drains are concerned, if they are once well 
 laid, and if the silt-basins have been emptied of silt until 
 the water has ceased to deposit it, they need no care nor 
 attention, beyond an occasional cleaning of the outlet 
 brook. Now and then, from the proximity of willows, or 
 thrifty, young, water-loving trees, a drain will be obstruct- 
 ed by roots ; or, during the first few years after the work 
 is finished, some weak point, a badly laid tile, a loosely 
 fitted connection between the lateral and a main, or an 
 accumulation of silt coming from an undetected and per- 
 sistent vein of quicksand, will be developed, and repairs 
 will have to be made. Except for the slight danger 
 from roots, which must always be guarded against to the 
 extent of allowing no young trees of the dangerous class 
 to grow near a drain through which a constant stream of 
 water flows, it may be fairly assumed that drains which 
 have been kept in order for four or five years have passed 
 the danger of interruption from any cause, and they may 
 be considered entirely safe. 
 
 A drain will often, for some months after it is laid, run 
 muddy water after rains. Sometimes the early deposit of 
 ilt will nearly fill the file, and it will take the water o' 
 144
 
 HOW TO TAKE CABB OF DRAINS. 145 
 
 several storms to wash it out. If the tiles have been laid 
 in packed clay, they cannot long receive silt from without, 
 and that which makes the flow turbid, may be assumed tt 
 come from the original deposit in the conduit. Examina- 
 tions of newly laid drains nave developed many instances 
 where tiles were at first half filled with silt, and three 
 months later were entirely clean. The muddiness of the 
 flow indicates what the doctors call " an effort of nature 
 to relieve herself," and nature may be trusted to succeed, 
 at least, until she abandons the effort. If we are sure that 
 a drain has been well laid, we need feel no anxiety because 
 it fails to take the water from the ground so completely 
 as it should do, until it settles into a flow of clear water 
 after the heaviest storms. 
 
 In the case of an actual stoppage, which will generally 
 be indicated by the " bursting out " of the drain, i. e., the 
 wetting of the land as though there were a spring under 
 it, or as though its water had no underground outlet, 
 (which is the fact,) it will be necessary to lay open the 
 drain until the obstruction is found. 
 
 In this work, the real value of the map will be shown, 
 by the facility which it offers for finding any point of any 
 line of drains, and the exact locality of the junctions with 
 the mains, and of the silt-basins. In laying out the plan 
 on the ground, and in making his map, the surveyor will 
 have had recourse to two or more fixed points ; one of 
 them, in our example, (fig. 21,) would probably be the 
 center of the main silt-basin, and one, a drilled hole or 
 other mark on the rock at the north side of the field. By 
 staking out on the ground the straight line connecting 
 these two points, and drawing a corresponding line on the 
 map, we shall have a base-line, from which it will be easy, 
 by perpendicular offsets, to determine on the ground any 
 point upon the map. By laying a small square on the 
 jaap, with one of its edges coinciding with the base-line, 
 and moving it on this line until the other edge meets the 
 7
 
 148 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 desired point, we fix, at the angle of the square, the point 
 on the base-line from which we are to measure the length 
 of the offset. The next step is to find, (by the scale,) the 
 distance of this point from the nearest end of the base- 
 line, and from the point sought. Then measure off, in the 
 field, the corresponding distance on the base-line, and, from 
 the point thus found, measure on a line perpendicular to 
 the base line, the length of the offset; the point thug 
 indicated will be the locality sought. In the same manner, 
 find another point on the same drain, to give the range on 
 which to stake it out. From this line, the drains which 
 run parallel to it, can easily be found, or it may be used 
 as a base-line, from which, by measuring offsets, to find 
 other points near it. 
 
 The object of this staking is, to find, in an inexpensive 
 and easy way, the precise position of the drains, for which 
 it would be otherwise necessary to grope in the dark, 
 verifying our guesses by digging four-foot trenches, at 
 random. 
 
 If there is a silt-bnsin, or a junction a short distance be- 
 .ow the point where the water shows itself, this will be the 
 best place to dig. If it is a silt-basin, we shall probably 
 find that this has filled up with dirt, and has stopped the 
 flow. In this case it should be cleaned out, and a point 
 of the drain ten feet below it examined. If this is found 
 to be clear, a long, stout wire may be pushed up as far 
 as the basin and worked back and forth until the passage 
 is cleared. Then replace the tile below, and try with the 
 wire to clean the tiles above the basin, so as to tap the 
 water above the obstruction. If this cannot be done, or 
 if the drain ten feet below is clogged, it will be necessary 
 to uncover the tiles in both directions until an opening ia 
 found, and to take up and relay the whole. If the wet- 
 ting of the ground is sufficient to indicate that there if 
 much water in the drain, only five or six tiles should be 
 taken up at a time, cleaned and relaid, commencing at
 
 HOW TO TAKE CARE OF DRAINS. 147 
 
 the .ower end, in order that, when the water ooamences 
 to flow, it may not disturb the bottom of the ditch for the 
 whole distance. 
 
 If the point opened is at a junction with the main, ex- 
 amine both the main and the lateral, to see which is 
 stopped, and proceed with one or the other, as directed 
 above. In doing this work, care should be taken to send 
 as little muddy water as possible into the drain below, and 
 to allow the least possible disturbance of the bottom. 
 
 If silt-basins have been placed at those points at which 
 the fall diminishes, the obstruction will usually be found to 
 occur at the outlets of these, from a piling up of the silt in 
 front of them, and to extend only a short distance below and 
 above. It is not necessary to take up the tiles until they 
 are found to be entirely clean, for, if they are only one- 
 half or one-third full, they will probably be washed clean 
 Dy the rush of water, when that which is accumulated 
 above is tapped. The work should be done in settled fair 
 weather, and the ditches should remain open until the effect 
 of the flow has been observed. If the tiles are made 
 thoroughly clean by the time that the accumulated water 
 has run off, say in 24 hours, they may be covered up ; if 
 not, it may be necessary to remove them again, and clean 
 them by hand. When the work is undertaken it should 
 be thoroughly done, so that the expense of a new opening 
 need not be again incurred. 
 
 It is worse than useless to substitute larger sizes of tiles 
 for those which are taken up. The obstruction, if by silt, 
 is the result of a too sluggish flow, and to enlarge the 
 area of the conduit would only increase the difficulty. If 
 the tiles are too small to carry the full flow which follows 
 a heavy rain, they will be very unlikely to become choked, 
 for the water will then have sufficient force to wash them 
 clean, while if they are much larger than necessary, a de- 
 posit of silt to one half of their height will make a broad,
 
 148 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 flat bod for the stream, which will run with much less 
 force, and will be more likely to increase the deposit. 
 
 If the drains are obstructed by the roots of willows, or 
 other trees, the proprietor must decide whether he will 
 sacrifice the trees or the drains ; both he cannot keep, un- 
 less he chooses to go to the expense of laying in cement 
 all of the drains which carry constant streams, for a dis- 
 tance of at least 50 feet from the dangerous trees. The 
 trouble from trees is occasionally very great, but its occur- 
 rence is too rare for general consideration, and must be 
 met in each case with such remedies as circumstances sug- 
 gest as the best. 
 
 The gratings over the outlets of silt-basins which open 
 at the surface of the ground, are sometimes, during the 
 first year of the drainage, obstructed by a fungoid growth 
 which collects on the cross bars. This should be occasional- 
 ly rubbed off. Its character is not very well understood, 
 and it is rarely observed in old drains. The decomposition 
 of the grass bands which are used to cover the joints of 
 the larger tiles may encourage its formation. 
 
 If the surface soil have a good proportion of sand, 
 gravel, or organic matter, so as to give it the consistency 
 which is known as " loamy," it will bear any treatment 
 which it may chance to receive in cultivation, or as pasture 
 land; but if it be a decided clay soil, no amount of drain- 
 ing will enable us to work it, or to turn cattle upon it 
 when it is wet with recent rains. It will much sooner 
 become dry, because of the drainage, and may much sooner 
 be trodden upon without injury; but wet clay cannot be 
 worked or walked over without being more or less pud- 
 dled, and, thereby, injured for a long time. 
 
 No matter how thoroughly heavy clay pasture lands 
 may be under-drained, the cattle should be removed from 
 them when ! .t rains, and kept off until they are compara- 
 tively dry Neglect of this precaution has probably led
 
 HOW TO TAKE CARE OF DBAIXS. 149 
 
 to more disappointment as to the effects of drainage than 
 any other circumstances connected with it. The injury 
 from this cause does not extend to a great depth, and in 
 the Northern States it would always be overcome by the 
 frosts of a single winter ; as has been before stated, it is 
 confined to stiff clay soils, but as these are the soils which 
 most need draining, the warning given is important.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 WHAT DRAINING COSTS. 
 
 Draining is expensive work. This fact must be accepted 
 as a very stubborn one, by every man who proposes to 
 undertake the improvement. There is no royal road tc 
 tile-laying, and the beginner should count the cost at the 
 outset. A good many acres of virgin land at the West 
 might be bought for what must be paid to get an efficient 
 system of drains laid under a single acre at home. Any 
 man who stops at this point of the argument will probably 
 move West, or do nothing. 
 
 Yet, it is susceptible of demonstration that, even at the 
 West, in those localities where Indian Corn is worth as 
 much as fifty cents per bushel at the farm, it will pay to 
 drain, in the best manner, all such land as is described in 
 the first chapter of this book as in need of draining, Argu- 
 ments to prove this need not be based at all on cheapness 
 of the work; only on its effects and its permanence. 
 
 In filet, so far as draining with tiles is concerned, cheap 
 ness is a delusion and a snare, for the reason that it implies 
 Homething less than the best work, a compromise between 
 excellence and inferiority. The moment that we come 
 down from the best standard, we introduce a new element 
 into the calculation. The sort of tile draining which it is 
 the purpose of this work to advocate is a system so com- 
 150
 
 WHAT DRAINING COSTS. 151 
 
 plete IL every particular, that it may be considered as an 
 absolutely permanent improvement. During the first 
 years of the working of the drains, they will require more 
 or less attention, and some expense for repairs ; but, in 
 well constructed work, these will be very slight, and will 
 soon cease altogether. In proportion as we resort to cheap 
 devices, which imply a neglect of important parts of the 
 work, and a want of thoroughness in the whole, the ex- 
 pense for repairs will increase, and the duration of the use- 
 fulness of the drains'will diminish. 
 
 Drains which are permanently well made, and which 
 will, practically, last for all time, may be regarded as a 
 good investment, the increased crop of each year, paying 
 a good interest on the money that they cost, and the 
 money being still represented by the undiminished value 
 of the improvement. In such a case the draining of the 
 land may be said to cost, not $50 per acre, but the inter- 
 est on $50 each year. The original amount is well in- 
 vested, and brings its yearly dividend as surely as though 
 it were represented by a government bond. 
 
 With badly constructed drains, on the other hand, the 
 case is quite different. In buying land which is subject 
 to no loss in quantity or quality, the fanner considers, not 
 so much the actual cost, as the relation between the yearly 
 interest on the cost, and the yearly profit on the crop, 
 knowing that, a hundred years hence, the land will still be 
 worth his money. 
 
 But if the land were bounded on one side by a river which 
 yearly encroached some feet on its bank, leaving the field 
 a little smaller after each freshet; or if, every spring, some 
 rods square of its surface were sure to be covered three feet 
 deep with stones and sand, so that the actual value of the 
 property became every year less, the purchaser would 
 compare the yearly value of the crops, not only with the 
 interest on the price, but, in addition to this, with so much
 
 152 DRAINING FOE PBOFTT AND HEALTH. 
 
 of the prime value as yearly disappears with tho destruc- 
 tion of the land. 
 
 It is exactly so with the question of the cost of drain- 
 age. If the work is insecurely done, and is liable, in five 
 years or in fifty, to become worthless ; the increase of the 
 'crops resulting from it, must not only cover the yearly 
 interest on the cost, but the yearly depreciation as well. 
 Therefore what may seem at the time of doing the work 
 to be cheapness, is really the greatest extravagance. It is 
 like buiding a brick wall with clay for mortar. The bricks 
 and the workmanship cost full price, and the small saving on 
 the mortar will topple the wall over in a few years, while, 
 if well cemented, it would have lasted for centuries. The 
 cutting and filling of the ditches, and the purchase and 
 transportation of the tiles, will cost the same in every 
 case, and these constitute the chief cost ; if the proper 
 care in grading, tile-laying and covering, and in making 
 outlets be stingily withheld, saving, perhaps, one-tenth 
 of the expense, what might have been a permanent im- 
 provement to the land, may disappear, and the whole out- 
 lay be lost in ten years. A saving of ten per cent, in 
 the cost will have lost us the other ninety in a short time. 
 
 But, while cheapness is to be shunned, economy is to be 
 sought in every item of the work of draining, and should 
 be studied, by proprietor and engineer, from the first ex- 
 amination of the land, to the throwing of the last shovel- 
 ful of earth on to the filling of the ditch. There are few 
 operations connected with the cultivation of the soil in 
 which so much may be imperceptibly lost through neglect, 
 and carelessness about little details, as in tile-draining. In 
 the original levelling of the ground, the adjustment of the 
 lines, the establishing of the most judicious depth and in- 
 clination at each point of the drains, the disposition of 
 surface streams during the prosecution of the work, and in 
 the width of the excavation, the line which divides 
 economy and wastefulness is extremely narrow and the
 
 WHAT DRAINING COSTS. 153 
 
 most constant vigilance, together with the best judgment 
 and foresight, are needed to avoid unnecessary cost. In 
 the laying and covering of the tile, on the other hand, it 
 is best to disregard a little slowness and unnecessary care 
 on the part of the workmen, for the sake of the most per- 
 fect security of the work. 
 
 Details of Cost, The items of the work of drainage 
 may be classified as follows : 
 
 1. Engineering and Superintendence. 
 
 2. Digging the ditches. 
 
 3. Grading the bottoms. 
 
 4. Tile and tile-laying. 
 
 5. Covering the tile and filling the ditches. 
 
 6. Outlets and silt-basins. 
 
 1. Engineering and Superintendence, It is not easy to 
 say what would be the proper charge for this item of the 
 work. In England, the Commissioners under the Drain- 
 age Acts of Parliament, and the Boards of Public Works, 
 fix the charge for engineering at $1.25 per acre. That is in a 
 country where the extent of lands undergoing the process 
 of draining is very great, enabling one person to superin- 
 tend large tracts in the same neighborhood at the same 
 time, and with little or no outlay for travelling expenses. 
 In this country, where the improvement is, thus far, con- 
 fined to small areas, widely separated ; and where there 
 are comparatively few engineers who make a specialty of 
 the work, the charge for services is necessarily much 
 higher, and the amount expended in travelling much 
 greater. In most cases, the proprietor of the land must 
 qualify himself to superintend his own operations, (with 
 the aid of a country surveyor, or a railroad engineer,in the 
 necessary instrumental work.) As draining becomes more 
 general, the demand for professional assistance will, with- 
 out doubt, cause local engineers to turn their attention to 
 the subject, and their services may be more cheaply ob- 
 tained. At present, it would probably not be prudent to 
 7*
 
 154 DRAINING FOB PROFIT ANP HEALTH. 
 
 estimate the cost of engineering and superintendence, in- 
 cluding the time and skill of the proprietor, at less than 
 $5 per acre, even where from 20 to 50 acres are to be 
 drained at once. 
 
 2. Digging the Ditches. The labor required for tba 
 various operations constitutes the principal item of cost in 
 draining, and the price of labor is now so diiferent in dif- 
 ferent localities, and so unsettled in all, that it is difficult 
 to determine a rate which would be generally fair. It will 
 be assumed that the average wages of day laborers of the 
 class employed in digging ditches, is $1.50 per day, and 
 the calculation will have to be changed for different dis- 
 tricts, in proportion to the deviation of the actual rate of 
 wages from this amount. There is a considerable advan- 
 tage in having the work done at some season, (as after the 
 summer harvest, or late in the fall,) when wages are com- 
 paratively low. 
 
 The cutting of the ditches should always be let by the 
 rod. When working at day's work, the men will invariably 
 open them wider than is necessary, for the sake of the 
 greater convenience of working, and the extra width 
 causes a corresponding waste of labor. 
 
 A 4-foot ditch, in most soils, need be only 20 inches wide 
 at the surface, and 4 inches at the bottom. This gives a 
 mean width of 12 inches, and requires the removal of 
 nearly cubic yards of earth for each rod of ditch ; but 
 an increase to a mean width of 16 inches, (which dsy 
 workmen will usually reach, while piece workmen almost 
 never will,) requires the removal of 3 cubic yards to the 
 rod. As the increased width is usually below the middle 
 of the drain, the extra earth will all have to be raised from 
 2 to 4 feet, and the extra f yards will cost as much as a 
 full yard taken evenly from the whole side, from top to 
 bottom. 
 
 In clay soils, free from stones or u hard pan," bat so 
 stiff as to require considerable picking, ordinary workmen,
 
 WHAT DRAINING COSTS. 
 
 155 
 
 after a little practice, will be able to dig 3| rods of ditch 
 per day, to an average depth of 3.80, leaving from 2 to 
 3 inches of the bottom of 4-foot ditches to be finished by 
 the graders. This makes the cost of digging about 43 
 cents per rod. In loamy soil the cost will be a liltle lesa 
 than this, and in very hard ground, a little more. In 
 sandy and peaty soils, the cost will not be more than 30 
 cents. Probably 43 cents would be a fair average for soils 
 requiring drainage, throughout the country. 
 
 This is about 17 cents for each yard of earth removed. 
 
 In soft ground, the caving in of the banks will require a 
 much greater mean width than 12 inches to be thrown out, 
 and, if the accident could not have been prevented by 
 ordinary care on the part of the workman, (using the brac- 
 ing boards shown in Fig. 28,) he should receive extra pay 
 for the extra work. In passing around large stones it may 
 also be necessary to increase the width. 
 
 The following table will facilitate the calculations for 
 such extra work: 
 
 CUBIC YARDS OF EXCAVATION IN DITCHES OF VARIOUS WIDTH. 
 
 Length of Ditch. 
 
 12 Inches 
 Wide. 
 
 18 Inches 
 Wide. 
 
 24 Inches 
 Wide. 
 
 30 Inches 
 Wide. 
 
 36 Inches 
 Wide. 
 
 1 Yard 
 1 Rod 
 
 Yds. Feet. 
 12 
 2 12 
 
 Yds. Feet. 
 18 
 3 18 
 
 Yds. Feet. 
 24 
 4 24 
 
 Yds. Feet. 
 1 3 
 6 3 
 
 Yds. Feet. 
 1 9 
 7 9 
 
 Men will, in most soils, work best in couples, one 
 shovelling out the earth, and working forward, and the 
 other, (moving backward,) loosening the earth with a 
 spade or foot-pick, (Fig. 41.) In stony land, the men should 
 be required to keep their work well closed up, excava 
 ting to the full depth as they go. Then, if they strike a 
 stone too large to be taken out within the terms of their 
 contract, they can skip a sufficient distance to pass it, and 
 the digging of the omitted part may be done by a faithful 
 day workman. This will usually be cheaper and more 
 iatisfactory than to paj the contractors for extra work.
 
 156 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 Concerning the amount of work that one man can do 
 in a day, in different soils, digging ditches 4 feet deep, 
 French says : " In the writer's own field, 
 " where the pick was used to loosen the lower 
 " two feet of earth, the labor of opening and 
 il " filling drains 4 feet deep, and of the mean 
 " width of 14 inches, all by hand labor, has 
 " been, in a mile of drains, being our first ex- 
 " periments, about one day's labor to 3 rods 
 " in length. The excavated earth of such a 
 " drain measures not quite 3 cubic yards, 
 " (exactly, 2.85.)" In a subsequent work, 
 in a sandy soil, two men opened, laid, and 
 refilled 14 rods in one day ; the mean width 
 being 12 inches.* 
 
 " In the same season, the same men opened, 
 " laid, and filled 70 rods of 4- foot drain of 
 " the same mean width of 12 inches, in the Fig. 41.-FOOT 
 "worst kind of clay soil, where the pick PICK - 
 " was constantly used. It cost 35 days' labor to complete 
 " the job, being 50 cents per rod for the labor alone." Or, 
 under the foregoing calculation of $1.50 per day, 75 
 cents per rod. These estimates, in common with nearly 
 all that are published, are for the entire work of digging, 
 grading, tile-laying, and refilling. Deducting the time re- 
 quired for the other work, the result will be about as 
 above estimated ; for the rough excavation, 3^ rods to the 
 day's work, costing, at $1.50 per day, 43 cents to the rod. 
 
 Grading is the removal of 2 or 3 inches in depth, and 
 about 4 inches in width, of the soil at the bottom of the 
 ditch. It is chiefly done with the finishing scoop, which, 
 (being made of t\vo thin plates, one of iron and one of 
 steel, welded together, the iron wearing away and leaving 
 
 * Surely such soil ought not to require thorough draining; where men 
 can go so easily, water ought to find its way alone.
 
 WHAT DEAINING COSTS. 151 
 
 the sharp steel edge always prominent,) will work in a 
 ve-'y hard clay without the aid of the pick. Three men, 
 the one in the ditch being a skillful workman, and the 
 others helping him when not sighting the rods, will grade 
 about 100 rods per day, making the cost about 6 cents per 
 rod. Until they acquire the skill to work thus rapidly, they 
 should not be urged beyond what they can readily do in 
 the best manner, as this operation, (which is the preparing 
 of the foundation for the tiles,) is probably the most im- 
 portant of the whole work of draining. 
 
 Tiles and Tile-Laying. After allowing for breakage, it 
 will take about 16 tiles and 16 collars to lay a rod in 
 length of drain. The cost of these will, of course, be 
 very much affected by the considerations of the nearness 
 of the tile-kiln and the cost of transportation. They 
 should, in no ordinary case, cost, delivered on the ground, 
 more than $8 per thousand for 1^-inch tiles, and $4 per 
 thousand for the collars, making a total of $12 for both, 
 equal to about 19 cents per rod. The laying of the tiles, 
 may be set down at 2 cents per rod, based on a skilled 
 man laying 100 rods daily, and receiving $2 per day. 
 
 Covering and filling will probably cost 10 cents per 
 rod, (if the scraper, Fig. 39, can be successfully used for 
 the rough filling, the cost will be reduced considerably 
 below this.) 
 
 The four items of the cost of making one rod of lateral 
 drain are as follows : 
 
 Digging the ditches - .43 
 
 Grading .06 
 
 Tiles and laying -.21 
 
 Covering and filling - - .10 
 
 .80 cts. 
 
 If the drains are placed at intervals of 40 feet, there are 
 required 64 rods to the acre, this at 80 cents per rod will 
 make the cost per acre, for the above items, $51.20.
 
 158 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 How much should be allowed for maiu drains, outlets, 
 and silt-basins, it is impossible to say, as, on irregular 
 ground, no two fields will require the same Amount of this 
 sort of work. On very even land, where the whole sur- 
 face, for hundreds of acres, slopes gradually in one or two 
 directions, the outlay for mains need not be more than 
 two per cent, of the cost of the laterals. This would allow 
 laterals of a uniform length of 800 feet to discharge into 
 the main line, at intervals of 40 feet, if we do not con- 
 sider the trifling extra cost of the larger tiles. On less 
 regular ground, the cost of mains will often be considera- 
 bly more than two per cent, of the cost of the laterals ; 
 but in some instances the increase of main lines will be 
 fully compensated for by the reduction in the length of 
 the laterals, which, owing to rocks, hills too steep to need 
 drains at regular intervals, and porous, (gravelly,) streaks 
 in the land, cannot be profitably made to occupy the whole 
 area so thoroughly.* 
 
 Probably 7 per cent, of the cost of the laterals for 
 mains, outlets, and silt-basins will be a fair average allow- 
 ance. 
 
 This will bring the total cost of the work to about $60 
 per acre, made up as follows : 
 
 Cost of the finished drains per acre - - $51.20 
 7 per cent, added for mains, etc. - - - 3.83 
 Engineering and Superintendence - - - 5.00 
 
 Of course this is an arbitrary calculation, an estimate 
 without a single ascertained fact to go upon, but it is as 
 
 *The land shown in Fig. 21, is especially irregular, and, for the pur 
 pose of illustrating the principles up^n which the work should be done, 
 an effort has been made to make the work as complete as possible in all 
 particulars. In actual work on a field similar to that, it would not 
 probably be good economy to make all the drains laid in the plan, but 
 as deviations from the plan would depend on conditions which cannot 
 well be shown on such a small scale, they are disregarded, and the sy 
 tern of drains is made as it would be if it were all plain sailing.
 
 WHAT DRAINING COSTS. 159 
 
 close as it can be made to what would probably be the 
 cost of the best work, on average ground, at the present 
 high prices of labor and material. Five years ago the 
 same work could have been done for from $40 to $45 per 
 acre, and it will be again cheaper when wages fall, and 
 when a greater demand for draining tiles shall have caused 
 more competition in their manufacture. With a large 
 general demand, such as has existed in England for the last 
 20 years, they would now be sold for one-half of their pre- 
 sent price here, and the manufacture would be more profi- 
 table, [This estimate was made in 1866.] 
 
 There are many light lands on retentive subsoils, which 
 could be drained, at present prices, for $50 or less per acre, 
 and there are others, which are very hard to dig, on which 
 thorough-draining could not now be done for $60. 
 
 The cost and the promise of the operation in each in- 
 stance, must guide the land owner in deciding whether or 
 not to undertake the improvement. 
 
 In doubtful cases, there is one compromise which may 
 be safely made, that is, to omit each alternate drain, and 
 defer its construction until labor is cheaper. 
 
 This is doing half the work, a very different thing 
 from half-doing the work. In such cases, the lines should 
 be laid out as though they were to be all done at once, and, 
 finally, when the omitted drains are made, it should be in 
 pursuance of the original plan. Probably the drains which 
 are laid will produce more than one-half of the benefit 
 that would result if they were all laid, but they will rarely 
 be satisfactory, except as a temporary expedient, and the 
 saving will be less than would at first seem likely, for when 
 the second drams are laid ; the cultivation of the land 
 must be again interrupted; the draining force must be 
 again brought together; the levels of the new lines must 
 be taken, and connected with those of the old ones ; and 
 great care must be taken, selecting the dryest weather foi
 
 160 DBAJNCfG FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 the work, to admit very little, if any, muddy water into 
 the old mains. 
 
 This practice of draining by installments is not recom 
 mended ; it is only suggested as an allowable expedient, 
 when the cost of the complete work could not be borne 
 without inconvenience. 
 
 If any staid and economical farmer is disposed to be 
 alarmed at the cost of draining, he is respectfully re- 
 minded of the miles of expensive stone walls and other 
 fences, in New England and many other parts of the 
 country, which often are a real detriment to the farms, oc- 
 cupying, with their accompanying bramble bushes and 
 head lands, acres of valuable land, and causing great 
 waste of time in turning at the ends of short furrows in 
 plowing ; while they produce no benefit at all adequate 
 to their cost and annoyance. 
 
 It should also be considered that, just as the cost of 
 fences is scarcely felt by the farmer, being made when hia 
 teams and hands could not be profitably employed in or- 
 dinary farming operations, so the cost of draining will be 
 reduced in proportion to the amount of the work which 
 he can " do within himself," without hiring men ex- 
 pressly for it. The estimate herein given is based on the 
 supposition that men are hired for the work, at wagea 
 equal to $1.50 per day, while draining would ofter 
 furnish a great advantage to the farmer in giving employ- 
 ment to farm hands who are paid and subsisted by the year.
 
 CHARTER VH. 
 
 "WILL IT PAY?" 
 
 Starting with the basis of $60, as the cost of draining 
 an acre of ordinary farm land ; what is the prospect that 
 the work will prove remunerative ? 
 
 In all of the older States, farmers are glad to lend their 
 surplus funds, on bond and mortgage on their neighbors' 
 farms, with interest at the rate of 7, and often 6 per cent. 
 
 In view of the fact that a little attention must be given 
 each year to the outlets, and, to the silt-basins, as well, 
 for the first few years, it will be just to charge for the use 
 of the capital 8 per cent. 
 
 This will make a yearly charge on the land, for the bene- 
 fits resulting from such a system of draining as has been 
 described, OF FIVE DOLLARS PER ACRE. 
 
 Will it Pay? Will the benefits accruing, year after 
 year, in wet seasons and in dry, with root crops and 
 with grain, with hay and with fruit, in rotations of crops 
 and in pasture, be worth $5 an acre ? 
 
 On this question depends the value of tile-draining as a 
 practical improvement, for if there is a self-evident prop- 
 osition in agriculture, it is that what is not profitable, 
 one year with another, is not practical 
 
 To counterbalance the charge of $5, as the yearly cost 
 161
 
 162 DBAINING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 of the draining, each acre must produce, in addition ta 
 what it would have yielded without the improvement : 
 
 10 bushels of Corn at .50 pei bushel 
 
 3 " " Wheat "$1.66 " " 
 
 5 " Rye " 1.00 " " 
 
 12 " " Oats tt .40 " " 
 
 10 " " Potatoes " .50 " 
 
 6| " " Barley " .75 " 
 
 1,000 pounds " Hay " 10.00 ton. 
 
 50 " " 'Cotton " .10 " pound 
 
 20 u " Tobacco " .25 " " 
 
 Surely this is not a large increase, not in a single case, 
 and the prices are generally less than may be expected 
 for years to come. 
 
 The United States Census Report places the average 
 crop of Indian Corn, in Indiana and Illinois, at 33 bushels 
 per acre. In New York it was but 27 bushels, and in Penn- 
 sylvania but 20 bushels. It would certainly be accounted 
 extremely liberal to fix the average yield of such soils as 
 need draining, at 30 bushels per acre. It is extremely un- 
 likely that they would yield this, in the average of seasons, 
 with the constantly recurring injury from backward 
 springs, summer droughts, and early autumn frosts. 
 
 Heavy, retentive soils, which are cold and late in the 
 spring,subject to hard baking in midsummer, and to become 
 cold and wet in the early fall, are the very ones which are 
 best suited, when drained, to the growth of Indian Corn. 
 Tbey are " strong " and fertile, and should be able to 
 absorb, and to prepare for the use of plants, the manure 
 which is applied to them, and the fertilizing matters which 
 are brought to them by each storm ; but they cannot prop- 
 erly exercise the functions of fertile soils, for the reason 
 that they are strangled with water, chilled by evaporation, 
 or baked to almost brick-bike hardness, during nearly the 
 whole period of the growth and ripening of the crop.
 
 WILL IT PAT? 163 
 
 The manure which has been added to them, as well as their 
 own chemical constituents, are prevented from undergoing 
 those changes which are necessary to prepare them for the 
 uses of vegetation. The water of rains, finding the spaces 
 in the soil already occupied by the water of previous rains, 
 cannot enter to deposit the gases which it contains, or, 
 if the soil has been dried by evaporation under the influ- 
 ence of sim and wind, the surface is almost hermetically 
 sealed, and the water is only slowly soaked up, much of 
 it running off over the surface, or lying to be removed 
 by the slow and chilling process of evaporation. In wet 
 times and in dry, the air, with its heat, its oxygen, and ita 
 carbonic acid, (its universal solvent,) is forbidden to enter 
 and do its beneficent work. The benefit resulting from 
 cultivating the surface of the ground is counteracted by 
 the first unfavorable change of the weather ; a single heavy 
 rain, by saturating the soil, returning it to nearly its ori- 
 ginal condition of clammy compactness. In favorable 
 seasons, these difficulties are lessened, but man has no con- 
 trol over the seasons, and to-morrow may be as foul as 
 to-day has been fair. A crop of corn on undrained, reten- 
 tive ground, is subject to injury from disastrous changes 
 of the weather, from planting until harvest. Even sup- 
 posing that, in the most favorable seasons, it would yield 
 as largely as though the ground were drained, it would 
 lose enough in unfavorable seasons to reduce the average 
 more than ten (10) bushels per acre 
 
 The average crop, on such land, has been assumed to be 
 30 bushels per acre ; it would be an estimate as moderate 
 as this one is generous, to say that, with the same cultiva- 
 tion and the same manure, the average crop, after drain- 
 ing, would be 50 bushels, or an increase equal to twice as 
 much as is needed to pay the draining charge. If the 
 method of cultivation is improved, by deep plowing, am- 
 ple manuring, and thorough working, all of which may 
 be more profitably applied to drained than to undrained
 
 164 DRAINING FOB PKOFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 laud, the average crop, of a series of years, will not 
 be less than 60 bushels. 
 
 The cost of extra harvesting will be more than rejaid 
 by the value of the extra fodder, and the increased culti- 
 vation and manuring are lasting benefits, which can be 
 charged, only in small part, to the current crop. There- 
 fore, if it will pay to plow, plant, hoe and harvest for 30 
 bushels of corn, it will surely pay much better to double 
 the crop at a yearly extra cost of $5, and, practically, it 
 amounts to this ; the extra crop is nearly all clear gain. 
 
 The quantity of Wheat required to repay the annual 
 charge for drainage is so small, that no argument is needed 
 to show that any process which will simply prevent 
 " throwing out " in winter, and the failure of the plant in 
 the wetter parts of the field, will increase the product 
 more than that amount, to say nothing of the general 
 importance to this crop of having the land in the most 
 perfect condition, (in winter as well as in summer.) 
 
 It is stated thai, since the general introduction of drain- 
 age in England, (within the past 25 years,) the wheat 
 crop of that country has been more than doubled. Of 
 course, it does not necessarily follow that the amount per 
 acre has been doubled, large areas which were originally 
 unfit for the growth of this crop, having been, by draining, 
 excellently fitted for its cultivation ; but there can be no 
 doubt that its yield has been greatly increased on all 
 drained lands, nor that large areas, which, before being 
 drained, were able to produce fair crops only in the best 
 eeasons, are now made very nearly independent of the 
 weather. 
 
 It is not susceptible of demonstration, but it is undoubt- 
 edly true, that those clay or other heavy soils, which are 
 devoted to the growth of wheat in this country, would, 
 if they were thoroughly under-drained, produce on the 
 average of years, at least double their present crop. 
 
 Mr. John Johnston, a venerable Scotch farmer, who has
 
 WILL IT PAY? 165 
 
 long Leon a successful cultivator in the Wheat region of 
 Western New York, and who was almost the pioneer of 
 tile-draining in America, has laid over 50 miles of drains 
 within the last 30 years. His practice is described m 
 Khppart's Land Drainage, from which work we quote the 
 following : 
 
 " Mr. Johnston says he never saw 100 acres in any one 
 " farm, but a portion of it would pay for draining. Mr. 
 " Johnston is no rich man who has carried a favorite hobby 
 " without regard to cost or profit. He is a hardworking 
 " Scotch farmer, who commenced a poor man, borrowed 
 " money to drain his land, has gradually extended his 
 " operations, and is now reaping the benefits, in having 
 " crops of 40 bushels of wheat to the acre. He is a gray- 
 " haired Nestor, who, after accumulating the experience 
 " of a long life, is now, at 68 years of age, written to by 
 " strangers in every State of the Union for information, 
 " not only in drainage matters, but all cognate branches 
 " of farming. He sits in his homestead, a veritable Hum- 
 " boldt in his way, dispensing information cheerfully 
 " through our agricultural papers and to private corres- 
 " pendents, of whom he has recorded 164 who applied to 
 " him last year. His opinions are, therefore, worth more 
 " than those of a host of theoretical men, wno write with 
 " out practice." ************ 
 
 "Although his farm is mainly devoted to wheat, yet a 
 " considerable area of meadow and some pasture has been 
 "retained. He now owns about 300 acres of land. The 
 " yield of wheat has been 40 bushels this year, and in for- 
 " mer seasons, when his neighbors were reaping 8, 10, or 
 15 bushels, he has had 30 and 40." ***** 
 
 " Mr. Johnston says tile-draining pays for itself in two 
 " seasons, sometimes in one. Thus, in 1847, he bought a 
 " piece of 10 acres to get an outlet for his drains. It was 
 "a perfect quagmire, covered with coarse aquatic grasses, 
 " aad so unfruitful that it would not give back the
 
 166 DRAINING FOE PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 u sown upon it. In 1 848 a crop of corn was taken from it, 
 " which was measured and found to be eighty bushels pei 
 " acre, and as, because of the Irish famine, corn was wort j 
 " $1 per bushel tha* year, this crop paid not only all the ex- 
 " pense of drainage, but the first cost of the land as well. 
 
 " Another piece of 20 acres, adjoining the farm of the 
 " late John Delafield, was wet, and would never bring 
 " more than 10 bushels of corn per acre. This was drained 
 " at a great cost, nearly $30 per acre. The first crop after 
 " this was 83 bushels and some odd pounds per acre. It 
 " was weighed and measured by Mr. Delafield, and the 
 " County Society awarded a premium to Mr. Johnston. 
 " Eight acres and some rods of this land, at one side, aver- 
 44 aged 94 bushels, or the trifling increase of 84 bushels 
 " per acre over what it would bear before those insignifi- 
 " cant clay tiles were buried in the ground. But this in- 
 " crease of crop is not the only profit of drainage ; for Mr. 
 " Johnston says that, on drained land, one half the usua. 
 " quantity of manure suffices to give maximum crops. It 
 " is not difficult to find a reason for this. When the soi. 
 " is sodden with water, air can not enter to any extent, 
 " and hence oxygen can not eat off the surfaces of soil- 
 44 ^articles and prepare food for plants; thus the plant 
 " must in great measure depend on the manure for suste- 
 " nance, and, of course, the more this is the case, the more 
 " manure must be applied to get good crops. This is one 
 ** reason, but there are others which we might adduce if 
 44 one good one were not sufficient. 
 
 " Mr. Johnston says he never made money until he 
 44 drained, and so convinced is he of the benefits accruing 
 " from the practice, that he would not hesitate, as he did 
 " not when the result was much more uncertain than at 
 14 present, to borrow money to drain. Drains well laid, 
 " endure, but unless a farmer intends doing the job well, 
 " he had best leave it alone and grow poor, and move out 
 and all that sort of thing. Occupiers of appar
 
 WILL IT PAT? 167 
 
 " ently dry land are not safe in concluding that they need 
 " not go to the expense of draining, for if they will but 
 " dig a three-foot ditch in even the driest soil, water will 
 " be found in the bottom at the end of eight hours, and 
 " if it does come, then draining will pay for itself 
 " speedily." 
 
 Some years ago, the Rural New Yorker published a 
 letter from one of its correspondents from which the fol- 
 lowing is extracted - 
 
 " I recollect calling upon a gentleman in the harvest field, when some- 
 thing like the following conversation occurred : 
 
 4 Your wheat, sir, looks very fine ; how many acres have you in this 
 field ? ' 
 
 ' lu the neighborhood of eight, I judge.- 
 
 4 Did you sow upon fallow T ' 
 
 4 No sir. We turned over green sward sowed immediately upon the 
 sod, and drugged it thoroughly and you see the yield will probably be 
 35 bushels to the acre, where it is not too wet.' 
 
 4 Yes sir, it is mostly very tine. I observed a thin strip through it, 
 but did not notice that it was wet.' 
 
 4 Well, it is not very wet. Sometimes after a rain, the water runs 
 across it, and in spring and fall it is just wet enough to heave the wheat 
 and kill it.' 
 
 I inquired whether a couple of good drains across the lot would not 
 render it dry. 
 
 4 Perhaps so but there is not over an acre that is killed out' 
 
 4 Have you made an estimate cf the loss you annually sustain fiom 
 this wet place ? ' 
 
 4 No, I had not thought much about it.' 
 
 4 Would $30 be too high ? ' 
 
 4 yes, double.' 
 
 4 Well, let's see ; it cost you $3 to turn over the sward? Two bush- 
 els of seed, $2 ; harrowing in, 75 cents ; interest, taxes, and fences, 
 $5 25 ; 25 bushels of wheat lost, $25.' 
 
 ' Deduct for harvesting ' 
 
 4 No ; the straw would pay for that' 
 
 4 Very well, all footed $36.' 
 
 4 What will the wheat and straw on this acre be worth this year f ' 
 
 4 Nothing, as I shall not cut the ground over.' 
 
 4 Then it appears that you have lost, in what you have actually ex- 
 pen led, and the wheat you would have harvested, had the ground bee* 
 dry $36, a pretty large sum for one acre.' 
 
 ' Yes I s<,' said the farmer."
 
 168 DBJLLN'ING FOB PBOFTT AND HEALTH. 
 
 While Rye n.ay be grown, with tolerable advantage, on 
 lands which are less perfectly drained than is necessary 
 for Wheat, there can be no doubt that an increase of more 
 than the six and two-thirds bushels needed to make up the 
 drainage charge will be the result of the improvement. 
 
 While Oats will thrive in soils which are too wet for 
 many other crops, the ability to plant early, which is se- 
 cured by an early removal from the soil of its surplus wa- 
 ter, will ensure, one year with another, more than twelve 
 and a half bushels of increased product. 
 
 In the case of Potatoes, also, the early planting will be 
 a great advantage ; and, while the cause of the potato-rot 
 is not yet clearly discovered, it is generally conceded 
 that, even if it does not result directly from too great 
 wetness of the soil, its development is favored by this 
 condition, either from a direct action on the tubers, or 
 from the effect in the air immediately about the plants, 
 of the exhalations of a humid soil. 
 
 An increase of from five to ten per cent, on a very or- 
 dinary crop of potatoes, will cover the drainage charge, 
 and, with facilities for marketing, the higher price of the 
 earlier yield is of much greater consequence. 
 
 Barley will not thrive in wet soil, and there is no ques- 
 tion that drainage would give it much more than the in- 
 creased yield prescribed above. 
 
 As to hay, there are many wet, rich soils which produce 
 very large crops of grass, and it is possible that drainage 
 might not always cnuse them to yield a thousand pounds 
 more of hay to the acre, but the quality of the hay from 
 the drained soil, would, of itself, more than compensate 
 for the drainage charge. The great benefit of the im- 
 provement, with reference to this crop, however, lies in 
 the fact that, although wet, grass lands, and by " wet" is 
 meant the condition of undrained, retentive clays, and 
 heavy loams, or other soils requiring drainage, in a very 
 few years " run out," ot become occupied by semi-aquatic
 
 WILL IT PAY? 109 
 
 and other objectionable plants, to the exclusion of the 
 proper grasses; the same lands, thoroughly drained, may 
 be kept in full yield of the finest hay plants, as long as the 
 ground is properly managed. It must, of course, be ma- 
 nured, from time to time, and care should be taken to pre- 
 vent the puddling of its surface, by men or animals, 
 while it is too wet from recent rain. With proper atten- 
 tion to these points, it need not be broken up in a lifetime, 
 and it may be relied on to produce uniformly good crops, 
 always equal to the best obtained before drainage. 
 
 So far as Cotton and Tobacco are concerned, there are 
 not many instances recorded of the systematic drainage 
 of lands appropriated to their cultivation, but there is 
 every reason to suppose that they will both be benefitted 
 by any operation which will have the effect of placing the 
 soil in a better condition for the uses of all cultivated 
 plants. The average crop of tobacco is about 700 Ibs., 
 and that of cotton probably 250 Ibs. An addition of one- 
 fifth to the cotton crop, and of only one thirty-fifth to the 
 tobacco crop, would make the required increase. 
 
 The failure of the cotton crop, during the past season, 
 (1866,) might have been entirely prevented, in many dis- 
 tricts, liy the thorough draining of the land. 
 
 The advantages claimed for drainage with reference to 
 the above-named staple crops, will apply with equal, if not 
 greater force, to all garden and orchard culture. In fact, 
 with the exception of osier willows, and cranberries, there 
 is scarcely a cultivated plant which will not yield larger 
 and better crops on drained than on undrained land, 
 enough better, and enough larger, to pay much more than 
 the interest on the cost of the improvement. 
 
 Yet, this advantage of draining, is, by no means, the 
 only one which is worthy of consideration. Since the 
 object of cultivation is to produce remunerative crops, of 
 course, the larger and better the crops, the more completely 
 is the object attained ; and to this extent the greatest 
 8
 
 170 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 benefit resulting from draining, lies in the increased yield, 
 But there is another advantage, a material and mora 
 advantage, which is equally to be considered. 
 
 Instances of the profit resulting from under-draining, 
 (coupled, as it almost always is, with improved cultiva- 
 tion,) are frequently published, and it would be easy to 
 fortify this chapter with hundreds of well authenticated 
 cases. It is, however, deemed sufficient to quote the fol- 
 lowing, from an old number of one of the New York 
 dailies : 
 
 " Some years ago, the son of an English farmer came to the United 
 States, aud let himself as a farm laborer, in New York State, on the fol- 
 lowing conditions: Commencing work at the first of September, he wa 
 to work ten hours a day for three years, and to receive in payment a 
 deed of a field containing twelve acres securing himself by an agree- 
 ment, by which his employer was put under bonds of $2,000 to fulfill his 
 part of the contract ; also, during these three years, he was to have the 
 control of the field; to work it at his own expense, and to give his em- 
 ployer one-half the proceeds. The field lay under the south side of a 
 hill, was of dark, heavy clay resting on a bluish-colored, solid clay sub- 
 soil, and for many years previous, had not been knowc to yield anything 
 but a yellowish, hard, stunted vegetation. 
 
 " The farmer thought the young man was a simpleton, and that he, 
 himself, was most wise and fortunate; but the former, nothing daunted 
 by this opinion, which he was not unconscious that the latter entertain 
 ed of him, immediately hired a set of laborers, and set them to work it 
 the field trenching, as earnestly us it was well possible for men to labor. 
 In the morning and evening, before and after having worked his ten 
 hours, as per agreement, he worked with them, and continued to work 
 in this way until, about the middle of the following November, he had 
 finished the laying of nearly 5,000 yards of good tile under-drains. He 
 then had the field plowed deep and thoroughly, and the earth thrown up 
 as much as possible into ridges, and thus let it remain during the win- 
 ter. Next spring he had the field again plowed as before, then cross- 
 plowed and thoroughly pulverized with a heavy harrow, then sowed it 
 with oats and clover. The yield was excellent nothing to be compared 
 to it had ever before been seen upon that field. Next year it gave two 
 crops of clover, of a rich dark green, and enormously heavy and luxuri- 
 ant; and the year following, after beinir manured at an expense of some 
 $7 an acre, nine acres of the field yielded 936 bushels of corn, and 35 
 wagon loais of pumpkins ; while from the remaining three acres wer 
 taken 100 bushels of potatoes the return of this crop being upwards 
 Of $1,200. The time had now come for the field to fall into the yr an*
 
 WILL IT PAT? 171 
 
 'b T><V ession, and the farmer unhesitatingly offered him $1,50G to 
 h Jw title to it ; and when this was unhesitatingly refused, jt 
 t, COO, which was accepted. 
 
 lbs young man's account stood thus 
 
 Half proceMsof oats and straw, first year $J66 
 
 Half value of sheep pasturage, first year. 25 JO 
 
 Halt cf fir 01 crops of clover, first year 112 50 
 
 UP If of se^nd crops of clover, including seed, second year. . . 135 00 
 
 Half of sheep pasturage, second year 15 00 
 
 Half of croi s of corn, pumpkins and potatoes, third year 690 00 
 
 Received fr< <n farmer, for rtlinquishment of title 2,000 00 
 
 ACC/M at Dr. $3,142 50 
 
 To nnrter-d lining, labor and tiles $325 00 
 
 To labor a 1 manure, three seasons 475 00 
 
 To labo gl en to farmer, $16 per month, 86 months .... 576 001,376 OP 
 
 Balar;ein his favor $1,766 50 
 
 Draining makes the farmer, to a great extent, the 
 master of his vocation. With a sloppy, drenched, cold, 
 uncongenial soil, which is saturated with every rain, and 
 takes d ye, and even weeks, to become sufficiently dry to 
 work iijor, his efforts are constantly baffled by unfavora- 
 ble weatuor, at those times when it is most important that 
 his work proceed without interruption. Weeks are lost, 
 at a seast n when they are all too short for the work to be 
 done. Tie ground must be hurriedly, and imperfectly 
 prepared, a,nd the seed is put in too late, often to rot in the 
 over-soaked soil, requiring the field to be planted again at 
 a time vvlich makes it extremely doubtful whether the 
 crop will ripen before the frost destroys it. 
 
 The ntcessary summer cultivation, between the rows, 
 has to be done as the weather permits ; and much moro 
 of it is required because of the baking of the ground. 
 The wLole life of the farmer, in fact, becomes a constant 
 struggle -with nature, and he fights always at a disadvan 
 tage. What he does by the work of days, is mainly un- 
 done by a single night's storm. Weeds grow apace, and 
 the land is too wet to admit of their being exterminated. 
 By the time that it is dry enough, "ther pressing work
 
 172 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 occupies the time ; and if, finally, a day comes when thej 
 may be attacked, they offer ten times the resistance that 
 they would have done a week earlier. The operations of 
 the farm are carried on more expensively than if the 
 ability to work constantly allowed a smaller force to be 
 employed. The crops which give such doubtful promise, 
 require the same cultivation as though they were certain 
 to be remunerative, and the work can be done only with 
 increased labor, because of the bad condition of the soil. 
 
 From force of tradition and of habit, the farmer accepts 
 his fate and plods through his hard life, piously ascribing 
 to the especial interference of an inscrutable Providence, 
 the trials which come of his own neglect to use the means 
 of relief which Providence has placed within his reach 
 
 Trouble enough he must have, at any rate, but not nec- 
 essarily all that he now has. It is not within the scope 
 of the best laid drains to control storm or sunshine, but 
 it is within their power to remove the water of the storm, 
 rapidly and sufficiently, and to allow the heat of the sun- 
 shine to penetrate the soil and do its hidden work. No 
 human improvement can change any of the so-called 
 "phenomena" of nature, or prevent the action of the 
 least of her laws; but their effects upon the soil and its 
 crops may be greatly modified, and that which, under cer- 
 tain circumstances, would have caused inconvenience or 
 loss, may, by a change of circumstances, be made posi- 
 tively beneficial. 
 
 In the practice of agriculture, which is pre-eminently 
 an economic art, draining will be prosecuted because of 
 the pecuniary profit which it promises, and, very proper- 
 ly, it will not be pursued, to any considerable extent, 
 where the money, which it costs, will not bring money in 
 return. Yet, in a larger view of the case, its collateral 
 advantages are of even greater moment than its mere 
 profits. It is the foundation and the commencement of 
 the most intelligent farming. It opens the way for other
 
 WILL IT PAT? 173 
 
 Improvements, which, without it, would produce only 
 Doubtful or temporary benefits ; and it enables the fanner 
 so to extend and enlarge his operations, with fair promise 
 of success, as to raise his occupation from a mere waiting 
 upon the uncertain favors of nature, to an intelligent 
 handling of her forces, for the attainment of almost certain 
 results. 
 
 The rude work of an unthinking farmer, who scratches 
 tha surface soil with his plow, plants his seed, and trusts 
 to the chances of a greater or less return, is unmitigated 
 drudgery, unworthy of an intelligent man ; but he 
 who investigates all of the causes of success and failure in 
 farming, and adapts every operation to the requirements 
 of the circumstances under which he works ; doing every- 
 thing in his power that may tend to the production of the 
 results which he desires, and, so far as possible, avoiding 
 everything that may interfere with his success, leaving 
 nothing to chance that can be secured, and securing all 
 that chance may offer, is engaged in the most ennobling, 
 the most intelligent and the most progressive of all indus- 
 trial avocations. 
 
 In the cultivation of retentive soils, drainage is the key 
 to all improvement, and its advantage is to be measured 
 not simply by the effect which it directly produces in in- 
 creasing production, but, in still greater degree, by the 
 extent to which it prepares the way for the successful ap- 
 plication of improved processes, makes the farmer inde- 
 pendent of weather and season, and offers freer scope to 
 intelligence in the direction of Us affairs.
 
 CHAPTER VTTI. 
 
 HOW TO MAKE DRAINING TILES. 
 
 Draining tiles are made of burnt clay, like bricks and 
 earthen-ware. 
 
 In general terms, the process is as follows : The clay ia 
 mixed with sand, or other substances which give it the prop- 
 er consistency, and is so wetted as to form a plastic mass, to 
 which may be given any desired form, and which is suffici- 
 ently stiff to retain its shape. Properly prepared clay is 
 forced through the aperture of a die of the shape of the out- 
 side of the tile, while a plug, held b} a support in the rear 
 of the die, projects through the aperture, and gives the 
 form to the bore of the tile. The shape of the material 
 of the tile, as it conies from the die, corresponds to the 
 open space, between the plug and the edge of the aper- 
 ture. The clay is forced out in a continuous pipe, which 
 is cut to the desired length by a wire, which is so thin as 
 to pass through the mass without altering the shape of the 
 pipe. The short lengths of pipe are dried in the air as 
 thoroughly as they can be, and are then burned in a kiln, 
 similar to that used for pottery. 
 
 Materials, The range of earths which may be used in 
 the manufacture of tiles is considerable, though clay ia 
 the basis of all of them. The best is, probably, the clay 
 174
 
 HOW TO MAKE DRAINING TILES. 175 
 
 wrhich is Almost invariably found at the bottom of muck 
 beds, as this is finer and more compact than that which is 
 dug from dry land, and requires but little preparation. 
 There is, also, a peculiar clay, found in some localities, 
 which is almost like quick-sand in its nature, and which is 
 excellent for tile-making, requiring no freezing, or wash' 
 ing to prepare it for the machine. As a general rule, anj 
 clay which will make good bricks will make tiles. When 
 first taken from the ground, these clays are not usually ad- 
 hesive, but become so on being moistened and kneaded. 
 
 It is especially important that no limestone pebbles be 
 mixed with the clay, as the burning would change these 
 to quicklime, which, in slaking, would destroy the tiles. 
 The presence of a limey earth, however, mixed through 
 the mass, is a positive advantage, as in this inti- 
 mate admixture, the lime forms, under the heat of the 
 kiln, a chemical combination with the other ingredients ; 
 and, as it melts more readily than some of them, it hast- 
 ens the burning and makes it more complete. What is 
 known as plastic clay, (one of the purest of the native 
 clays.) is too strong for tile-making, and must be " tem- 
 pered," by having other substances mixed with it, to give 
 it a stiffer quality. 
 
 The clay which is best for brick-making, contains 
 Silica, arid Alumina in about the following proportions : 
 
 Silica 55 to 75 per cent. 
 
 Alumina 35 " 25 " " 
 
 Variable quantities of other materials are usually found 
 in connection with the clay, in its native condition. The 
 most common of these are the following: 
 
 Magnesia. ... 1 to 5 per cent sometimes 20 to 30 per cent 
 
 Lime " 19 " " 
 
 Potash " 5 " " 
 
 OxydoflronO " 19 " M 
 
 ** These necessary elements give fusibility to earthen-
 
 176 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 * ware, and, therefore, allow its constituent substances to 
 u combine in such a manner as to form a resisting body ; 
 u and this is performed with a temperature lower in pro- 
 " portion as the necessary elements are more abundant."* 
 
 When the earth of the locality where tiles are to be 
 made is not sufficiently strong for the purpose, and plabtio 
 clay can be cheaply obtained from a distance, a small 
 quantity of this may be used to give strength and tenacity 
 to the native material. 
 
 The compound must always contain a proper proportion 
 of clay and sand. If too little day is used, the mass will 
 not be sufficiently tough to retain its compactness as it 
 passe? through the die of the tile machine ; if too little 
 sand, the moulded tiles will not be strong enough to bear 
 handling, and they will crack and warp in drying and burn- 
 ing. Within the proper limits, the richer earths may be 
 moulded much thinner, and tiles made from them may, 
 consequently, be made lighter for transportation, without 
 jeing too weak. The best materials for tempering stiff 
 clays are sand, pounded brick or tile, or scoria^ from 
 smelting furnaces. 
 
 Preparation Of Earths. The clay from which tiles are 
 to be made, should be thrown out in the fall, (the upper 
 and lower parts of the beds being well mixed in the opera- 
 tion,) and made into heaps on the surface, not more than 
 about 3 feet square and 3 feet high. In this form, it is left 
 exposed to the freezing and thawing of winter, which will 
 aid very much in modifying its character, making it less 
 lumpy and more easily workable. Any stones which may 
 appear in the digging, should, of course, be removed, and 
 most earths will be improved by being passed through a 
 pair of heavy iron rollers, before they are piled up for the 
 winter. The rollers should be made of cast iron, about 
 15 inches in diameter, and 30 inches long, and set as closa 
 
 Klippart's Land Drainage.
 
 HOW TO MAKE DRAINING TELES. 177 
 
 together as they can be, and still be revolved bj the power 
 of two horses. The grinding, by means of these rollers, 
 may add 50 cents per thousand to the cost of the tiles, 
 but it will greatly improve their quality. 
 
 In the spring, the clay should be prepared for tempering, 
 by the removal of such pebbles as it mny still contain. 
 The best way to do this is by " washing," though, if there 
 be only a few coarse pebbles, they may be removed by 
 building the clay into a solid cone 2 or 3 feet high, and 
 then paring it off into thin slices with a long knife having 
 a handle at each end. This paring will discover any peb- 
 bles larger than a pea that may have remained in the clay 
 Washing is the process of mixing the clay with a con- 
 siderable quantity of water, so as to form a thin paste, in 
 which all stones and gravel will sink to the bottom; the 
 liquid portion is then drawn off into shallow pits or vats, 
 and allowed to settle, the clear water being finally re- 
 moved by pumping or by evaporation, according to the 
 need for haste. For washing small quantities of clay, a 
 common mortar bed, such as is used by masons, will an- 
 swer, if it be supplied with a gate for draining off the 
 muddy water after the gravel has settled ; but, if the work 
 is at all extensive, a washing mill will be required. It 
 may be made in the form of a circular trough, with scra- 
 pers for mixing the clay and water attached to a circular 
 horse-sweep. 
 
 "Another convenient mixing machine may be constructed 
 " in the following manner : Take a large hollow log, of suit- 
 u able length, say five or six feet ; hew out the inequalities 
 " \vith an adz, and close up the ends with pieces of strong 
 ; ' plank, into which bearing have been cut to support a re- 
 " volving .shaft. This shaft should be sufficiently thick to 
 " permit being transfixed with wooden pins long enough to 
 " reach within an inch or two of the sides of the log or 
 "trough, and they should be so beveled as to form in their 
 M aggregate shape an interrupted screw having a direction 
 8*
 
 178 DRAINING FOE PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 " toward that end of the box where the mixed clay is de 
 " signed to pass out. In order to effect the mixing more 
 " thoroughly, these pins may be placed sufficiently far apart 
 " to permit the interior of the box to be armed with other 
 " pins extending toward the center, between which they 
 M can easily move. The whole is placed either horizontally 
 " or vertically, and supplied with clay and water in proper 
 " quantities, while the shaft is made to revolve by means of 
 "a sweep, with horse power, running water or steam, as 
 " the case may be. The clay is put into the end farthest 
 " from the outlet, and is carried forward to it and mixed 
 " by the motion, and mutual action and re-action of the pins 
 " in the shaft and in the sides of the box. Iron pins may, 
 " of course, be substituted for the wooden ones, and have 
 "the advantage of greater durability and of greater strength 
 " in proportion to their size, and the number may therefore 
 " be greater in a machine of any given length. The fluid 
 "mass of clay and water may be permitted to fall upon a 
 " sieve or riddle, of heavy wire, and afterward be received 
 " in a settling vat, of suitable size and construction, to drain 
 " off the water and let the clay dry out sufficiently by sub- 
 " sequent evaporation. A machine of this construction 
 " may be made of such a size that it may be put in motion 
 " by hand, by means of a crank, and yet be capable of 
 "mixing, if properly supplied, clay enough to mold 800 
 " or 1000 pieces of drain pipe per day."* 
 
 Mr. Parkes, in a report to the Royal Agricultural So- 
 ciety of England, in 1843, says: 
 
 M It is requisite that the clay be well washed and sieved 
 " before pugging, for the manufacture of these tiles, or tho 
 u operation of drawing them would be greatly impeded, by 
 " having to remove stones from the small space surround- 
 *' ing the die, which determines the thickness of the pipe. 
 " Bat it results from this necessary washing, that the sub 
 
 Klippart'fl Land Drainage.
 
 HOW TO MAKE DRAINING TILES. 
 
 179 
 
 " stance of the pipe is uniformly and extremely dense, 
 " which, consequently, gives it immense strength, and en- 
 " sures a durability which cannot belong to a more por- 
 " ous, though thicker, tile. 
 
 " The clay is brought from the pug-mill so dry that, 
 " wlien squeezed through the machine, not a drop of water 
 " exudes, moisture is, indeed, scarcely apparent on the 
 " surface of the raw pipe. Hence, the tiles undergo little 
 " or no change of figure while drying, which t:\kes place 
 " very rapidly, because of their firm and slight substance." 
 Tempering. After the fine clay is relieved of the water 
 with which it was washed, and has become tolerably dry, it 
 should be mixed with the sand, or other tempering ma- 
 terial, and passed through the 
 Puff-Mill, (Fig. 42,) which will 
 thoroughly mix its various ingre- 
 dients, and work the whole into a 
 homogeneous mass, ready for the 
 tile machine. The pug mill is 
 similar to that used in brick-yards, 
 only, as the clay is worked much 
 stiffer for tiles than for bricks, 
 iron knives must be substituted 
 for the wooden pins. These 
 knives are so arranged as to cut 
 the clay in every part, and, by 
 being set at an angle, they force it 
 downward toward the outlet gate 
 at the bottom. The clay should 
 be kept at the proper degree of moisture from the time of 
 tempering, and after passing through the pug-mill it 
 should be thoroughly beaten to drive out the air, and the 
 beaten mass should be kept covered with wet cloths to 
 prevent drying. 
 
 Moulding the Tiles. Machines for moulding tiles are 
 
 IT. 42. PVG-MILL.
 
 180 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 of various styles, with much variation in the details of 
 their construction, but they all act on the same general 
 principle ; that of forcing the clay through a ring-shaped 
 aperture in an iron plate, forming a continuous pipe, which 
 is carried off on an endless apron, or on rollers, and cut 
 by wires into the desired lengths. The plates with the 
 ring-shaped apertures are called dies; the openings are 
 of any desired form, corresponding to the external shape 
 of the tiles; and the size and shape 
 of the bore, is determined by the 
 core or plug, which is held in the 
 centers of the apertures. The con- 
 struction of the die plates, and the 
 manner of fastening the plugs, 
 which determine the bore of the tiles, is shown in Fig. 43. 
 The view taken is of the inside of the plate. 
 
 The machine consists usually of a strong iron chest, 
 with a hinged cover, into which the clay is placed, having 
 a piston moving in it, connected by a rod or bar, having 
 cog-teeth, with a cog-wheel, which is moved by horse or 
 hand power, and drives the piston forward with steadiness, 
 forcing the clay through the openings in the die-plate. 
 The clay issues in continuous lines of pipe. The machines 
 most in use in this country are connected directly with 
 the pug-mill, and as the clay is pugged, it at once passes 
 into the box, and is pressed out as tiles. These machines 
 are usually run by horse-power. 
 
 Mr. Barral, in his voluminous work on drainage,* de- 
 scribes, as follows, a cheap hand machine which can be 
 made by any country wheelwright, and which has a capa- 
 city of 3,000 tiles per day (Fig. 44) : 
 
 " Imagine a simple, wooden box, divided into two com- 
 s ' partments. In the rear compartment there stands a 
 " vertical post, fastened with two iron bolts, having heads 
 
 *Drainage des Terres Arables, Paris, 1856.
 
 HOW TO MAKE DRAINING TILES. 
 
 181 
 
 " at one end, and nuts and screws at the other. The box 
 " is thus fixed to its support. We simply place this sup- 
 " port on the ground and bind its upper part with a rope 
 " to a tree, a stake, or a post. The front compartment is 
 " the reservoir for the clay, presenting at its front an 
 " orifice, in which we fix the desired die with a simple bolt 
 
 Fig. 44. CIIEAI' WOOEEN MACHINE. 
 
 " A wooden piston, of which the rod is jointed with a 
 " lever, which works in a bolt at the top of the supporting 
 " post, gives the necessary pressure. When the chest is 
 "full of clay, we bear down on the end of the lever, 
 " and the moulded tiles run out on a table supplied with 
 " rollers. Raising the piston, it comes out of the box, 
 " which is again packed with clay. The piston is replaced 
 " in the box ; pressure is again applied to the lever, and 
 " so on. When the line of tiles reaches the end of the 
 " table, we lower a frame on Avhich brass wires are 
 " stretched, and cut it into the usual lengths." 
 
 The workmen must attend well to the degree of moist 
 ure of the clay which is put into the machine. It should 
 be dry enough to show no undue moisture on its surface 
 as it comes out of the die-plate, and sufficiently moist not
 
 182 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AN1> 
 
 to be crumbled in passing the edge of the mould. The 
 clay for small (thin) tiles must, necessarily, be more moist 
 than that which is to pass through a wider aperture; and 
 for the latter there may, with advantage, be more sand in 
 % the paste than would be practicable with the former. 
 
 After the tiles are cut into lengths, they are removed 
 by a set of mandrils, small enough to pass easily into 
 them, such as are shown in Fig. 45, (the number of fingers 
 corresponding with the 
 number of rows of tiles 
 made by the machine,) and 
 Fig. 45. MANDRIL FOK CARRYING are placed on shelves made 
 
 TILES FROM MACHINE. - r 
 
 oi narrow strips sawn from 
 
 one-inch boards, laid with spaces between them to allow 
 a free circulation of air. 
 
 Drying and Rolling. Care must be taken that freshly 
 made tiles be not dried too rapidly. They should be 
 sheltered from the sun and from strong winds. Too rapid 
 drying has the effect of warping them out of shape, and, 
 sometimes, of cracking the clay. To provide against this 
 injury, the drying is done under sheds or other covering, 
 and the side which is exposed to the prevailing winds is 
 sometimes boarded up. 
 
 For the first drying, the tiles are placed in single layers 
 on the shelves. When about half dried, at which time 
 they are usually warped more or less from their true 
 shape, it is well to roll them. This is done by passing 
 through them a smooth, round stick, (sufficiently smaller 
 than the bore to enter it easily, and long enough to pro- 
 ject five or six inches beyond each end of the tile,) and, 
 holding one end of the stick in each hand, rolling them 
 carefully on a table. This operation should be performed 
 when the tiles are still moist enough not to be broken by 
 the slight bending required to make them straight. After 
 rolling, the tiles may be piled up iu close layers, some
 
 HOW TO MAKE DRAINING TELES. 183 
 
 four or five feet high, (which will secure them against 
 further warping,) and left until they are dry enough for 
 burning, that is, as dry as they can be made by exposure 
 to the air. 
 
 Burning. Tiles are burned in kilns in which, by the 
 effect of flame acting directly upon them, they are raised 
 to a heat sufficient to melt some of their more easily fusi- 
 ble ingredients, and give to them a stone-like hardness. 
 
 Kilns are of various construction and of various sizes. 
 As this book is not intended for the instruction of those 
 who are engaged in the general manufacture of tiles, only 
 for those who may find it necessary to establish local 
 works, it will be sufficient to describe a temporary earthen 
 kiln which may be cheaply built, and which will answer 
 an excellent purpose, where only 100,000 or 200,000 tiles 
 per season will be required. 
 
 Directions for its construction are set forth hi a letter 
 from Mr. T. La\v Hodges, of England, to the late Earl 
 Spencer, published in the Journal of the Royal Agricul- 
 tural Society for the year 1843, as follows : 
 
 "The form of the clay-kiln is circular, 11 feet in diame- 
 " ter, and 7 feet high. It is wholly built of damp, clayey 
 " earth, rammed firmly together, and plastered, inside and 
 " out, with loam (clay ?). The earth to form the walls is dug 
 " out around the base, leaving a circular trench about four 
 " feet wide and as many deep, into which the fire-holes of 
 " the kiln open. If wood be the fuel used, three fire-holes 
 " will be sufficient ; if coal, four will be needed. About 
 " 1,200 common brick will be wanted to build these tire* 
 " holes and flues ; if coal is used, rather fewer bricks will 
 " be wanted, but, then, some iron bars are necessary, 
 " six bars to each fire-hole. 
 
 " The earthen walls are four feet thick at the floor of 
 " the kiln, seven feet high, and tapering to a thickness of 
 " two feet at the top ; this will determine the slope of the
 
 184 
 
 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 " exterior f;ice of the kiln. The inside of the wall is car- 
 " ried up perpendicularly, and the loam plastering inside 
 " becomes, after tlie first burning, like a brick wall. The 
 " kiln may be safely erected in March, or whenever the 
 " danger of injury from frost is over. After the summer 
 " use of it, it must be protected, by faggots or litter, 
 " against the wet and frost of winter. A kiln of these 
 " dimensions will contain 32,500 1^-iach tiles, * * * 
 " or 12,000 2-L-inch tiles. * * * 
 
 " In good weather, this kiln can be filled, burnt, and 
 " discharged once in every fortnight, and fifteen kilns 
 " may be obtained in a good season, producing 487,500 
 " 1^-inch tiles, and in proportion for the other sizes. 
 
 " It requires 2 tons 5 cwt. of good coals to burn the 
 " above kiln, full of tiles." 
 
 A sectional view of this kiln is shown in Fig. 46, in 
 which C, G represent sections of the outer trench ; A, one 
 
 Fig. 46. CLAY-KILN. 
 
 of the three fire-holes ; and B, , sections of a circular 
 passage inside of the wall, connected with the fire-holes, 
 and serving as a flue for the flames, which, at suitable in 
 tervals, pass through openings into the floor of the kiln. 
 The whole structure should be covered with a roof of 
 rough boards, placed high enough to be out of the reach 
 of the fire. A door in the side of the kiln serves for put-
 
 HOW TO MAKE DRAINING TILES. 185 
 
 ting in ard removing the tiles, and is built up, tempora- 
 rily, with bricks or clay, during the burning. Mr. Hodgea 
 estimates the cost of this kiln, all complete, at less than 
 $25. Concerning its value, he wrote another letter in 
 1848, from which the following is extracted : 
 
 "The experience of four years that have clasped since 
 "my letter to the late Earl Spencer, published in the 5th 
 " volume of the proceedings of the Royal Agricultural 
 " Society, page 57, has thoroughly tested the merits of 
 " the temporary clay-kilns for the burning of draiiiing- 
 " pipes described in that letter. 
 
 " I am well aware that there we:e persons, even among 
 " those who came to see it, who pronounced at once upon 
 "the construction and duration of the kiln as unworthy 
 " of attention. How far their expectations have been real- 
 " ized, and what value belongs to their judgment, the fol 
 " lowing short statement will exhibit : 
 
 " The kiln, in question, was constructed, in 1844, at a 
 " cost of 5. 
 
 " It was used four times in that year, burning each 
 " time between 18,000 and 19,000 draining pipes, of 1| 
 " inches in diameter. 
 
 " In 1845, it was used nine times, or about once a fort- 
 " night, burning each time the same quantity of nearly 
 " 19,000 pipes. 
 
 " In 1846, the same result. 
 
 " In 1847, it has been used twelve times, always burn- 
 " ing the same quantity. In the course of the last year a 
 " trifling repair in the bottom of the kiln, costing rather 
 " less than 10 shillings, was necessary, and this is the only 
 " cost for repair since its erection. It is now as good as 
 M ever, and might be worked at least once a fortnight 
 M through the ensuing season. 
 
 " The result of this experiment of four years shows not 
 " only the practical value of this cheap kiln, but Mr 
 u Hatcher, who superintends the brick and tile-yard at Ben
 
 186 DRAINING FOE PEOFTT AND HEALTH. 
 
 M enden, where this kiln stands, expresses himself strongly 
 " in favor of this kiln, as always producing better and 
 " more evenly burned pipes than either of his larger and 
 " better built brick-kilns can do." 
 
 The floor of the kiln is first covered with bricks, placed 
 on end, at a little distance from each other, so as to allow 
 the fire to pass between them, and the tiles are placed on 
 end on these. This position will afford the best draft for 
 the flames. After the kiln is packed full, the door-way is 
 built up, and a slow fire is started, only enough at first 
 to complete the drying of the tiles, and to do this so 
 slowly as not to warp them out of shape. They will be 
 thoroughly dry when the smoke from the top of the kiln 
 loses its dark color and becomes transparent. When the 
 fires are well started, the mouths of the fire-holes may be 
 built up so as to leave only sufficient room to put in fresh 
 fuel, and if the wind is high, the tire-holes, on the side 
 against which it blows, should be sheltered by some sort 
 of screen which will counteract its influence, and keep up 
 an even heat on all sides. 
 
 The time required for burning will be from two days and 
 a night to four days and four nights, according to the dry- 
 ness of the tiles, the state of the weather, and the character 
 of the fuel. The fires should be drawn when the tiles in the 
 hottest part of the kiln are burned to a " ringing " hard- 
 ness. By leaving two or three holes in the door-way, 
 which can be stopped with loose brick, a rod may be run 
 in, from time to time, to take out specimen tiles from the 
 hottest part of the kiln, which shall have been so placed 
 as to be easily removed. The best plan, however, the 
 only i rudent plan, in fact, will be to employ an intelli- 
 gent man who is thoroughly experienced in the burning 
 of brick ar.d pottery, and whose judgment in the manage- 
 ment of the fires, and in the cooling off of the kiln, will 
 save much of the waste that would result from inexperi- 
 enced management. After the burning is completed, from
 
 HOW TO MAKE DRAINING TILES. 18? 
 
 40 to 60 hours must be allowed for the cooling of the kiln 
 before it is opened. If the cold air is admitted while it is 
 still very hot, the unequal contraction of the material will 
 cause the tiles to crack, and a large portion of them may 
 be destroyed. 
 
 If any of the tiles are too much burned, they will be 
 melted, and may stick together, or, at least, Lave their 
 shape destroyed. Those which are not sufficiently burn- 
 ed would not withstand the action of the water in the 
 soil, and should not be used. For the first of these acci- 
 dents there is no remedy ; for the latter, reburning will 
 be necessary, and under-done tiles may be left, (or replac- 
 ed,) in the kiln in the position which they occupied at the 
 first burning, and the second heat will probably prove suffi- 
 cient. There is less danger of unequal burning in circu- 
 lar than in square kilns. Soft wood is better than hard, 
 as making a better flame. It should be split fine, and well 
 seasoned. 
 
 Arrangement Of the Tilery. Such a tilery as is de- 
 scribed above should have a drying shed from 60 to 80 
 feet long, and from 12 to 18 feet wide. This shed may be 
 built in the cheapest and roughest manner, the roof being 
 covered with felting, thatch, or hemlock boards, as econo- 
 my may suggest. It should have a tier of drying shelves, 
 (made of slats rather than of boards,) running the whole 
 length of each side. A narrow, wooden tram-way, down 
 the middle, to carry a car, by which the green tiles may 
 be taken from the machine to the shelves, and the dry 
 ones from the shelves to the kiln, will greatly lessen the 
 cost of handling. 
 
 The pug-mill and tile-machine, as well as the clay pit 
 and the washing-mill, should be at one end of the shed, 
 and the kiln at the other, so that, even in rainy weathei 
 the work may proceed without interruption. A shed of 
 the size named will be sufficient to dry as many tiles of
 
 188 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 assorted sizes as can be burned in the clay-kiln described 
 above. 
 
 The Cost of Tiles, It would be impossible, at anj 
 time, to say what should be the precise cost of tiles in a 
 given locality, without knowing the prices of labor ami 
 fuel ; and in the present unsettled condition of the cur- 
 rency, any estimate would necessarily be of little value. 
 M-. Parker's estimated the cost of inch pipes in England at 
 6a., (about $1.50,) per thousand, when made on the estate 
 where they were to be used, by a process similar to that 
 described herein. Probably they could at no time have 
 been made for less than twice that cost in the United States, 
 and they would now cost much more ; though if the clay 
 is dug out in the fall, when the regularly employed farm 
 hands are short of work, and if the same men can cut and 
 haul the wood during the winter, the hands hired especially 
 for the tile making, during the summer season, (two men 
 and two or three boys,) cannot, even at present rates of 
 wages, bring the cost of the tiles to nearly the market 
 prices. If there be only temporary use for the machinery 
 it may be sold, when no longer needed, for a good per- 
 centage of its original cost, as, from the slow movement 
 to which it is subjected, it is not much worn by its work. 
 
 There is no reason why tiles should cost more to make 
 than bricks. A common brick contains clay enough to 
 make four or five 1^-inch tiles, and it will require about 
 the same amount of fuel to burn this clay in one form as 
 in the other. This advantage in favor of tiles is in a 
 measure offset by the greater cost of handling them, and 
 the greater liability to breakage. 
 
 The foregoing description of the diffeient processes of 
 the manufacture of draining tiles has been given, in order 
 that those who find it necessary, or desirable, to establish 
 works to supply the needs of their immediate localities 
 may commence their operations understand ingly, and form
 
 HOW TO MAKE DRAINING TILES. 188 
 
 an approximate opinion of the promise of success in tho 
 undertaking. 
 
 Probably the most positive effect of the foregoing de- 
 scription, on the mind of any man who contemplates estab- 
 lishing a tilery, will be to cause him to visit some success- 
 ful manufactory, during the busy season, and examine for 
 himself the mode of operation. Certainly it would be un- 
 wise, when such a personal examination of the process is 
 practicable, to rely entirely upon the aid of written descrip- 
 tions ; for, in any work like tile-making, where the selec- 
 tion, combination and preparation of the materials, the 
 means of drying, and the economy and success of the 
 burning must depend on a variety of conditions and circum- 
 stances, which change with every change of locality, it is 
 impossible that written directions, however minute, should 
 be a sufficient guide. Still, in the light of such directions, 
 one can form a much better idea of the bearing of the 
 different operations which he may witness, than he could 
 possibly do if the whole process were new to him. 
 
 If a personal examination of a successful tilery is im- 
 practicable, it will be necessary to employ a practical 
 brick-maker, or potter, to direct the construction and opera- 
 tion of the works, and in any case, this course is advisable. 
 
 In any neighborhood where tw r o or three hundred acres 
 of land are to be drained, if suitable earths can be readily 
 obtained, it will be cheaper to establish a tile-yard, ihan 
 to haul the necessary tiles, in wagons, a distance of ten or 
 twenty miles. Then again, the prices demanded by the 
 few manufacturers, who now have almost a monopoly of 
 the business, are exorbitantly high, at least twice what 
 it will cost to make the tiles at home, with the cheap 
 works described above, so that if the cost of transporta 
 tion on the quantity desired would be equal to the cost of 
 establishing the works, there will be a decided profit in 
 the home manufacture. Probably, also, a tile-yard, in a 
 neighborhood where the general character of the soil u
 
 190 
 
 GASOLINE AUTOMOBILES 
 
 There are three general types of speed-change gear sets: 
 (1) Selective sliding gears, which are arranged so that any 
 of the speeds can be selected at will. (2) Progressive sliding 
 gears, which do not permit selection of speeds at random, but 
 the speed changes must be in a definite order or in succession, 
 that is, one cannot for a three-speed gear move the gear 
 shifting lever out of the position for high speed, put it into 
 " neutral" position, and then immediately into the low-speed 
 position. When using this kind of speed-change gears, it is 
 necessary to actually put in contact the gears of the inter- 
 mediate speed before low-speed gears can be put together. 
 (3) Planetary gears, which are a combination of a clutch 
 and a simplified sliding gear set. The first and third arrange- 
 ments are most used. 
 
 Selective Sliding Gear Type. Fig. 164 shows, somewhat 
 simplified as to details, a speed-change gear set of the selective 
 
 FIG. 164. Direct Drive on 
 Selective Sliding Gears. 
 
 FIG. 165. Low-speed Gearing. 
 
 kind arranged for sliding operation. Two shafts 8 and T are 
 shown in this figure. The left-hand end of the shaft S is 
 rigidly connected to the clutch and therefore rotates normally 
 at engine speed. This shaft as shown here is not continuous 
 but is really two separate shafts which meet end to end and 
 are coupled together. The two shafts can be separated as 
 shown by dotted lines in Fig. 165. When the shaft 8 2 is 
 coupled to S l as in Fig. 164, both shafts will rotate at engine 
 
 that the power strokes, although powerful, are so far apart that there 
 is not sufficient carrying power from one power stroke to the next, and 
 as a result the engine stops.
 
 CLUTCHES, TRANSMISSIONS, AND DIFFERENTIALS 191 
 
 speed. This is called direct drive or high speed. In either 
 position of S 2 , however, the gear wheel A on Si is meshed with 
 the gear wheel B, which moves the shaft T. 
 
 When the automobile is to be operated at lowest speed, 
 the gear wheels A, B, C, and D are used. Since the gear 
 wheel B is always in mesh with the gear wheel A on the 
 shaft $! the shaft T is always rotating when the engine is 
 running. On the shaft S 2 is a gear wheel D which is free 
 to slide on its shaft. When the shafts 8^ and S 2 are discon- 
 nected, if by some method or device the gear wheel D is made 
 to slide into contact or mesh with the gear wheel C opposite 
 on the shaft T, the shaft S 2 will be driven through the four 
 gear wheels A, B, C, D. The engine shaft 8 : will then rotate 
 much faster than the shaft S 2 . Difference in the sizes of the 
 gear wheels makes this speed change. Suppose A has half 
 as many teeth as B, and that C has half as many as D. Then 
 the shaft T will rotate half as fast as S : ; and the shaft 8 2 
 will rotate half as fast as T, or one-fourth as fast as S 1} which 
 is a satisfactory speed reduction for low-speed gears as 
 actually used in automobiles.* 
 
 An intermediate speed between direct drive (engine speed) 
 and low speed can be obtained very simply by providing, in 
 addition, a sliding gear wheel E on the shaft T and a stationary 
 gear wheel F on the shaft S 2 . When E and F are meshed and 
 C and D are out of mesh, the shaft T will rotate at half the 
 speed of the shaft S t ; and if E and F have the same number 
 of teeth, the shaft 8 2 will rotate also at half the speed of $,. 
 
 For reverse speed, the gearing arrangement is shown 
 diagrammatically in Fig 166. An auxiliary gear wheel R 
 on a short shaft U is made to mesh with another sliding gear 
 wheel K on the shaft T. This is not a practical case, but 
 in a simple way shows the principle. The directions of rota- 
 tion of the shafts S lf T, U and S 2 are shown clearly by arrows 
 in the figure. As the gears were arranged in Figs. 164 and 
 
 * Sliding speed-change gears are really only a modification of the 
 back-gearing used commonly on lathes of various kinds.
 
 192 
 
 GASOLINE AUTOMOBILES 
 
 165 the shaft S 2 was driven anticlockwise in the same direc- 
 tion as $j, while its rotation in Fig. 166 for reverse speed 
 is clockwise, which gives a backward or reverse movement of 
 the automobile. 
 
 Fig. 167 shows a commercial design of sliding speed-change 
 gears somewhat differently arranged, and provision is made 
 for mechanically shifting the gears by the use of a hand 
 operating lever L, shown attached to a joint / at the top of 
 the gear case. The letters in this figure correspond to those 
 used in Figs. 164, 165, and 166. In the operation of shifting 
 gears, the lever L moves back and forth so that the short 
 lever or "finger" F engages with the shifting forks or yokes 
 H and J. One of these controls the low speed, and the other 
 
 FIG. 166. Reverse Gearing. 
 
 the intermediate speed and the high-speed gears. In order 
 to move the one or the other of the shifting forks or yokes 
 H or / the lever L can be moved back and forth through 
 the top of the gear box by swinging on the joint /. The 
 operator of the automobile . can pass directly from any set 
 of gears to any other ; that is, he can select any gear desired. 
 For this reason this arrangement is called the selective type 
 to distinguish it from the progressive type which was once 
 commonly used on automobiles, but is now only used on motor- 
 cycles. 
 
 The important advantages of selective speed-change gears 
 Are that the gears can be shifted rapidly and the gear teeth 
 are less likely to be broken off or "stripped" than in the 
 progressive type. Selective gears are also more compact,
 
 CLUTCHES, TRANSMISSIONS, AND DIFFERENTIALS 193 
 
 making possible shorter and therefore, stiffer shafts in the 
 gear box. 
 
 These descriptions of sliding gear sets have referred to 
 
 To Engine 
 CrankSt 
 
 " l - 5 ' 
 
 ^ Jo Axle Drive Shaft 
 
 Drive End 
 
 "ForLowSpeea 
 'For Informed iafv Speed 
 FIG. 167. Typical Speed-Change Gears or Transmission. 
 
 three speeds ahead and one reverse. Some sets, however, 
 particularly those intended for very high speed automobiles 
 
 Neutral Gear Position 
 
 Fig. 168. Gear Wheels A and B connected. 
 
 are supplied with gears giving four speeds ahead. The fourth 
 speed is sometimes arranged to drive the axle drive shaft 
 corresponding to S 2 in the preceding figures faster than the
 
 194 DBA1N1NG FOB PROFIT A5D HEALTH. 
 
 11 formerly choked up the mouths of these great river*. 
 M But the chief hindrance caused by the oceaii, arose from 
 " the tide rushing twice every day for a very great di* 
 " tance up these channels, driving back the fresh waters, 
 " and overflowing with them, so that the whole level be- 
 K came deluged with deep water, and was, in fact, one 
 " great bay." 
 
 " In considering the state of this region as it first at- 
 " tracted the enterprise of man to its improvement, we 
 " are to conceive a vast, wild morass, with only small, de- 
 " tached portions of cultivated soil, or islands, raised above 
 " the general inundation ; a most desolate picture when 
 " contrasted with its present state of matchless fertility." 
 
 Salt marshes are formed of the silty deposits of rivers 
 atid of the sea. The former bring down vegetable mould 
 and fine earth from the uplands, and the latter contribute 
 sea weeds and grasses, sand and shells, and millions of 
 animalcule which, born for life in salt water only, die, 
 and are deposited with the other matters, at those points 
 where, from admixture with the fresh flow of the rivers, the 
 water ceases to be suitable for their support. It is esti- 
 mated that these animalculae alone are a chief cause of 
 the obstructions at the mouths of the rivers of Holland, 
 which retard their flow, and cause them to spread over the 
 flat country adjoining their banks. It is less important, 
 however, for the purposes of this chapter, to consider the 
 manner in which salt marshes are formed, than to discuss 
 the means by which they may be reclaimed and made 
 available for the uses of agriculture. The improvement 
 may be conveniently considered under three heads : 
 
 First The exclusion of the sea water. 
 
 Second The removal of the causes of inundation from 
 the upland. 
 
 Third The removal of the rain-fall and water of filtra- 
 tion.
 
 THE RECLAMING OF SALT MARSHES. 195 
 
 The Exclusion of the Sea is of the first import- 
 ance, 1 ecause not only does it saturate the land with wa- 
 ter, but this water, being salt, renders it unfertile for the 
 plants of ordinary cultivation, and causes it to produce 
 others which are of little, or no value. 
 
 The only means by which the sea may be kept out is, 
 by building such dykes or embankments as shut out tho 
 highest tides, and, on shores which are exposed to the ac- 
 tion of the waves, will resist their force. Ordinarily, the 
 best, because the cheapest, material of which these em- 
 bankments can be made, is the soil of the marsh itself. 
 This is rarely, almost never, a pure peat, such as is 
 found in upland swamps ; it contains a large proportion of 
 sand, blue clay, muscle mud, or other earthy deposits, which 
 give it great weight and tenacity, and render it excellent 
 for forming the body of the dyke. On lands which are 
 overflowed to a considerable extent at each high tide, 
 (twice a day,) it will be necessary to adopt more expensive, 
 and more effective measures, but on ordinary salt meadows, 
 which are deeply covered only at the spring tides, (occur- 
 ring every month,) the following plan will be found prao 
 tical and economical. 
 
 Locating the line of the embankment far enough bad. 
 from the edge of the meadow to leave an ample flat out- 
 side of it to break the force of the waves, if on the open 
 coast, or to resist the inroads of the current if on the bank 
 of an estuary or a river, say from ten to one hundred 
 yards, according to the danger of encroachment, set a 
 row of stakes parallel to the general direction of the shore, 
 to mark the outside line of the base of the dyke. Stake 
 out the inside line at such distance as will give a pitch or 
 inclination to the slopes of one and a half to one on the 
 outside, and of one to one on the inside, and will allow 
 the necessary width at the top, which should be at least 
 two feet higher than the level of the highest tide that is 
 known ever to have occurred at that place. The widtb
 
 196 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 of the top should never be less than four feet, and in ex- 
 posed localities it should be more. If a road will be needed 
 around the land, it is best, if a heavy dyke is required, to 
 make it wide enough to answer this purpose, with still 
 wider places, at intervals, to allow vehicles to turn or to pass 
 each other. Ordinarily, however, especially if there be a 
 good stretch of flat meadow in front, the top of the dyke 
 need not be more than four feet wide. Supposing such a 
 dyke to be contemplated where the water has been known 
 to rise two feet above the level of the meadows, requiring 
 an embankment four feet high, it will be necessary to al- 
 low for the base a width of fourteen feet ; four feet for 
 the width of the top, six feet for the reach of the front 
 slope, (t.J- to 1,) and four feet for the reach of the back 
 slope, (1 to 1.) 
 
 Having staked out two parallel lines, fourteen feet apart, 
 and erected, at intervals of twenty or thirty feet, frames 
 made of rough strips of board of the exact shape of the 
 section of the proposed embankment, the workmen may 
 remove the sod to a depth of six inches, laying it all on 
 the outside of the position of the proposed embankment. 
 The sod from the line of the ditch, from which the earth 
 for the embankment is to be taken, should also be removed 
 and placed with the other. This ditch should be always 
 inside of the dyke, where it will never be exposed to the 
 action of the sea. It should be, at the surface, broader 
 than the base of the dyke, and five feet deep in the center, 
 but its sides may slope from the surface of the ground di- 
 rectly to the center line of the bottom. This is the best 
 form to give it, because, while it should be five feet deep, 
 for future uses as a drain, its bottom need have no width. 
 The great width at the surface will give such a pitch to 
 the banks as to ensure their stability, and will yield a large 
 amount of sod for the facing of the dyke. The edge of 
 this ditch should be some feet away from the inner line of 
 the embankment, leaving it a firm support or shoulder at
 
 THE RECLAIMING OP SALT MARSHES. 197 
 
 the original level of the ground, the sod not being remov- 
 ed from the interval. The next step in the work should 
 be to throw, or wheel, the material from the ditch on to 
 the place which has been stripped for the dyke, build- 
 ing it up so as to conform exactly to the profile frames, 
 these remaining in their places, to indicate the filling neces- 
 sary to make up for the settling of the material, as the 
 water drains out of it. 
 
 As fast as a permanent shape can be given to the outer 
 face of the dyke, it should be finished by having the sod 
 placed against it, being laid flatwise, one on top of anoth- 
 er, (like stone work,) in the most solid manner possible. 
 This should be continued to the top of the slope, and the 
 flat top of the dyke should also be sodded, the sods on 
 the top, and on the slope, being firmly beaten to their places 
 with the back of the spade or other suitable implement. 
 
 FilJ. 47. DYKE AM) DITCH. 
 
 This will sufficiently protect the exposed parts of the work 
 against the action of any waves that may be formed on 
 the flat between the dyke and the deep water, while the 
 inner slope and the banks of the ditch, not being exposed 
 to masses of moving water, will retain their shape and 
 will "soon be covered with a new growth.* A sectional 
 view of the above described dyke and ditch is shown in 
 the accompanying diagram, (Fig. 47.) 
 
 * The ends of the work, while the operation? are suspended during 
 spring tides, will need an extra protection of sods, but that, lying out of 
 reach of the eddies that will be formed by the receding water will not be 
 materially affected.
 
 198 DRAINING FOE PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 In all work of this character, it is important to regulate 
 the amount of work laid out to be done between the 
 spring tides, to the laboring force employed, so that no un- 
 finished work will remain to be submerged and injured. 
 When the flood comes, it should find everything finished 
 up and protected against its ravages, so that no part of it 
 need be done over again. 
 
 If the land is crossed by creeks, the dyke should be fin- 
 ished off and sodded, a little back from each bank, and 
 when the time comes for closing the channel, sufficient 
 force should be employed to complete the dam at a single 
 tide, so that the returning flow shall not enter to wash 
 away the material which has been thrown in. 
 
 If, as is often the case, these creeks are not merely tidal 
 estuaries, but receive brooks or rivers from the upland, 
 provision must be made, as will be hereafter directed, for 
 either diverting the upland flow, or for allowing it to pass 
 out at low water, through valve gates or sluices. When 
 the dam has been made, the water behind it should never 
 be allowed to rise to nearly the level of the full tide, and, 
 as soon as possible, grass and willows should be grown on 
 the bank, to add to its strength by the binding effect of 
 their roots. 
 
 When the dyke is completed across the front of the 
 whole flat, from the high land on one side to the high 
 land on the other, the creeks should be closed, one after 
 the other, commencing with the smallest, so that the ex- 
 perience gained in their treatment may enable the force 
 to work more advantageously on those which carry more 
 water. 
 
 If the flow of water in the creek is considerable, a row 
 of strong stakes, or piles, should be firmly driven into the 
 bottom mud, across the whole width of the channel, at in- 
 tervals of not more than one or two feet, and fascines, 
 bundles of brush bound together, should be made ready 
 on the banks, in sufficient quantity to close the spaces be-
 
 THB KBJLAIMLffG OF SALT MARSHKS. 199 
 
 tween the piles. These will serve to prevent the washing 
 away of the filling during construction. The pile driving, 
 and the preparation of the fascines may be done before 
 the closing of the channel with earth is commenced, and 
 if upland clay or gravel, to be mixed with the local mate- 
 rial, can be economically brought to the place by boats or 
 wagons, it will be an advantage. Everything being in 
 readiness, a sufficient force of laborers to finish the dam in 
 six hours should commence the work a little before dead 
 low-water, and, (with the aid of wheelbarrows, if neces- 
 sary,) throw the earth in rapidly behind the row of stakes 
 and fascines, giving the dam sufficient width to resist the 
 pressure of the water from without, and keeping the work 
 always in advance of the rising of the tide, so that, during 
 the whole operation, none of the filling shall be washed 
 away by water flowing over its top. 
 
 If the creek has a sloping bottom, the work may be 
 commenced earlier, is soon as the tide commences to re- 
 cede, and pushed out to the center of the channel by the 
 time the tide is out. When the dam is built, it will be 
 best to heavily sod, or otherwise protect its surface against 
 the action of heavy rains, which would tend to wash it 
 away and weaken it; and the bed of the creek should be 
 filled in back of the dam for a distance of at least fifty 
 yards, to a height greater than that at which water will 
 stand in the interior drains, say to within three feet of 
 the surface, so that there shall never be a body of water 
 standing within that distance of the dam. 
 
 This is a necessary precaution against the attacks of musk- 
 rats, which are the principal cause of the insecurity of all 
 salt marsh embankments. It should be a cardinal rule 
 with all who are engaged in the construction of such 
 works, never to allow two bodies of water, one on each 
 side of the bank to be nearer than twenty-five yards of each 
 other, and fifty yards would be better. Muskrats do not 
 bore through a bank, as is often supposed, to make a pa*
 
 200 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 sage from one body of water to another, (they would find 
 an easier road over the top) ; but they delight in any ele- 
 vated mound in which they can make their homes above 
 the water level and have its entrance beneath the surface, 
 so that their land enemies cannot invade them. When 
 they enter for this purpose, only from one side of the dyke, 
 ihey will do no harm, but if another colony is, at the same 
 time, boring in from the other side, there is great danger 
 that their burrows will connect, and thus form a channel for 
 the admission of water, and destroy the work. A disre- 
 gard of this requirement has caused thousands of acres of 
 salt marsh that had been enclosed by dykes having a 
 ditch on each side, (much the cheapest way to make them,) 
 to be abandoned, and it has induced the invention of va- 
 rious costly devices for the protection of embankments 
 against these attacks.* 
 
 When the creek or estuary to be cut off is very wide, 
 the embankment may be carried out, at leisure, from each 
 side, until the channel is only wide enough to allow the 
 passage of the tide without too great a rush of water 
 against the unfinished ends of the work ; but, even in these 
 cases, there will be economy in the use of fascines and piles 
 from the first, or of stones if these can be readily procur- 
 ed. In wide streams, partial obstructions of the water 
 
 * The latest invention of this sort, is that of a series of cast iron plates, 
 set on edge, riveted together, and driven in to such a depth as to reach 
 from the top of the dyke to a point below low-water mark. The best 
 that can be said of this plan is, that its adoption would do no harm. Un- 
 less the plates are driven deeply into the clay underlying the permeable 
 foil, (and this is sometimes very deep,) they would not prevent the 
 slight infiltration of water which could pass under them as well as 
 through any other part of the soil, and unless the iron were very thick, 
 the corrosive action of salt water would soon so honeycomb it that the 
 borers would easily penetrate it; but the great objection to the use of 
 these plates is, that they would be very costly and ineffectual. A dyke, 
 made as described above, of the material of the locality, having a ditch 
 orly on the inside, and being well sodded on its outer face, would be fiu 
 cheaper and better.
 
 THE RECLAIMING OF SALT MARSHES. 201 
 
 course will sometimes induce the deposit of silt in such 
 quantities as will greatly assist the work. No written de- 
 scription of a single process will suffice for the direction 
 of those having charge of this most delicate of all drain- 
 age operations. Much must be left to the ingenuity of 
 the director of the work, who will have to avail himself 
 of the assistance of such favorable circumstances as may, 
 in the case in hand, offer themselves. 
 
 If the barrier to be built will require a considerable out- 
 lay, it should be placed in the hands of a competent engi- 
 neer, and it will generally demand the full measure of his 
 skill and experience. 
 
 The work cannot be successful, unless the whole line of 
 the water-front is protected by a continuous bank, suffici- 
 ently high and strong in all of its parts to resist the ac- 
 tion of the highest tides and the strongest waves to which 
 it will be subjected. As it is always open to inspection, at 
 each ebb tide, and can always be approached for repair, it 
 will be easy to keep it in good condition ; and, if properly 
 attended to, it will become more solid and effective with 
 age. 
 
 The removal of the causes of inundation from the up- 
 land is often of almost equal importance with the shutting 
 out of the sea, since the amount of water brought down 
 by rivers, brooks, and hill-side wash, is often more than 
 can be removed by any practicable means, by sluice gates, 
 or pumps. 
 
 It will be quite enough for the capacity of these means 
 of drainage, to remove the rain-water which falls on the 
 flat land, and that which reaches it by under-ground 
 springs and by infiltration, its proper drainage-water in 
 short, without adding that which, coming from a higher 
 level, may be made to flow off by its own fall. 
 
 Catch-water drains, near the foot of the upland, may be 
 BO arranged as to receive the surface water of the hills and 
 9*
 
 203 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 carry it off, always on a level above that of the top af the 
 embankment, and these drains may often be, with advan- 
 tage, enlarged to a sufficient capacity to carry the streams 
 as well If the marsh is divided by an actual river, it 
 may be best to embank it in two separate tracts ; losing 
 the margins, that have been recommended, outside o' 
 the dykes, and building the necessary additional length 
 of these, rather than to contend with a large body of wa- 
 ter. But, frequently, a very large marsh is traversed by a 
 tortuous stream which occupies a large area, and which, 
 although the tidal water which it contains gives it the ap- 
 pearance of a river, is only the outlet of an insignificant 
 stream, which might be carried along the edge of the up- 
 land in an ordinary mill-race. In such case it is better to 
 divert the stream and reclaim the whole area. 
 
 When a stream is enclosed between dykes, its winding 
 course should be made straight in order that its water may 
 be carried off as rapidly as possible, and the land which it 
 occupies by its deviations, made available for cultivation. 
 In the loose, silty soil of a salt marsh, the stream may be 
 made to do most of the work of making its new bed, by 
 constructing temporary "jetties," or other obstructions to 
 its accustomed flow, which shall cause its current to de- 
 posit silt in its old channel, and to cut a new one out of the 
 opposite bank. In some instances it may be well to make an 
 elevated canal, straight across the tract, by constructing 
 banks high enough to confine the stream and deliver it 
 over the top of the dyke ; in others it may be more ex- 
 pedient to carry the stream over, or through, the hill which 
 bounds thr marsh, and cause it to discharge through an 
 adjoining valley. Improvements of this magnitude, which 
 often affect the interest of many owners, or of persons in- 
 terested in the navigation of the old channel, or in mill 
 privileges below the point at which the water course is to 
 be diverted, will generally require legislative interference.
 
 THE EECI AIMING OF SALT MARSHES. 203 
 
 But they not seldom promise immense advantages for a 
 comparatively small c utlay. 
 
 The instance cited of the Hackensack Meadows, in New 
 Jersey, is a case in point. Its area is divided among many 
 owners, and, while ninety-nine acres in every hundred are 
 given up to muskrats, mosquitoes, coarse rushes and 
 malaria, the other one acre may belong to the owner of an 
 adjacent farm who values the salt hay which it yields him 4 
 and the title to the whole is vested in many individual 
 proprietors, who could never be induced to unite in an im- 
 provement for the common benefit. Then again, thanks 
 to the tide that sets back in the Hackensack River, it is 
 able to float an occasional vessel to the unimportant vil- 
 lages at the northern end of the meadows, and the right 
 of navigation can be interfered with only by govermental 
 action. If the Hackensack River proper, that part of it 
 which only serves as an outlet for the drainage of the high 
 land north of the meadows, could be diverted and carried 
 through the hills to the Passaic; or confined within straight 
 elevated banks and made to discharge at high water mark 
 at the line of the Philadelphia Rail-road ; the wash of 
 the highlands, east and west of the meadows, being also 
 carried off* at this level, the bridge of the railroad might 
 be replaced by an earth embankment, less than a quarter 
 of a mile in length, effecting a complete exclusion of the 
 tidal flow from the whole tract. 
 
 This being done, a steam-pump, far less formidable than 
 many which are in profitable use in Europe for the same 
 purpose, would empty, and keep empty, the present bed 
 of the river, which would form a capital outlet for the 
 drainage of the whole area. Twenty thousand acres, of 
 the most fertile land, would thus be added to the available 
 area of the State, greatly increasing its wealth, and in- 
 ducing the settlement of thousands of industrious inhab- 
 itants. 
 As the circumstances under which upland water reacheg
 
 5404 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AXD HEALTH. 
 
 lands of the class under consideration vary with every 
 locality, no specific directions for the treatment of individ- 
 ual cases can be given within the limits of this chapter; 
 but the problem will rarely be a difficult one. 
 
 The removal of the rain-fall and water of filtration 
 is the next point to be considered. 
 
 So far as the drainage of the land, in detail, is concerned, 
 it is only necessary to say that it may be accomplished, as 
 in the case of any other level land which, from the slight 
 fall that can be allowed the drains, requires close attention 
 and great care in the adjustment of the grades. 
 
 The main difficulty is in providing an outlet for the 
 drains. This can only be done by artificial means, as the 
 water must be removed from a level lower than high-wa- 
 ter mark, sometimes lower than low water. 
 
 If it is only required that t'ne outlet be at a point some- 
 what above the level of ordinary low-water, it will be suf 
 ficient to provide a sufficient reservoir, (usually a large 
 open ditch,) to contain the drainage water that is dis- 
 charged while the tide stands above tlie floor of the out- 
 let sluice-way, and to provide for its outflow while the 
 level of the tide water is below the point of discharge. 
 This is done by means of sluices having self-acting valves, 
 (or tide-gates,) opening outward, which will be closed by 
 the weight of the water when the tide rises against them, 
 being opened again by the pressure of the water from 
 within, as soon the tide falls below the level of the water 
 inside of the bank. 
 
 The gates and sluices may be of wood or iron, square 
 or round. The best would be galvanized iron pipes and 
 valves ; but a square wooden trunk, closed with a heavy 
 oak gate that fits closely against its outer end, and moves 
 freely on its hinges, will answer capitally well, if carefully 
 and strongly made. If the gate is of wood, it will be 
 well to have it lie in a slightly slanting position, so that its 
 own weight will tend to keep it closed when the tide first
 
 THK RECLAIMING OF SALT MARSHES. 205 
 
 commences to rise above the floor, and might trickle in, 
 before it had acquired sufficient head to press the gate 
 against the end of the trunk. 
 
 As this outlet has to remove, in a short time, all of the 
 water that is delivered by the drains and ditches during 
 several hours, it should, of course, be considerably larger 
 than would be required for a constantly flowing drain from 
 the same area ; but the immense gates, large enough for 
 a can ul lock, which are sometimes used for the drainage 
 of a few acres of marsh, are absurd. Not only are they 
 useless, they are really objectionable, inasmuch as the 
 greater extent of their joints increases the risk of leakage 
 at the time of high water. 
 
 The channel for the outflow of the water may some- 
 times, with advantage, be open to the top of the dyke or 
 dam, a canal instead of a trunk ; but this is rarely the 
 better plan, and is only admissible where the discharge is 
 into a river or small bay, too small for the formation of 
 high waves, as these would be best received on the face 
 of a well sodded, sloping bank 
 
 The height, above absolute low water, at which the outlet 
 should be placed, will depend on the depth of the outlet 
 of the land drain, and the depth of storage room required 
 to receive the drainage water during the higher stages of 
 the tide. Of course, it must not be higher than the floor 
 of the land drain outlet, and, except for the purpose of 
 affording storage room, it need not be lower, although all 
 the drainage will discharge, not only while the tide water 
 is below the bottom of the gate, but as long as it remains 
 ower than the level of the water inside. It is well to place 
 the mouth of the trunk nearly as low as ordinary low-wa- 
 ter mark. This will frequently render it necessary to carry 
 a covered drain, of wood or brick, through the mud, out 
 as far as the tide usually recedes, connected with the 
 valve gate at the outlet of the trunk, by a covered box
 
 206 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 which will keep rubbish from obstructing it, or interferirg 
 with its action. 
 
 When the outlet of the land-drains is below low-water 
 mark, it is of course necessary to pump out the drainage 
 water. This is done by steam or by wind, the latter be- 
 ing economical only for small tracts which will not bear 
 the cost of a steam pump. Formerly, this work was done 
 entirely by windmills, but these afford only an uncertain 
 power, and often cause the entire loss of crops which are 
 ready for the harvest, by obstinately refusing to work for 
 days after a heavy rain has deluged the land. In grass 
 land they are tolerably reliable, and on small tracts in 
 cultivation, it is easy, by having a good proportion of 
 open ditches, to afford storage room sufficient for general 
 security ; but in the reclaiming of large areas, (and it is 
 with these that the work is most economical,) the sU-am 
 pump may be regarded as indispensable. It is fast super- 
 seding the windmills which, a few years ago, were the sole 
 dependence in Holland and on the English Fens. The 
 magnitude of the pumping machinery on which the agricul- 
 ture of a large part of Holland depends, is astonishing. 
 There are such immense areas of salt marsh in the 
 United States which may be tolerably drained by the use 
 of simple valve gates, discharging above low-water mark, 
 that it is not very important to consider the question of 
 pumping, except in cases where owners of small tracts, 
 from which a sufficient tidal outlet could not be secured, 
 (without the concurrence of adjoining proprietors who 
 might refuse to unite in making the improvement,) may 
 find it advisable to erect small pumps for their own use. 
 In such cases, it would generally be most economical to 
 use wind-power, especially if an accessary steam pump be 
 provided for occasional use, in emergency. Certainly, the 
 tidal drainage should first be resorted to, for when the 
 land has once been brought into cultivation, the propriety 
 of introducing steam pumps will become more apparent,
 
 THE RECLAIMING OF SALT MABSHES. 207 
 
 and the outlay will be made with more confidence of prof- 
 itable return, and, in all cases, the tidal outlet should be 
 depended on for the outflow of all water above its level. 
 It would be folly to raise water by expensive means, which 
 can be removed, even periodically, by natural drainage. 
 
 When pumps are used, their discharge pipes should pass 
 through the embankment, and deliver the water at low- 
 water mark, so that the engine may have to operate only 
 against the actual height of the tide waier. If it delivered 
 above high-water mark, it would work, even at low tide, 
 vjaiust a constant head, equal to that of the highest tides. 
 
 NOTE. (Third edition.) Whether or not it will pay to reclaim salt 
 marshes depends, not only on the cost of the work and on the thorough- 
 ness with which it is done, but also, and possibly even more largely, 
 on the quality of the marsh. Deep beds of peat are not promising sub- 
 jects for reclamation, because they settle so much on the withdrawal of 
 their water, that it is necessary to drain them much more deeply than 
 would at first be supposed. Then again, while peat is u very valuable 
 addition to ordinary soils, it seldom constitutes a good agricultural soil 
 in itself. If combined with a large amount of earthy sill, it may make 
 a most excellent soil, but if mainly an accumulation of decomposed 
 vegetable matter, success would be questionable. Marshes which con- 
 sist of vegetable deposits largely mixed with sea-sand, or such as lie 
 on beds of sea-sand, are not of great value. If the admixture or the 
 underlying bed is of clay, calcareous soil, or any ordinary river alluvion, 
 the resu'.t of the improvement should be most excellent.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 MALARIAL DISEASES. 
 
 So far as remote agricultural districts are concerned, it 
 i not probable that the mere question of health would in- 
 duce the undertaking of costly drainage operations, al- 
 though this consideration may operate, in connection with 
 the need for an improved condition of soil, as a strong 
 argument in its favor. As a rule, " the chills " are accept- 
 ed by farmers, especially at the West, as one of the slight 
 inconveniences attending their residence on rich lands; 
 and it is not proposed, in this work, to urge the evils of 
 this terrible disease, and of "sun pain," or " day neuralgia." 
 as a reason for draining the immense prairies over which 
 they prevail. The diseases exist, to the incalculable det- 
 liment of the people, and thorough draining would re- 
 move them, and would doubtless bring a large average re- 
 turn on the investment; but the question is, after all, 
 one of capital ; and the cost of such draining as would 
 remove fever-and-ague from the bottom lands and prairies 
 of the West, and from the infected agricultural districts 
 at the East, would be more than the agricultural capital 
 of those districts could spare tor the purpose
 
 MALARIAL DISEASES. 209 
 
 In the vicinity of cities and towns, however, where 
 more wealth has accumulated, and where the number of 
 persons subjected to the malarial influence is greater, there 
 can be no question as to the propriety of draining, even 
 if nothing but improved health be the object. 
 
 Then again, there are immense tracts near the large 
 cities of this country which would be most desirable for 
 residence, were it not that their occupancy, except with 
 certain constant precautions, implies almost inevitable suf- 
 fering from fever-and-ague, or neuralgia. 
 
 Very few neighborhoods within thirty miles of the city 
 of New York are entirely free from these scourges, whose 
 influence has greatly retarded their occupation by those 
 who are seeking country homes ; while many, who have 
 braved the dangers of disease in these localities, have had 
 sad cause to regret their temerity. 
 
 Probably the most striking instance of the effect of 
 malaria on the growth and settlement of suburban dis- 
 tricts, is to be found on Staten Island. Within five miles 
 of the Battery ; accessible by the most agreeable and best 
 managed ferry from the city ; practically, nearer to Wall 
 street than Murray Hill is ; with most charming views of 
 land and water; with a beautifully diversified surface, and 
 an excellent soil ; and affording capital opportunities for sea 
 bathing, it should be, (were it not for its sanitary reputa- 
 tion, it inevitably would be,) one vast residence-park. Ex- 
 cept on its extreme northern end, and along its Ligher 
 ridges, it has, and, unfortunately, it deserves, a moet un- 
 enviable reputation for insalubrity. Here and there, on the 
 southern slope also, there are favored places which are unac- 
 countably free from the pest, but, as a rule, it is, during the 
 summer and autumn, unsafe to live there without having 
 constant recourse to preventive medication, or exercising 
 unusual and incom enient precautions with regard to ex- 
 posuro to mid-day sun and evening dow. There are alwayi 
 to be found attractive residences, which are deserted by
 
 810 DRADf/NG FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 their owners, and are offered for sale at absurdly low piicea, 
 There are isolated instances of very thorough and very 
 costly draining, which has failed of effect, because so ex 
 tensive a malarial region cannot be reclaimed by anything 
 short of a systematic improvement of the whole. * 
 
 It has been estimated tl.at the thorough drainage of tho 
 low lands, valleys and ponds of the eastern end of the 
 island, including two miles of the south shore, would at 
 once add $5,000,000 to the market value of the real estate 
 of that section. There can be no question that any radical 
 improvement in this respect would remove the only ob 
 stacle to the rapid settlement of the island by those who 
 wish to live in the country, yet need to be near to the 
 business portion of the city. The hope of such improve- 
 ment being made, however, seems as remote as ever, al- 
 though any one at all acquainted with the sources of mi- 
 asm, in country neighborhoods, can readily see the cause 
 of the difficulty, and the means for its removal are as 
 plainly suggested. 
 
 . Staten Island is, by no means, alone in this respect. All 
 who know the history of the settlement of the other sub- 
 urbs of New York are very well aware that those places 
 which are free from fever-and-ague and malarial neural- 
 gia, are extremely rare. 
 
 The exact cause of fever-and-ague and othei malarial 
 diseases is unknown, but it is demonstrated that, whatever 
 the cause, it generally accompanies a combination of cir- 
 cumstances, one of which is undue moisture in the soiL 
 It is not necessary that land should be absolutely marshy 
 to produce the miasm, for this often arises on cold, springy 
 uplands which are quite free from deposits of muck. 
 Thus far, the attention of scientific investigators, given 
 to the consideration of the origin of malarial diseases, has 
 failed to discover any well established facts concerning it ; 
 but there have been developed certain theories, which
 
 MALARIAL DISEASES. 211 
 
 to be sustained by such knowledge a^ exists on the 
 subject. 
 
 Dr. Bartlett, in his work on the Fevers of the United 
 States, says : " The essential, efficient, producing causo 
 " of periodical fever, the poison whose action on 
 i( the system gives rise to the disease, is a substance or 
 " agent which has received the names of malaria, or marsh 
 " miasm. The nature and composition of this poison are 
 " wholly unknown to us. Like most other analagous 
 " agents, like the contagious principle of small-pox and of 
 " typhus, and like the epidemic poison of scarletina and 
 " cholera, they are too subtle to be recognized by any 
 " of our senses, they are too fugitive to be caught by any 
 " of our contrivances. 
 
 " As always happens in such cases and under similar 
 " circumstances, in the absence of positive knowledge, we 
 " have been abundantly supplied with conjecture and spec- 
 " ulation ; what observation has failed to discover, hy- 
 " pothesis has endeavored and professed to supply. It is 
 " quite unncessary even to enumerate the different sub- 
 " stances to which malaria has been referred. Amongst 
 " them are all of the chemical products and compounds 
 " possible in wet and marshy localities ; moisture alone ; 
 " the products of animal and vegetable decomposition ; 
 "and invisible living organisms. * * * * Inscruta- 
 " ble, however, as the intimate nature of the substances 
 " or agents may be, there are some few of its laws and 
 '' relations which are very well ascertained. One of these 
 ' consists in its connection with low, or wet, or marshy 
 1 localities. This connection is not invariable and exclu- 
 " sive, that is, there are marshy localities which are not 
 " malarious, and there are malarious localities which are 
 "not marshy; but there is no doubt whatever that it gen- 
 " erally exists." 
 
 In a report to the United States Sanitary Commission, 
 Dr. Metca fe states, that all hypotheses, even the mpat
 
 212 DRAINING FOR PROFIT A1TO HEALTH. 
 
 plausible, are entirely unsupported by positive knowledge 
 and he says : 
 
 " This confession of ignorance still leaves us in posses- 
 " sion of certain knowledge concerning malaria, from which 
 " much practical good may be derived. 
 
 " 1st. It affects, by preference, low and moist localities. 
 
 " 2d. It is almost never developed at a lower tempera- 
 ' ture than 60 Fahrenheit. 
 
 " 3d. Its evolution or active agency is checked by a 
 " temperature of 32. 
 
 " 4th. It is most abundant and most virulent as we ap- 
 " proach the equator and the sea-coast 
 " 5th. It has ai affinity for dense foliage, which has the 
 " power of accumulating it, when lying in the course of 
 ' winds blowing from malarious localities. 
 
 " 6th. Forests, or even woods, have the power of ob- 
 " structing and preventing its transmission, under these 
 
 circumstances. 
 
 " 7th. By atmospheric currents it is capable of being 
 " transported to considerable distances probably as far aa 
 " five miles. 
 
 " 8th. It may be developed, in previously healthy places, 
 " by turning up the soil ; as in making excavations for 
 " foundations of houses, tracks for railroads, and beds for 
 " canals. 
 
 " 9th. In certain cases it seems to be attracted and ab- 
 " sorbed by bodies of water lying in the course of such 
 " winds as waft it from the miasmatic source. 
 
 " 10th. Experience alone can enable us to decide as to 
 u the presence or absence of malaria, in any given locality. 
 
 " llth. In proportion as countries, previously malarious, 
 " are cleared up and thickly settled, periodical fevers dis- 
 " appear in man}' instances to be replaced by the typhoid 
 " or typhus." 
 
 La Roche, in a carefully prepared treatise on " Pneumo- 
 nia ; its Supposed Connection with Autumnal Fevers," re
 
 3CALABI1L mSBASBS. 213 
 
 cites various theories concerning the mode of action of 
 marsh miasm, and finds them insufficient to account for 
 the phenomena which they produce. He continues as 
 follows : 
 
 " All the aoove hypotheses failing to account for the ef 
 " fects in question, we are naturally led to the admission 
 " that they are produced by the morbific influence of some 
 " special agent ; and when we take into consideration all 
 " the circumstances attending the appearance of febrile 
 " diseases, the circumscribed sphere of their prevalence, 
 " the suddenness of their attack, the character of their 
 " phenomena, etc., we may safely say that there is noth- 
 " ing left but to attribute them to the action of some 
 " poison dissolved or suspended in the air of the infected 
 " locality; which poison, while doubtless requiring for its 
 " development and dissemination a certain degree of heat. 
 " and terrestrial and atmospheric moisture, a certain 
 " amount of nightly condensation after evaporation, and 
 ' the presence of fermenting or decomposing materials, 
 " cannot be produced by either of these agencies alone, 
 ''and though not indicated by the chemist, betrays its 
 " presence by producing on those exposed to its influence 
 "the peculiar morbid changes characterizing fever." 
 
 He quotes the following from the Researches of Dr. 
 Chad wick : 
 
 " In considering the circumstances external to the resi- 
 " dence, which affect the sanitary condition of the popula- 
 " tion, the importance of a general land-drainage is devel- 
 " oped by the inquiries as to the cause of the prevalent 
 " diseases, to be of a magnitude of which no conception had. 
 " been formed at the commencement of the investigation. 
 " Its importance is manifestel by the severe consequences 
 " of its neglect in every part of the country, as well as by 
 " its advantages in the increasing salubrity and productive- 
 " ness wherever the drainage has been skillful aud effef 
 tuaL"
 
 214 DRAINING FOE PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 La Roche calls attention to these facts: That the ac- 
 climated residents of a malarious locality, while they are 
 less subject than strangers to active fever, show, in their 
 physical and even in their mental organization, evident 
 indications of the ill effects of living in a poisonous atmos- 
 phere, an evil which increases with successive genera- 
 tions, often resulting in a positive deterioration of the 
 race ; that the lower animals are affected, though in a less 
 degree than man ; that deposits of organic matter which 
 are entirely covered with water, (as at the bottom of a 
 pond,) are not productive of malaria ; that this condition 
 of saturation is infinitely preferable to imperfect drainage 
 that swamps which are shaded from the sun's heat by 
 trees, are not supposed to produce disease; and that 
 marshes which are exposed to constant winds are not 
 especially deleterious to persons living in their immediate 
 vicinity, while winds frequently carry the emanations of 
 miasmatic districts to points some miles distant, where 
 ihey produce their worst effects. This latter statement is 
 substantiated by the fact that houses situated some miles 
 to the leeward of low, wet lands, have been especially in- 
 salubrious until the windows and doors on the side toward 
 the source of the miasm were closed up, and openings 
 made on the other side, and thenceforth remained free 
 from the disease, although other houses with openings on 
 the exposed sides continued unhealthy. 
 
 The literature relating to periodical fevers contains noth- 
 ing else so interesting as the very ingenious article of Dr. J. 
 ]L Salisbury, on the " Cause of Malarious Fevers," contrib- 
 uted to the " American Journal of Medical Science," for 
 January, 1866. Unfortunately, while there is no evidence 
 to controvert the statements of this article, they do not 
 seem to be honored with the confidence of the profession, 
 not being regarded as sufficiently authenticated to form a 
 basis for scientific deductions. Dr. Salisbury claims to have 
 discovered the cause of malarial fever in the spores of a very
 
 MALARIAL DISEASES. 215 
 
 low order of plant, which spores he claims to have inva- 
 riably detected in the saliva, and in the urine, of fever pa- 
 tients, and in those of no other persons, and which he col- 
 lected on plates of glass suspended over all marshes and 
 other lands of a malarious character, which he examined, 
 and which he was never able to obtain from lands -which 
 were not malarious. Starting from this point, he proceeds, 
 (with circumstantial statements that seem to the unprofes- 
 sional mind to be sufficient,) to show that the plant pro- 
 ducing these spores is always found, in the form of a whit- 
 ish, green, or brick-colored incrustation, on the surface of 
 fever producing lands ; that the spores, when detached 
 from the parent plant, are carried in suspension only in 
 the moist exhalations of wet lands, never rising higher 
 (usually from 35 to 60 feet,) nor being carried farther, than 
 the humid air itself; that they most accumulate in the up- 
 per strata of the fogs, producing more disease on lands 
 slightly elevated above the level of the marsh than at its 
 very edge; that fever-and-ague are never to be found 
 where this plant does not grow ; that it may be at once 
 introduced into the healthiest locality by transporting 
 moist earth on which the incrustation is forming; that the 
 plant, being introduced into the human system through 
 the lungs, continues to grow there and causes disease ; 
 and that quinia arrests its growth, (as it checks the mul- 
 tiplication of yeast plants in fermentation,) and thus sus- 
 pends the action of the disease. 
 
 Probably it would be impossible to prove that the fore- 
 going theory is correct, though it is not improbable that it 
 contains the germ from which a fuller knowledge of the dis- 
 ease and its causes will be obtained. It is sufficient for 
 the purposes of this work to say that, so far as Dr. Salis- 
 bury's opinion is valuable, it is, like the opinion of all 
 other writers on the subject, fully in favor of perfect 
 drainage as the one great preventive of all malarial di
 
 216 DRAINING FOE PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 The evidence of the effert of drainage in removing thi 
 cause of malarial diseases is complete and conclusive. In- 
 stances of such improvement in this country are not rare, 
 bnt they are much less numerous and less conspicuous 
 nere than in England, where draining has been much more 
 extensively carried out, and where greater pains have been 
 taken to collect testimony as to its effects. 
 
 If there is any fact well established by satisfactory ex- 
 perience, it is that thorough and judicious draining will 
 entirely remove the local source of the miasm which pro- 
 duces these diseases. 
 
 The voluminous reports of various Committees of the 
 English Parliament, appointed to investigate sanitary 
 questions, are replete with information concerning expe- 
 rience throughout the whole country, bearing directly on 
 this question. 
 
 Dr. Whitley, in his report to the Board of Health, (in 
 1864,) of an extended tour of observation, says of one 
 town that he examined : 
 
 " Mr. Nicholls, who has been forty years in practice 
 " here, and whom I was unable to see at the time of my 
 " visit, writes : Intermittent and remittent are greatly on 
 " on the decline since the unproved state of drainage of 
 " the town and surrounding district, and more particularly 
 " marked is this alteration, since the introduction of the 
 " water-works in the place. Although we have occasional 
 " outbreaks of intermittent and remittent, with neuralgio 
 " attacks, they yield more speedily to remedies, and are 
 " not attended by so much enlargement of the liver or 
 " spleen as formerly, and dysentery is of rare occurrence." 
 
 Dr. Whitley sums up his case as follows : 
 
 " It would appear from the foregoing inquiry, that in- 
 " termittent and remittent fevers, and their consequences, 
 " can no longer be regarded as seriously affecting the 
 " health of the population, in many of the districts, in which 
 u those diseases were formerly of a formidable ct aracter
 
 MALARIAL DISEASES. 217 
 
 "Thus, in Norfolk, Lincolnshire, and Cambridgeshire, 
 " counties in which these diseases were both frequent and 
 " severe, all the evidence, except that furnished by the 
 "Peterborough Infirmary, and, in a somewhat less degree, 
 " in Spaulding, tends to show that they are at the present 
 " time, comparatively rare and mild in form," 
 
 ********* 
 
 He mentions similar results from his investigations hi 
 other parts of the kingdom, and says : 
 
 " It may, therefore, be safely asserted as regards Eng- 
 " land generally, that : 
 
 " The diseases which have been made the subject of the 
 '* present inquiry, have been steadily decreasing, both in 
 " frequency and severity, for several years, and this de- 
 " crease is attributed, in nearly every case, mainly to one 
 " cause, improved land drainage ; " again : 
 
 *' The change of local circumstances, unanimously de- 
 " clared to be the most immediate in influencing the pre- 
 "valence of malarious diseases, is land drainage;" and 
 again: 
 
 " Except in a few cases in which medical men believed 
 " that these affections began to decline previously to the 
 " improved drainage of the places mentioned, the decrease 
 " in all of the districts where extensive drainage has been 
 " carried out, was stated to have commenced about the 
 " same time, and was unhesitatingly attributed to that 
 " cause." 
 
 A select Committee of the House of Commons, ap- 
 pointed to investigate the condition and sanitary influence 
 oi the Thames marshes, reported their minutes of evi 
 dence, and their deductions therefrom, in 1854. The fol- 
 lowing is extracted from their report : 
 
 " It appears from the evidence of highly intelligent and 
 "eminent gentlemer of the medical profession, residing in 
 " the neighborhood of the marshes on both sides of the 
 10
 
 218 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AND IIKAI/TH 
 
 " Thames below London Bridge, that the diseases preva- 
 " lent in these districts are highly indicative of malarious 
 "influences, fever-and-ague being very prevalent; and 
 " that the sickness and mortality are greatest in those lo- 
 " calities which adjoin imperfectly drained lands, and far 
 " exceed the usual average ; and that ague and allied dis- 
 " orders frequently extend to the high grounds in the vicin- 
 " ity. In those districts where a partial drainage has 
 " been effected, a corresponding improvement in the health 
 " of the inhabitants is perceptible." 
 
 In the evidence given before the committee, Dr. P 
 Bossey testified that the malaria from salt marshes varied 
 in intensity, being most active in the morning and in the 
 Summer season. The marshes are sometimes covered by 
 a little fog, usually not more than three feet thick, 
 which is of a very offensive odor, and detrimental to 
 health. Away from the marshes, there is a greater ten- 
 dency to disease on the side toward which the prevailing 
 winds blow. 
 
 Dr. James Stewart testified that the effect of malaria 
 was greatest when very hot weather succeeds heavy rain 
 or floods. He thought that malaria could be carried up 
 a slope, but has never been known to descend, and that, 
 consequently, an intervening hill affords sufficient protec- 
 tion against marsh malaria. He had known cases where 
 the edges of a river were healthy and the uplands mala- 
 rious. 
 
 In Santa Maura and Zante, where he had been, stationed 
 with the army, he had observed that tb*? edge of a marsh 
 would be comparatively healthy, while the higher places 
 in the vicinity were exceedingly unhealthy. He thought 
 that there were a great many mixed diseases which began 
 like ague and terminated very differently ; those diseases 
 would, no doubt, assume a very different form if they 
 were not produced by the marsh air ; many diseases are 
 very difficult to treat, from being of a mixed character
 
 MALARIAL DISEASES. 21 9 
 
 beginning like marsh fevers and terminating like inflam- 
 matory fevers, or diseases of the chest. 
 
 Dr. George Farr testified that rheumatism and tic-dolo- 
 reux were very common among the ladies who live at the 
 Woolwich Arsenal, near the Thames marshes. Some of 
 these cases were quite incurable, until the patients removed 
 to a purer atmosphere. 
 
 W. H. Gall, M. D., thought that the extent to which 
 malaria affected the health of London, must of course be 
 very much a theoretical question ; " but it is very remark- 
 " able that diseases which are not distinctly miasmatic, do 
 " become much more severe in a miasmatic district. In- 
 " fluenzas, which prevailed in England in 1847, were very 
 " much more fatal in London and the surrounding parts 
 " than they were in the country generally, and influenza 
 " and ague poisons are very nearly allied in their effects. 
 " Marsh miasms are conveyed, no doubt, a considerable 
 " distance. Sufficiently authentic cases are recorded to 
 " show that the influence of marsh miasm extends several 
 u miles." Other physicians testify to the fact, that near 
 the Thames marshes, the prevalent diseases are all of them 
 of an aguish type, intermittent and remittent, and that 
 they are accompanied with much dysentery. Dr. John 
 Manly said that, when lie first went to Barking, he found a 
 great deal of ague, but since the draining, in a population 
 of ten thousand, there are not half-a-dozen cases annually 
 and but very little remittent. 
 
 The following Extract is taken from the testimony 
 of Sir Culling Eardly, Bart. : 
 
 " Chairman : I believe you reside at Belvidere, in the 
 " parish of Erith ? Yes. Ch. : Close to these marshes ? 
 " Yes. Ch. : Can you speak from your own knowledge, 
 " of the state of these marshes, with regard to public 
 " health ? Sir C. : I can speak of some of the results 
 " which have been produced in the neighborhood, from the 
 "condition of the marshes; the neighborhood is in on
 
 220 DRAFTING FOE PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 * continual state of ague. My own house is protected, from 
 " the height of its position, nnd a gentleman's house is les? 
 " liable to the influence of malaria than the houses of the 
 " lower classes. But even in my house we are liable to 
 " ague ; and to show the extraordinary manner in which 
 " the ague operates, in the basement story of this house 
 " where my men-servants sleep, we have more than once 
 " had bad ague. In the attics of my house, where my 
 "maid-servants sleep, we have never had it Persons are 
 " deterred from settling in the neighborhood by the agu- 
 " ish character of the country. Many persons, attracted 
 "by the beauty of the locality, wish to come down and 
 "settle; but when they find the liability to ague, they 
 " are compelled to give up their intention. I may mention 
 " that the village of Erith itself, bears marks of the influ* 
 " ence of malaria. It is more like one of the desolate 
 "towns of Italy, Ferrara, for instance, than a healthy, 
 " happy, English village. I do not know whether it is 
 "known to the committee, that Erith is the village describ- 
 " ed in Dickens' Household Words, as Dumble-down- 
 " deary, and that it is a most graphic and correct descrip- 
 " tion of the state of the place, attributable to the unhealthy 
 " character of the locality." 
 
 He also stated that the ague is not confined to the 
 marshes, but extends to the high lands near them. 
 
 The General Board of Health, of England, at the close 
 of a voluminous report, publish the following " Conclusions 
 " as to the Drainage of Suburban Lands : 
 
 " 1. Excess of moisture, even on lands not evidently wet, 
 " is a cause of fogs and damps. 
 
 " 2. Dampness serves as a medium for the conveyance of 
 " any decomposing matter that may be evolved, and adds 
 "to the injurious effects of such matters in the air: in 
 " other words the excess of moisture may be said to increase 
 ** or aggravate atmospheric impurities.
 
 MALAlilAL DISEASES. 221 
 
 "3. The evaporation of the surplus moisture lowers the 
 "temperature, produces chills, and creates or aggravates 
 "the sudden and injurious changes or fluctuations by 
 " which health is injured." 
 
 In view of the foregoing opinions as to the cause of ma- 
 laria, and of the evidence as to the effect of draining in re- 
 moving the unhealthy condition in which those causes 
 originate, it is not too much to say that, in addition to 
 the capital effect of draining on the productive capacity of 
 the land, the most beneficial sanitary results may be con- 
 fidently expected from the extension of the practice, espe- 
 cially in such localities as are now unsafe, or at least 
 undesirable for residence. 
 
 In proportion to the completeness and efficiency of the 
 means for the removal of surplus water from the soil : in 
 proportion, that is, to the degree in which the improved 
 tile drainage described in these pages is adopted, will be 
 the completeness of the removal of the causes of disease. 
 So far as the drying of malarious lands is concerned, it is 
 only necessary to construct drains in precisely the same 
 manner as for agricultural improvement. 
 
 The removal of the waste of houses, and of other filth, 
 will be- considered in the next chapter. 
 
 NOTE. (Third edition.) No practical result lias ever come of the re- 
 searches of Dr. Salisbury described in this chapter, but his investiga- 
 tion followed with curious closeness the path through which later ex- 
 plorersPasteur, Koch, and others have reached their remarkable 
 identification of microscopic organisms as the means of contagion of 
 a number of serious diseases of men and animals.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE AND TOWN SEWERAGE IN 
 THEIR RELATIONS TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH. 
 
 The following is extracted from a report made by the 
 General Board of Health to the British Parliament, con- 
 cerning the administration of the Public Health Act and 
 the Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Acts 
 from 1848 to 1854. 
 
 " Where instances have been favorable for definite ob- 
 " servation, as in broad blocks of buildings, the effects of 
 " sanitary improvement have been already manifested to an 
 " extent greater than could have been anticipated, and than 
 " can be readily credited by those who have not paid atten- 
 tion to the subject. 
 
 " In one favorable instance, that of between 600 and 700 
 "persons of the working class in the metropolis, during a 
 "period of three years, the average rate of mortality has 
 "been reduced to between 13 and 14 in 1000. In another 
 " instance, for a shorter period, among 500 persons, the 
 "mortality has been reduced as low as even 7 in 1000. 
 "The average rate of mortality for the whole metropolis 
 "being 23 in 1000. 
 
 " In another instance, the abolishing of cess-pools and 
 " their replacement by water-closets, together with the 
 M abolishing of brick drains and their replacement by im-
 
 HOUSE DBAINAGE AND TOWN SEWEEAGB. 223 
 
 permeable and self-cleansing stone-ware pipes, has been 
 " attended with an immediate and extraordinary reduction 
 " of mortality. Thus, in Lambeth Square, occupied by a 
 " superior class of operatives, in the receipt of high wages, 
 " the deaths, which in ordinary times were above the gen- 
 " eral average, or more than 30 in 1000, had risen to a rate 
 " of 55 in 1000. By the abolishing of cess-pools, which 
 " were within the houses, and the substitution of water- 
 " closets, and with the introduction of tubular, self-cleansing 
 " house-drains, the mortality has been reduced to 13 in 1000. 
 " The reduction of the mortality was effected precisely 
 among the same occupants, without any change in their 
 " habits whatever." 
 
 " Sewers are less important than the House-Drains and 
 " Water-Closets, and if not carrying much water, may be- 
 '* come cess-pools. In the case of the Square just referred 
 " to, when cess-pools and drains of deposit were removed 
 " without any alteration whatever in the adjacent sewers, 
 "fevers disappeared from house to house, as these recep- 
 " tacles were filled up, and the water closet apparatus sub- 
 stituted, merely in consequence of the removal of the de- 
 " composing matter from beneath the houses to a distant 
 "sewer of deposit or open water course. 
 
 " If the mortality were at the same rate as in the model 
 "dwellings, or in the improved dwellings in Lambeth 
 " Square, the annual deaths for the whole of the metropolis 
 " would be 25,000 less, and for the whole of England and 
 " Wales 170,000 less than the actual deaths. 
 
 "If the reduced rate of mortality in these dwellings 
 '' should continue, and there appears to be no reason to 
 "suppose that it will not, the extension to all towns which 
 "have been affected, of the improvements which have been 
 " applied in these buildings, would raise the average age 
 "at death to about forty-eight instead of twenty-nine, the 
 " present average age at death rf the inhabitants of towns 
 " in all England and Wales."
 
 224 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 The branch of the Art of Drainage which relates to the 
 removal of the fcecal and other refuse wastes of the popu- 
 lation of towns, is quite different from that which has been 
 described in the preceding pages, as applicable to the agri- 
 cultural and sanitary improvement of lands under cultiva- 
 tion, and of suburban districts. Still, the fact that town 
 and house drainage affords a means for the preservation 
 of valuable manures, justifies its discussion in an agricul- 
 tural work, and " draining for health" would stop far short 
 of completeness were no attention paid to the removal of 
 the cause of diseases, which are far more fatal than those 
 that originate in an undrained condition of the soiL 
 
 The extent to which these diseases, (of which typhoid 
 fever is a type,) are prevented by sanitary drainage, is 
 strikingly shown in the extract which commences this 
 chapter. Since the experience to which this report refers, 
 it has been found that the most fatal epidemics of the 
 lower portions of London originated in the choked condi- 
 tion of the street sewers, whose general character, as well 
 as the plan of improvement adopted are described in the 
 following "Extracts from the Report of the Metropolitan 
 Board of Works," made in 1866. 
 
 " The main sewers discharged their whole contents di- 
 
 * rect into the Thames, the majority of them capable of 
 " being emptied only at the time of low wator ; conse- 
 " quently, as the tide rose, the outlets of the sewers were 
 " closed, and the sewage was dammed back, and became 
 
 'stagnant; the sewage and impure waters were also 
 ' constantly flowing from the higher grounds, in some in- 
 ' stances during 18 out of the 24 hours, and thus the thick 
 ' and heavy substances were deposited, which had to be 
 
 * afterwards removed by the costly process of hand labor. 
 " During long continued or copious fills of rain, more par- 
 " ticularly when these occurred at the time of high water 
 " in the river, the closed outlets not having sufficient stor- 
 u age capacity to receive the increased volume of sewage,
 
 HOUSE DRAINA9E AND TOWN SEWEBAGB. 225 
 
 "the houses and premises in the low lying districts, espeo 
 " ially on the south side of the river, became flooded by 
 " the sewage rising through the house drains, and so con- 
 " tinued until the tide had receded sufficiently to afford a 
 " vent for the pent-up waters, when the sewage flowed 
 "and deposited itself along the banks of the river, evolv- 
 " ing gases of a foul and offensive character. 
 
 "This state of things had a most injurious effect upon 
 " the condition of the Thames ; for not only was the sew- 
 " age carried up the river by the rising tide, at a time 
 " when the volume of pure water was at its minimum, and 
 " quite insufficient to dilute and disinfect it, but it was 
 " brought back again into the heart of the metropolis, there 
 "to mix with each day's fresli supply, until the gradual 
 "progress towards the sea of many day's accumulation 
 " could be plainly discerned ; the result being that the por- 
 " tion of the river within the metropolitan district became 
 "scarcely less impure and offensive than the foulest of the 
 " sewers themselves. ****** 
 
 " The Board, by the system they have adopted, have 
 "sought to abolish the evils which hitherto existed, by 
 "constructing new lines of sewers, laid in a direction at 
 "right angles to that of the existing sewers, and a little 
 "below their levels, so as to intercei>t their contents and 
 " convey them to an outfall, on the north side of the Thames 
 "about 11^ miles, and on the south side about 14 miles, 
 " below London Bridge. By this arrangement as large a 
 " proportion of the sewage as practicable is carried away 
 " by gravitation, and a constant discharge for the remain- 
 " der is provided by means of pumping. At the outlets, 
 " the sewage is delivered into reservoirs situate on the 
 ' banks of the Thames, and placed at such levels as enable 
 " them to discharge into the river at or about the time of 
 "high water. The sewage thus becomes not only at 
 " once diluted by the large volume of water in the river at 
 " the time of high water, but is also carried by the ebb 
 10*
 
 226 DRAINING FOB PBOFTT AND HEALTH. 
 
 " 26 miles below London Bridge, and its return by the fol 
 " lowing flood-tide within the metropolitan area, is efiee- 
 "tually prevented." 
 
 The details of this stupendous enterprise are of sufficient 
 interest to justify the introduction here of the "General 
 Statistics of the Works " as reported by the Board. 
 
 " A few statistics relative to the works may not prove 
 "uninteresting. The first portion of the works was com- 
 "menced in January 1859, being about five months after 
 "the passing of the Act authorising their execution. 
 " There are 82 miles of main intercepting sewers in London. 
 "In the construction of the works 318,000,000 of bricks, 
 "and 880,000 cubic yards of concrete have been used, 
 " and 3,500,000 cubic yards of earth excavated. The cost, 
 "when completed, will have been about 4,200,000. The 
 "total pumping power employed is 2,300 nominal 
 " horse power : and if the engines were at full work, night 
 " and day, 44,000 tons of coals per annum would be used ; 
 " but the average consumption is estimated at 20,000 tons. 
 "The sewage to be intercepted by the works on the north 
 " side of the river, at present amounts to 10,000,000 cubic 
 " feet, and on the south side 4,000,000 cubic feet per day ; 
 " but provision is made for an anticipated increase in these 
 " quantities, in addition to the rainfall, amounting to a to- 
 " tal of 63,000,000 cubic feet per day, which is equal to a 
 " lake of 482 acres, three feet deep, or 15 times as large as 
 " the Serpentine in Hyde Park." 
 
 A very large portion of the sewage has to be lifted 
 thirty-six feet to the outfall sewer. The works on the 
 north side of the Thames were formally opened, by the 
 Prince of Wales, in April 1865. 
 
 In the hope that the immense amount of sewage, for 
 which an escape has been thus provided, might be profitably 
 employed in agriculture, advertisements were inserted in 
 tne public journals asking for proposals for carrying out 
 such a scheme; and arrangements were subsequently made
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE AND TOWN SEWERAGE 227 
 
 for an extension of the works, by private enterprise, by the 
 construction of a culvert nine and a half feet in diameter, 
 and forty miles in length, capable of carrying 12,000,000 
 cubic feet of sewage per day to the barren sands on the 
 coast of Essex; the intention being to dispose of the liquid 
 to farmers along the line, and to use the surplus for the 
 fertilization of 7000 acres, (to be subsequently increased,) 
 which are to be reclaimed from the sea by embankments 
 and valve sluice-gates. 
 
 This project has not been carried into effect. (3d eel.} 
 The work which has been done, and which is now in 
 contemplation, in England, is suggestive of what might, 
 with advantage, be adopted in the larger cities in Ameri- 
 ca. Especially in New York an improved means of out- 
 let is desirable, and it is doubtful whether the high rate 
 of mortality of that city will be materially reduced be- 
 fore effective measures are devised for removing the vast 
 accumulations of filth, which ebb and flow in many of the 
 larger sewers, with each change of the tide ; and which 
 are deposited between the piers along the river-sides. 
 
 It would be practicable to construct a main receiving 
 sewer under the river streets, skirting the city, from the 
 vicinity of Bellevue Hospital on the east side, passing near 
 the outer edge of the Battery, and continuing to the high 
 land near 60th street on the west side ; having its water 
 level at least twenty feet below the level of the street, and 
 receiving all of the sewage which now flows into the river. 
 At the Battery, this receiving sewer might be connected, 
 b) a tunnel, with the Brooklyn shore, its contents being 
 carried to a convenient point south of Fort Hamilton, 
 where their discharge, (by lifting steam pumps), into the 
 waters of the Lower Bay, would be comparatively unob- 
 jectionable. The improvement being carried out to this 
 point, it would be interesting to consider the advantages 
 to result from the application of the sewage to the sandy 
 soil on the south side of Long Island.
 
 828 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 The effect of such an improvement on the health of tlie 
 city, which is now in constant danger from the putrefying 
 filth of the sewers, (these being little better than covered 
 cess-pools under the streets,) would, no doubt, equal the 
 improvement that has resulted from similar work in 
 London. 
 
 The foregoing relates only to the main outlets for town 
 sewage. The arterial drainage, (the lateral drains of the 
 system,) which receives the waste of the houses and the 
 wash of the streets, is entirely dependent on the outlet 
 sewers, and can be effective only when these are so con- 
 structed as to afford a free outfall for the matters that it de- 
 livers to them. In many towns, owing to high situation, 
 or to a rapid inclination of surface, the outfall is naturally 
 so good as to require but little attention. In all cases, the 
 manner of constructing the collecting drains is a matter of 
 great importance, and in this work a radical change has 
 oeen introduced within a few years past. 
 
 Formerly, immense conduits of porous brick work, in all 
 cases large enough to be entered to be cleansed, by hand 
 labor, of their accumulated deposits, were considered neces- 
 sary for the accommodation of the smallest discharge. The 
 3onsequence of this was, that, especially in sewers carrying 
 but little water, the solid matters contained in the sewage 
 were deposited by the sluggish flow, frequently causing 
 the entire obstruction of the passages. Such drains always 
 required frequent and expensive cleansing by hand, and the 
 decomposition of the filth which they contained produced 
 a most injurious effect on the health of persons living near 
 their connections with the street. The foul liquids with 
 which they were filled, passing through their porous 
 walls, impregnated the earth near them, and sometimes 
 reached to the cellars of adjacent houses, which were in 
 consequence rendered extremely unhealthy. Many such 
 sewers are now in existence, and some such are still being 
 constructed. Not only are they unsatisfactory, they are
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE AND TOWN SEWERAGE. 229 
 
 much more expensive in construction, and require much 
 attention and labor for repairs, and cleansing, than do the 
 stone- ware pipe sewers which are now universally adopted 
 wherever measures are taken to investigate their compara- 
 tive merits. An example of the difference between the old 
 and modern styles of sewers is found in the drainage of the 
 Westminster School buildings, etc., in London. 
 
 The new drainage conveys the house and surface drain- 
 age of about two acres on which are fifteen large houses. 
 The whole length of the drain is about three thousand feet, 
 and the entire outlet is through two nine inch pipes. The 
 drainage is perfectly removed, and the pipes are always 
 clean, no foul matters being deposited at any point. This 
 drainage has been adopted as a substitute for an old system 
 of sewerage of which the main was from 4 feet high, by 
 3 feet 6 inches wide, to 17 feet high and 6 or 7 feet wide. 
 The houses had cess-pools beneath them, which were lilled 
 with the accumulations of many years, while the sewers 
 themselves were scarcely less offensive. This condition 
 resulted in a severe epidemic fever of a very fatal character. 
 
 An examination instituted to discover the cause of the 
 epidemic resulted in the discovery of the facts set forth 
 above, and there were removed from the drams and cess- 
 pools more than 550 loads of ordure. The evaporating 
 surface of this filth was more than 2000 square yards. 
 
 Since the new drainage, not only has there been no recur- 
 rence of epidemic fever, but " a greater improvement in 
 " the general health of the population has succeeded than 
 "might be reasonably expected in a small block of houses, 
 u amidst an ill-conditioned district, from which it cannot be 
 " completely isolated." 
 
 The principle which justifies the use of pipe sewers is pre- 
 cisely that which has been described in recommending small 
 tiles for agricultural drainage, to wit: that the rapidity of 
 a flow of water, and if,s power to remove obstacles, is in pro- 
 portion to its depth as compared with its width. It has been
 
 230 DBAINING FOB PEOFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 found in practice, tLat a stream which wends its sluggish 
 way along the bottom of a large brick culvert, when con- 
 centrated within the area of a small pipe of regular form, 
 flows much more rapidly, and will carry away even whole 
 ( bricks, and other substances which were an obstacle to its 
 flow in the larger channel. As an experiment as to the 
 eflicacy of small pipes Mr. Hale, thf surveyor, who was 
 directed by the General Board of Health of London to 
 make the trial, laid a 12-inch pipe in the bottom of a sewer 
 5 feet and 6 inches high, and 3 feet and 6 inches wide. 
 The area drained was about 44 acres. He found the veloc- 
 ity of the stream in the pipe to be four and a half times 
 greater than that of the same amount of water in the 
 newer. The pipe at no time accumulated silt, and the 
 force of the water issuing from the end of the pipe kept 
 the bottom of the sewer perfectly clear for the distance ot 
 12 feet, beyond which point some bricks and stones were 
 deposited, their quantity increasing with the distance from 
 the pipe. He caused sand, pieces of bricks, stones, mud, 
 etc., to be put into the head of the pipe. These were all 
 carried clear through the pipe, but were deposited in the 
 sewer below it. 
 
 It has been found by experiment that in a flat bottomed 
 sewer, four feet wide, having a fall of eight inches in one 
 hundred feet, a stream of water one inch depth, runs very 
 sluggishly, while the same water running through a 12- 
 inch pipe, laid on the same inclination, forms a rapid 
 stream, carrying away the heavy silt which was deposited 
 in the broad sewer. As a consequence of this, it has been 
 found, where pipe sewers are used, even on almost imper- 
 ceptible inclinations, that silt is very rarely deposited, and 
 the waste matters of house and street drainage are carried 
 immediately to the outlet, instead of remaining to ferment 
 and poison the atmosphere of the streets through which 
 they pass. In the rare cases of obstruction which occur, 
 the pipes are very readily cleansed by flushing, at a tithe
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE AND TOWN SEWERAGE. 231 
 
 of the cost cf the constant hand-work required in brick 
 sewers. 
 
 For the first six or seven hundred feet at the head of a 
 sewer, a six inch pipe will remove all of the house and 
 street drainage, even during a heavy rain fall ; and if the 
 inclination is rapid, (say 6 inches to 100 feet,) the accelera- 
 tion of the flow, caused partly by the constant additions 
 to the water, pipes of this size may be used for consider- 
 ably greater distances. It has been found by actual trial 
 that it is not necessary to increase the size of the pipe 
 sewer in exact proportion to the amount of drainage that 
 it has to convey, as each addition to the flow, where 
 drainage is admitted from street openings or from houses, 
 accelerates the velocity of the current, pipes discharging 
 even eight times as much when received at intervals along 
 the line as they would take from a full head at the upper 
 end of the sewer. 
 
 For a district inhabited by 10,000 persons, a 12-inch pipe 
 would afford a sufficient outlet, unless the amount of road 
 drainage were unusuolly large, and for the largest sewers, 
 pipes of more than 18 inches diameter are rarely used, 
 these doing the work which, under the old system, was al- 
 loted to a sewer 6 feet high and 3 feet broad. 
 
 Of course, the connections by which the drainage of 
 roads is admitted to these sewers, must be provided with 
 ample silt-basins, which require frequent cleaning out. In 
 the construction of the sewers, man-holes, built to the sur- 
 face, are placed at sufficient intervals, and at all points 
 where the course of the sewer changes,so that a light placed 
 at one of these may be seen from the next one ; the con 
 tractor being required to lay the sewer so that the light 
 may be thus seen, a straight line both of inclination and 
 direction is secured. 
 
 The rules which regulate the laying of land-drains ap- 
 ply with equal force in the making of sewers, that is no 
 part of the pipe should be less perfect, either in material
 
 233 DRAINING FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 or construction, than that which lies aT ove it ; and where 
 the inclination becomes less, in approaching the outlet, silt- 
 basins should be employed, unless the decreased fall is still 
 rapid. The essential point of difference is, that while land 
 drains may be of porous material, and should have open 
 joints for the admission of water, sewer pipes should be 
 of impervious glazed earthen-ware, and their joints should 
 be securely cemented, to prevent the escape of the sew- 
 age, which it is their province to remove, not to distribute. 
 Drains from houses, which need not be more than 3 or 4 
 inches in diameter, should be of the same material, and 
 should discharge with considerable inclination into the 
 pipes, being connected with a curving branch, directing 
 the fluid towards the outlet. 
 
 In laying a sewer, it is customary to insert a pipe with 
 a branch opposite each house, or probable site of a house. 
 
 It is important that, in towns not supplied with water- 
 works, measures be taken to prevent the admission of too 
 much solid matter in the drainage of houses. Water being 
 the motive power for the removal of the solid parts of the 
 sewage, unless there be a public supply which can be 
 turned on at pleasure, no house should deliver more solid 
 matter than can be carried away by its refuse waters. 
 
 The drainage of houses is one of the chief objects of 
 sewerage. 
 
 In addition to the cases cited above of the model lodging 
 houses in Lambeth Square, and of the buildings at West- 
 minster, it may be well to refer to a remarkable epidemic 
 which broke out in the Mnplcwood Young Ladies' Institute 
 in Pittsfield, Mass., in 1864, which was of so violent and 
 fatal a character as to elicit a special examination by a 
 committee of physicians. The family consisted, (pupils, 
 servants, and all,) of one hundred and twelve persons. Of 
 these, fifty-one were attacked with well-defined typhoid 
 fever during a period of less than three weeks. Of this
 
 HOUSE DB1INAGE AND TOWN SEWERAGE. 233 
 
 number thirteen died. The following is extracted irom 
 the report of the committee : 
 
 " Of the 74 resident pupils heard from, 66 are reported 
 "as having had illness of some kind at the close of the 
 "school or soon after. This is a proportion of p or nearly 
 " 90 per cent. Of the same 74, fifty-one had typhoid fever, 
 " or a proportion of nearly 69 per cent. If all the people 
 " in the town, say 8000, had been affected in an equal pro- 
 portion, more than 7000 would have been ill during these 
 " few weeks, and about 5500 of them would have had 
 " typhoid fever, and of these over 1375 would have died. 
 " If it would be a more just comparison to take the whole 
 " family at Maplewood into the account, estimating the 
 "number at 112, fifty-six had typhoid fever, or 50 per 
 " cent., and of these fifty-six, sixteen died, or over 28.5 per 
 " cent. These proportions applied to the whole population 
 " of 8000, would give 4000 of typhoid fever in the same 
 "time; and of these 1140 would have died. According 
 "to the testimony of the practising physicians of Pittsfield, 
 "the number of cases of typhoid fever, during this period, 
 " aside from those affected by the influences at Maplewood, 
 " was small, some physicians not having had any, others 
 "had two or three." These cases amounted to but eight, 
 none of which terminated fatally 
 
 The whole secret of this case was proven to have been 
 the retentijn of the ordure and waste matter from the 
 kitchens and dormitories in privies and vaults, underneath 
 or immediately adjoining the buildings, the odor from 
 these having been offensively perceptible, and under cer- 
 tain atmospheric conditions, having pervaded the whole 
 house. 
 
 The committee say " it would be impossible to bring 
 " this report within reasonable limits, were we to discuss the 
 "Tarious questions connected with the origin and propaga- 
 tion of typhoid fever, although various theoretical views 
 w are held as to whether the poison prod icing the disoaae
 
 234 DBAINTNG FOB PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 " is generated in the bodies of the sick, and communicated 
 "from them to the well, or whether it is generated in 
 ** sources exterior to the bodies of fever patients, yet all 
 
 * .authorities maintain that a peculiar poison is concerned 
 
 ' in its production. 
 
 "Those who hold to the doctrine of contagion admit 
 " that, to give such contagion efficacy in the production ol 
 " wide spread results, filth or decaying organic matter is 
 " essential ; while those who sustain the theory of non- 
 " contagion the production of the poison from sources 
 " without the bodies of the sick contend that it has its 
 " entire origin in such filth in decomposing matter, espe- 
 " cially in fermenting sewage, and decaying human excreta. 
 
 " The injurious influence of decomposing azotised matter, 
 "in either predisposing to or exciting severe disease, and 
 " particularly typhoid fever, is universally admitted among 
 " high medical authorities." 
 
 The committee were of the opinion " that the disease 
 " at Maplewood essentially originated in the state of the 
 " privies and drainage of the place; the high temperature, 
 "and other peculiar atmospheric conditions developing, in 
 "the organic material thus exposed, a peculiar poison, 
 " which accumulated in sufficient quantity to pervade 
 "the whole premises, and operated a sufficient length of 
 " time to produce disease in young and susceptible per- 
 " sons. ****** To prevent the poison of 
 " typhoid fever when taken into the system, from produc- 
 ing its legitimate effects, except by natural agencies, 
 '* would require as positive a miracle as to restore a severed 
 " head, or arrest the course of the heavenly bodies in their 
 " spheres. * * * The lesson for all, for the future, is 
 " too obvious to need further pointing out ; and the com- 
 " mittee cannot doubt that they would hazard little in 
 " predicting that the wisdom obtained by this sad expe- 
 dience, will be of value in the future management of thit
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE AND TOWN SflWEKAGE. 235 
 
 "institution, and secure precautions which will forever 
 " prevent the recurrence of such a calamity." 
 
 The results of all sanitary investigation indicate clearly 
 the vital necessity for the complete and speedy removal 
 from human habitations of all matters which, by their de- 
 composition, may tend to the production of disease, 
 and early measures should be taken by the authorities 01 
 all towns, especially those which are at all compactly built, 
 to secure this removal. The means by which this is to be 
 effected are to be found in such a combination of water- 
 tsupply and sewerage, as will furnish a constant and copious 
 supply of water to dissolve or hold in suspension the whole 
 of the waste matters, and will provide a channel through 
 which they may be carried away from the vicinity of resi- 
 dences. If means for the application of the sewage water 
 to agricultural lands can "be provided, a part if not the 
 whole of the cost of the works will be thus returned. 
 
 Concerning the details of house drainage, it would be 
 impossible to say much within the limits of this book. The 
 construction of water-closets, soil-pipes, sinks, etc., are too 
 will understood to need a special description here. 
 
 The principal point, (aside from the use of pipes instead 
 of brick-sewers and brick house-drains,) is what is called 
 in London the system of Back Drainage, where only 
 principal main lines of sewers are laid under the streets, 
 all collecting sewers passing through the centres of the 
 blocks in the rear of the houses. Pipes for water sup- 
 ply are disposed in the same manner, as it is chiefly at 
 the rears of houses that water is required, and that drain- 
 age is most necessary ; and this adjustment saves the cost, 
 the annoyance and the loss of fall, which accompany the 
 use of pipes running under the entire length of each house. 
 Much tearing up of pavements, expensive ditching in hard 
 road-ways, and interference with traffic is avoided, while 
 very much less ditching and piping is necessary, and repairs 
 are niade with very little annoyance to the occupants o(
 
 236 
 
 DRAINING PQR PBOFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 houses. The accompanying diagrams, (Figs. 48-49,) illus- 
 trate the difference between the old system of drainage 
 with brick sewers under the streets, and brick drains under 
 the houses, and pipe sewers under main streets and through 
 the back yards of premises. A measurement of these two 
 
 AVENUE. 
 
 Fig. 48. OLD STYLB HOU3B DRAINAGE AND SEWEBAGB. 
 
 methods will show that the lengths of the drains in tho 
 new system, are to those of the old, as 1 to 2; the fall of 
 the house drains, (these having much less length,) would 
 be 10 times more in the one case than in the other; the 
 main sewers would have twice the fall, their area would be 
 only s's, and their cubic contents only T V 
 
 Experience in England has shown that if the whole cost 
 of water supply and pipe sewers is, with its intertst, divided 
 over a period of thirty years, so that at the end of that 
 time it should all be repaid, the annual charge would not 
 be greater than the cost of keeping house-drains and cess*
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE AND TOW> SEWEIUGB. 
 
 23-3 
 
 pools clean. The General Board of Health state that " the 
 expense of cleansing the brick house-drains and cess-pools 
 for four or five years, would pay the expense of properly 
 constructed water-closets and pipe-drains, for the greater 
 number of old premises." 
 
 Fig. 49. MODERN HOUSE DRAINAGE AND SEWERAGB. 
 
 One of the reports of this body, which has added more 
 than any other organization to the world's knowledge on 
 these subjects, closes with the following : 
 
 "Conclusions obtained as to house drainage, and the 
 sewerage and cleansing of the sites of towns." 
 
 "That no population living amidst impurities, arising 
 " from the putrid emanations from cess-pools, drains and 
 " sewers of deposit, can be healthy or free from the attacks 
 " of devastating epidemics. 
 
 " That as a primary condition of salubrity, no ordure
 
 238 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 a and town refuse can be permitted to remain beneath 01 
 M near habitations. 
 
 " That by no means can remedial operations be so con- 
 " veniently, economically, inoffensively, and quickly effected 
 * as by the removal of all such refuse dissolved or sus- 
 " pended in water. 
 
 " That it has been subsequently proved by the operation 
 " of draining houses with tubular drams, in upwards of 
 " 19,000 cases, and by the trial of more than 200 miles of 
 " pipe sewers, that the practice of constructing large brick 
 " or stone sewers for general town drainage, which detain 
 " matters passing into them in suspension in water, which 
 " accumulate deposit, and which are made large enough 
 " for men to enter them, and remove the deposit by hand 
 " labor, without reference to the area to be drained, has 
 " been in ignorance, neglect or perversion of the above 
 recited principles. 
 
 "That while sewers so constructed are productive of 
 "great injury to the public health, by the diffusion into 
 "nouses and streets of the noxious products of the decoin- 
 " posing matters contained in them, they are wasteful from 
 "the increased expense of their construction and repair, 
 " and from the cost of ineffectual offorts to keep them free 
 " from deposit. 
 
 " That the house-drains, made as they have heretofore 
 " been, of absorbent brick or stone, besides detaining sub- 
 
 * stances in suspension, accumulating foul deposit, and 
 "being so permeable as to permit the escape of the liquid 
 
 * and gaseous matters, are also false in principle and waste- 
 " ful in the expense of construction, cleansing and repair. 
 
 " That it results from the experience developed in theso 
 " inquiries, that improved tubular house-drains and sewers 
 " of the proper sizes, inclinations, and material, detain and 
 " accumulate no deposit, emit no offensive smells, and re* 
 " quire no additional supplies of water to keep them clear.
 
 HOUSE DBAINAGE AND TOWN SEWEBAGK. 239 
 
 " That the offensive smells proceeding from any works 
 "intended for house or town drainage, indicate the fact 
 " of the detention and decomposition of ordure, and afford 
 " decisive evidence of mal-construction or of ignorant or 
 
 defective arrangement. 
 
 "That the method of removing refuse in suspension in 
 "water by properly combined works, is much better than 
 " that of collecting it in pits or cess-pools near or under- 
 " neath houses, emptying it by hand labor, and removing 
 " it by carts. 
 
 "That it is important for the sake of economy, as well 
 *' as for the health of the population, that the practice of 
 " the removal of refuse in suspension in water, and by corn- 
 " bined works, should be applied to all houses, especially 
 
 those occupied by the poorer classes." 
 
 Later investigations of the subject have established two 
 general conclusions applicable to the subject, namely, that : 
 
 "In towns all offensive smells from the decomposition 
 " of animal and vegetable matter, indicate the generation 
 u and presence of the causes of insalubrity and of prevent- 
 " able disease, at the same time that they prove defective 
 " local administration ; 
 " and correlatively, that : 
 
 " In rural districts all continuous offensive smells from 
 " animal and vegetable decomposition, indicate prevent- 
 "able loss of fertilizing matter, loss of money, and bad 
 " husbandry" 
 
 The principles herein set forth, whether relating to sani- 
 tary improvement, to convenience and decency of living, 
 or to the use of waste matters of houses in agricultural 
 improvement, are no less applicable in America than else- 
 where ; and the more general adoption of improved hous* 
 drainage and sewerage, and of the use of sewage matters 
 in agriculture, would add to the health and prosperity of 
 its people, an 1 would indicate a great advance in civili- 
 zation.
 
 240 DRAINING FOE PROFIT AND HEALTH. , 
 
 NOTE TO CHAPTER XI. (SECOND EDITION.) 
 
 On reading over the preceding chapter, I am disposed 
 to leave it essentially as first written, because the princi- 
 ples which it sets forth are as true now as they were then, 
 and because there has been no essential modification in 
 processes which makes it important to change its direc- 
 tions. 
 
 I would say, however, that the system of Back Drain- 
 age described, has not come into general use, for the rea- 
 son that it is considered better, all things taken into the 
 account, to avoid, so far as possible, the laying of public 
 drains on private land. Where there are lanes between 
 the backs of the houses, or where it is practicable to 
 take a small strip of land for this purpose and put it un- 
 der the control of the public authorities, the manifest 
 advantages of the system may be availed of. In the 
 majority of instances, however, this will not be practicable. 
 
 So far as the use of small pipes is concerned, ex- 
 perience has fully justified all that was anticipated ten 
 years ago. Especially where the question of storm- 
 water can be left out of the account, that is, where this 
 can be allowed to run through surface gutters, or where 
 separate sewers can be made for its removal. What is 
 known as the Separate System, that is, the removal of 
 house-drainage by itself, is much to be recommended, 
 and even in cities where house-drainage alone is to be ac- 
 commodated, very small pipes, even six or eight inches in 
 diameter, may be very largely used for lateral sewers. 
 
 The use of small pipes is greatly facilitated, and their 
 permanent working secured, by the adoption of Eoger 
 Field's method of accumulating the drainage of a few 
 houses at the upper end of each line, including the roof- 
 water, in underground tanks of considerable size, which, 
 by the automatic action of an ingeniously arranged 
 siphon, discharge their whole contents with great rapid-
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE AND TOWN SEWERAGE. 241 
 
 ity as soon as they become full. This secures the thorough 
 periodical flushing of the lower line of the drain, and 
 allows us to use very low gradients where a slight fall is 
 made necessary by the level of the land. Field's flush- 
 ing tank is not only valuable for this use, but equally so 
 for the accumulating of the drainage of single houses, 
 and for discharging it with a cleansing flow from the 
 house-drain ; and enables us to use with safety, for any 
 private house, an outlet drain only four inches in diameter. 
 For the ultimate disposal of the drainage of country or 
 village houses, of asylums and even of small towns, the 
 delivery of the flushing tanks by periodical discharge into 
 common agricultural drain tiles two inches in diameter, 
 laid on lines two to six feet apart, having a fall of not 
 more than four inches per hundred feet, with uncemented 
 joints, and placed not more than 8 or 10 inches below the 
 surface of the ground, secures the absorption of the liquid 
 by the upper portion of the soil, within reach of the 
 roots of plants, and of the oxidizing influence of the air. 
 This constitutes the most efficient means of disposal yet 
 devised. I have had this system in operation at my own 
 house since 1870, and find it entirely satisfactory. In 
 1876, I adopted it for the disposal of the entire sewage of 
 the village of Lenox, Mass., and I do not hesitate to 
 recommend it as satisfactory in all similar cases.
 
 SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTERS. 
 
 The directions for work, as originally given in Chapter 
 IV, should be followed only as modified by the later 
 information given below ; which is a reprint of two 
 articles published in the American Agriculturist, after 
 the body of this work was written. 
 
 CHAPTER XH. 
 
 IMPROVEMENTS IN DRAINING TILES. 
 
 In view of the fact that in my article on " Tile-Drain- 
 ing," published in the Agricultural Annual, and in 
 my first edition of "Draining for Profit and Draining 
 
 Figs. 50 and 51. TILE AND COLLAB. 
 for Health," I have very strenuously insisted upon the 
 necessity for using silt-basins in the laying of under- 
 drains, I have thought it advisable to state explicitly the 
 reasons which have led me, in my own practice and in 
 advice to others, to dispense almost entirely with their 
 use. They were at best a rather imperfect and quite ex- 
 243
 
 IMPKOVEMENTS IN DKAINING TILES. 243 
 
 pensive means for preventing the obstruction of drains by 
 accumulations of silt ; but, with the draining materials 
 procurable at the time when the book and article above 
 alluded to were written, they were indispensable. Dur- 
 ing the last year I have used largely the tiles manufac- 
 tured by Messrs. C. W. Boynton & Co., of Woodbridge, 
 N. J., which are made with certain modifications and im- 
 provements that very greatly lessen the necessity for silt- 
 basins. Indeed, in draining my own farm of 60 acres, I 
 
 Fig. 52. LINE OF TILES WITH COLLARS AS LAID. 
 
 have not made a single one of these. The tiles referred 
 to are made from the tenacious clay of the Amboy region, 
 which is so much richer in quality and so much more 
 uniform than the brick clay ordinarily employed for the 
 purpose, that it is found easy to make even the smallest 
 tiles two feet long, which, of itself, is a great advantage, 
 inasmuch as it reduces by one-half the number of joints, 
 which must always form a greater or less obstacle to the 
 smooth flow of water, while there are still openings 
 enough remaining for the complete admission of soil 
 
 water. Only round 
 
 establishment, the 
 smaller ones being 
 
 provided with well- 
 it lg. 53. CURVED TILES. Fig. 54. * .. ,, , 
 
 fitting collars for 
 
 connecting their ends. The tile and collar respec- 
 tively are shown in figs. 50 and 51. The continuous line 
 is laid as shown in fig. 52. The curved tiles, such as 
 those shown in figs. 53 and 54, bent to various degrees, 
 in order to suit the requirements of different circum- 
 stances, I have found of great assistance, especially in ab- 
 ruptly changing the direction of main drains. Figure 55 
 represents an enlarging tile, by which, in increasing thg
 
 244 
 
 DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 size of a drain, as from two to three inches, the abrupt 
 rough edge, formed by inserting the smaller tile into the 
 larger one, may be avoided. This gradual enlargement 
 will effectually prevent the checking of the flow that is 
 unavoidable in all cases where a confined stream breaks 
 abruptly into a larger conduit. The 
 most important improvement that 
 Fig. 55. Boynton has made, and the one which 
 
 does more than any other to obviate the need for silt- 
 basins, is the junction piece, shown in fig. 56, which is 
 used for connecting lateral drains with mains, or ons 
 main with another. These junction 
 pieces are made complete, as shown 
 in the figure, for all the different sizes 
 of mains and laterals ; and, by their 
 use, the water from the lateral is in- 
 troduced into the main at an angle of 
 45. As it enters near the bot- 
 tom of the main, it materially ac- 
 celerates the flow in the latter by its force of entry, 
 while, with the best joint that it was formerly possible 
 for us to make by the aid of the tile pick, there was an 
 
 Fig. 56. 
 
 JUNCTION-PIECE. 
 
 Fig. 57. CONNECTION OF LATERAL WITH MAIN. 
 
 interruption of the flow and frequently a tendency to de- 
 posit silt at the junctions. By the use of those junction 
 pieces, the points of intersection are made the safest of
 
 IMPROVEMENTS IN DRAINING TILES. 
 
 245 
 
 the whole drain, instead of being, as they were under the 
 old system, the most insecure. The manner in which the 
 collared small lateral is connected with the lower part of 
 the larger tile of the main 
 drain is shown in fig. 57. 
 When the lateral approaches 
 Fig. 58. the main at a right angle, or 
 
 at a very obtuse angle, the curved tile shown in fig. 54, 
 should be used, in order that the flow may strike in the 
 direction of the oblique junction. 
 
 Boynton & Co. have also made an earthern-ware grating 
 for covering outlets, 
 which is very much 
 cheaper than the wire 
 grating recommended 
 in Chapter IV ; and, 
 as the last pipe of 
 the drain is glazed 
 or vitrified ware, the 
 outer end may pro- 
 ject a little beyond 
 the mason-work with- 
 out fear that it will be injured by frost. This grated 
 outlet is shown in fig. 58. The grating is movable, and 
 can easily be detached for cleaning when necessary. The 
 appearance of an outlet, so arranged in connection with 
 masonry, is shown in fig. 59, and it is difficult to con- 
 ceive of any plan more simple or more effective. 
 
 NOTE. (Third edition.) In connection with the sewerage of towns 
 where agricultural drain tiles are frequently used in the same trenches 
 with the sewer pipes, I have devised and have patented a very simple 
 method of jointing tiles with strips of muslin as a substitute for col- 
 lars. These muslin collars are not only cheaper than earthenware col- 
 lars, but they hug the tiles so closely that no water can enter them until 
 it has been strained, and they maintain their usefulness until after the 
 earth has become so compacted that the need for any collars ha
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 LAND DRAINAGE DETAILS OF THE WORK. 
 
 It is never pleasant to confess errors ; but I am con- 
 vinced, by what I have recently seen, that in previous 
 writing about drainage, I have been mistaken on one 
 point. That is, in insisting, as a universal rule, that the 
 whole line should be opened from the upper end of the 
 lateral to the lower end of the main, and that the main 
 should be kept open until the tile-laying and covering 
 should be finished in all its laterals. This is frequently, 
 but not always, true perhaps it is not even generally so. 
 
 I have probably directed the laying of over a hundred 
 miles of tile-drains, and I have always tried to approach 
 as nearly as possible to the English practice, as I had 
 seen it described. I have bought sets of English drain- 
 ing tools, and have read in English agricultural books 
 and papers about the way in which the work is done. I 
 have seen pictures and diagrams showing every step of 
 the operation, and have had letters from England (in 
 reply to my questions), telling me precisely what they do 
 there. I have tried for fifteen years with scores of Irish 
 ditchers to imitate them, and have finally concluded that 
 the statements made were not true, and that the pictures 
 drawn were drawn from the imagination. I could in no 
 way get my ditches dug without having the men tramp- 
 ling on the bottom, and making more or less mud, accord- 
 ing to the amount of water and this mud, running to- 
 246
 
 LAND DRAINAGE DETAILS OF THE WORK. 247 
 
 wards the main, carried a sure source of obstruction with 
 it. Hence, I have always recommended that the whole 
 line be opened from one end to the other, before a tile is 
 laid, and that the tile-laying be commenced at the upper 
 ends of the laterals and continued down stream, so that 
 no muddy water would run into them, as would be the 
 case if the tiles were laid from the lower end upward. 
 
 I am still convinced, that in very wet, soft land, or 
 where the grade is so slight that great care is necessary to 
 preserve the uniformity of the fall, this precaution is ne- 
 cessary. But wherever there is a fall of as much as one 
 foot in a hundred feet, if the bottom is ordinarily firm, 
 the best plan will be to reverse the direction, and to com- 
 mence laying at the lower end of the drain putting in 
 the tile and covering it up, as fast as the digging pro- 
 gresses. 
 
 I am led to this change of opinion, by seeing the thing 
 done by drainers of English education. "What I could not 
 understand from description, nor attain by experiment, is 
 made clear by observation. In the digging of ordinary 
 drains, the foot of the workman never reaches to within 
 less than a foot of the bottom of the ditch ; consequently, 
 there is no trampling of the floor of the drain, and no 
 formation of mud. What water may ooze out from the 
 land (and, as but little of the ditch is open at once, the 
 amount is very small), has no silt in it, and can not ob- 
 struct the tile through which it runs. 
 
 I will try to describe the process so that all may under- 
 stand it. We will suppose the main drain to be laid and 
 Slled in, junction pieces being placed where the laterals 
 are to come in, and that we are about to dig and lay a 
 lateral emptying into it. 
 
 1. A line is stretched to mark one side of the ditch, 
 and the sod is removed to a spade's depth (15 inches 
 wide), for a length of about two rods, and a ditch is dug 
 about 18 inches deep, with a narrow bottom.
 
 348 
 
 DRAINING FOE PROFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 2. A ditching spade (fig. 60), 20 inches long in the 
 blade, 6 inches wide at the top, and 4 inches wide at the 
 point of steel and kept sharp is forced in to its whole 
 length, and the earth thrown out. It will be necessary in 
 very hard ground to do some picking, but it is surprising 
 to see with what ease a man with an iron shank screwed 
 to the sole of his boot, will work the sharp point of this 
 spade into an obdurate hard-pan. The loose earth that 
 
 escaped the spade 
 is removed by a 
 scoop (fig. 61), 4 
 inches wide, which 
 the workman, 
 walking backward, 
 draws toward him 
 until it is full, 
 swinging it out to 
 dump its load on 
 the bank. In this 
 way he gets down 
 3 feet, and leaves 
 a smooth floor on 
 which he stands. 
 
 3. Commencing 
 again at the end 
 next to the main, 
 with a narrower, 
 
 FigS. 60 to 64. TILS-DRAINING IMPLEMENTS. strOngCT, and 
 
 sharper spade, of the same length or a little less (fig. 62), 
 4 1 /., inches wide at the top, and 3 inches at the point, 
 he digs out another foot of earth he facing the main 
 and working back, so that he stands always on the 
 smooth bottom, 3 feet below the surface. When he has 
 dug for a length of 2 or 3 feet, he takes a snipe-bill scoop 
 (fig. 63), only 3 inches wide, and, using it as he did the 
 broader scoop, removes the loose earth. The round back
 
 LAND DRAINAGE DETAILS OF THE WORK. 349 
 
 of this scoop, which is always working a foot below 
 the level on which the operator stands, and which per- 
 forms the offices of a shovel, smooths and forms the 
 bottom of the trench, making 
 a much better bed for the tiles 
 than it is possible to get if it 
 has to be walked on, and regu- 
 lates the grade most perfectly. 
 4. When the short length 
 of ditch has been nearly all 
 dug out and graded, the 
 branch on the junction piece 
 
 of tllc tilc is uncovered ' and 
 
 E tlit> tile is laid by the use of a 
 ' 
 
 g "tile-layer" (fig. G4), operated 
 o by a man standing astride the 
 ^ ditch on the banks. The col- 
 g lar is placed on the end of the 
 3 branch on the upper end of the 
 a tile. The implement lowers 
 : i the tile (with its collar in 
 | place), and the other end is 
 o carefully inserted in the collar 
 J^ on the branch. Then the end 
 ^ of the second tile is inserted 
 into the second collar, and so 
 on until nearly all of the 
 graded ditch is laid. 
 
 5. The most clayey part of 
 the subsoil is thrown care- 
 fully down on the tile and 
 tramped into its place all but 
 the collar end of the last tile being covered and the ditch 
 filled at least half-full and pounded or well tramped. 
 
 G. Another rod or two of the ditch is opened, dug out, 
 laid, and filled in as above described the amount opened
 
 250 DRAINING FOE PEOFIT AND HEALTH. 
 
 at any one time not being enough to allow the accumula- 
 tion of a dangerous quantity of water. If there is any 
 considerable amount of water in the land, or if it is feared 
 that it may rain in the night, the tile is left with a plug 
 of grass or straw, which will prevent the entrance of dirt. 
 
 Fig. 65, gives a section of a ditch with the work in its 
 lifferent stages. The tile is shown in section. 
 
 And now for the result : 
 
 Last year, after the draining of Ogden Farm was com- 
 pleted, I undertook the drainage of a neighbor's land, 
 employing the same gang of experienced Irish ditchers. 
 The best bargain I could make was for one dollar per rod 
 for digging and back-filling (tile-laying not included)." 
 The best men earned $3. 50 per day the average not more 
 than $2.25. Owing to the lateness of the season, the 
 work was suspended until this year's harvest should be 
 completed. 
 
 This year, I hired a gang of the tile drainers from 
 Canada, who had English experience. They work pre- 
 cisely as above described. The price paid is 75 cents per 
 rod for digging, back-filling, and tile-laying (for the 
 whole work complete, although, owing to the hard-pan, 
 much picking is required). The best man among them 
 completes seven rods per day ($5.25), and the average is 
 fully five rods ($3.75). The amount of earth handled 
 (owing to the narrowness of the ditches), is less than 
 one-half of what it was last year, and the work is done 
 with a neatness and completeness that I have never seen 
 equalled. What these men are doing, others can do as 
 well, and I am satisfied, that in simple, heavy clays, the 
 whole work of digging and tile-laying can be done for 
 less than 50 cents per rod.
 
 I K D E X. 
 
 Absorption and Filtration 26-39 
 
 Angles to be avoided 99 
 
 Barley ... 168 
 
 Bartlett, Dr., quoted ...211 
 
 Base-line 145 
 
 Boning-rods. (111.) 125-126 
 
 Central Park 74-S6 
 
 Cess-pools and epidemics 237 
 
 Chadwick, Dr., quoted 213 
 
 ClaySoils 75 
 
 " " baking of 30 
 
 " " made mellow 29-30 
 
 " " shrinkage of 28 
 
 Clinometer. (III.) 56 
 
 Collars 84 
 
 Connections. (111.) . 132-134-243-244 
 
 Corn, Indian 162 
 
 Cost of draining 150-153-158-250 
 
 Cotton 169 
 
 Country Houses, Drainage . . 241 
 
 Covering and filling, cost of 157 
 
 for the joints of tiles 132 
 
 " tiles 136 
 
 Datum-line 52-104 
 
 Denton, J. Bailey, quoted 115 
 
 Distance between drains 73 
 
 Ditches, cost of digging 154-250 
 
 Draining, amateur 47 
 
 " details of 246 
 
 " effe -t on farming 171 
 
 " indicated need 9 
 
 " tools. (111.) 114-243 
 
 " what it costs 150-25^ 
 
 willitpay? 161 
 
 jDrain?, yards of excavation 155 
 
 " and drained land, care of. .144 
 
 " howtheyact 21 
 
 " in Central Park 86 
 
 " obstructed, how cleared ... 146 
 
 " old, how formed U6 
 
 " rateof fall... 90 
 
 Drai nage of asylums 241 
 
 " " country honses 241 
 
 " " dwollin<r houses... 232-240 
 
 " villages 241 
 
 Drought 37-40 
 
 351 
 
 Engineering and Superintendence. fJJ 
 
 Engineers, draining 47 
 
 Epidemic at Maplewood Ladies' 
 
 Institute 232 
 
 Epidemics caused by cess-pools 237 
 
 Evaporation 33 
 
 " effect on temporal ure.CC-35 
 
 Fallacies in draining 62 
 
 Fen-lands ol England ... 193 
 
 Fever and Ague 208 
 
 Filling, ditch with furrows. (111.).. 141 
 " maul for ramming. (III.). .138 
 
 " scraper for. (III.)... 140 
 
 the ditches 136 
 
 Filtration and absorption 26-39 
 
 Finishing tools. (111.) 123 
 
 Flush T.-ink, Field's 240 
 
 Foot-pick. (III.) 156 
 
 Gisborno, Tlios., quoted.. 28-31-35- 
 47-66-78-84-93-127. 
 
 Grading 124-156 
 
 Grade stakes .103 
 
 Grade*, computation for 109 
 
 " how to establish 107 
 
 Gratings in Silt-basins 148 
 
 Grating-Outlets. (111.) 245 
 
 Hackensack meadows? 203 
 
 Hay 103 
 
 House drainage 220-240 
 
 " " back drain system.. 
 
 235-240. 
 
 House drainage, bad, indicated 239 
 
 John Johnson 1(>4 
 
 Junction pieces. (111.) 244 
 
 La Roche, quoted 213 
 
 Lateral drains 61-97-244 
 
 " " direction of 75 
 
 " " how connected Ill 
 
 Laterals, digging 247 
 
 Lennox, Mass., dminago 241 
 
 Levelling inurnment, rill.) 5Q 
 
 " rod. (III.) 53 
 
 Levels, how to take for drains 104 
 
 Madden, Dr., quoted 19 
 
 Main drain 58-96 
 
 Malaria.... ....2I&-214-219-220
 
 252 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Malarial diseases and draina-e 216 
 " " reports to Parlia- 
 
 Sewers, Hale on pipe sewers 230 
 " imperfect 2*1 
 
 ment 216 
 
 ' of brick defective 2t>-235-238 
 
 Maps, amending the ..142 
 " description of. (111.)... 49-50- 
 
 Sides of ditches braced. (111.) .... 124 
 Silt 90 
 
 51-54-98. 
 
 ". basins. (111.) 91-120-134-136-242 
 " in til aa 144 
 
 Marking the liuea 116 
 
 
 Meclii Alderman quoted 29-71 
 
 
 Measuring staff. (111.)... 124 
 Metcalf, Dr., quoted 211 
 
 Staking out the lines 102 
 Stater, 'island 209 
 
 New York sewer outlets . . .227 
 Oats 108 
 
 Stone and tile drains 142 
 
 Opening ditches 122-247 
 Outlet 93-245 
 " how made. (111.) 118 
 
 Tank, Field's Flush 240 
 Teams used to open ditches 122 
 Temperature 35-66 
 " and draining 36 
 
 Parkes, Josiah, quoted.. ..36-71-88-178 
 Profile of a drain. (111.) 106 
 
 Tile laying... 127-249 
 Tile-pick. (I"-) 131 
 Tiles and tile layin<* cost 157 250 
 
 Puddlin" . ...8-31-148 
 
 " Boynton & Co (111) 243 
 
 
 
 
 " curved. (111.) 244 
 
 
 " double-sole 80 
 
 " sounding for 55 
 Roots, depth reached. . . 40-67 
 " obstruction from 93-148 
 Rye . ...168 
 
 " drain essentials of 22 
 " enlarging. (111.) 244 
 " bow made 174 
 
 Salisbury. Dr., on malarious fever.. 214 
 Salt marshes, catch water drains. . .201 
 dyke and ditch. (111.). 197 
 " " embankment ....196 
 
 " junction piece. (111.) 244 
 " kinds and sizes 77-242 
 " objections to large 147 
 " orderin" . 82-101 
 
 " " exclusion of the sea.. 195 
 " " how formed 194 
 
 " pipes and collars. 81 
 " rapidity of receivin<* 78 
 
 " " muskrats 199 
 
 " sizes for different an-as 88 
 
 " " outlet for dr'na^e 204-205 
 
 " sole 80 
 
 " " pumpino- . 206 
 
 
 41 " rain-fall and filtra:ion.204 
 " " to manage crecks.193-200 
 " " to " rivers 201 
 " " npland inundations.. 201 
 " " valve-gates and sluices 
 204. 
 Scraper for filling ditches. (I"-) 14 
 
 Tile making, material for 174 
 preparing earths... .176 
 " rolling and drying.. ?82 
 Tobacco 169 
 Tools required 11& 248 
 Town drainage, Board of Health on .237 
 Vermin, cause of obstructions 93 
 Water, depth of. 66-70 
 
 Sewage in agriculture 226 
 Sewerage, Board of Health on 237 
 " ofXewYork 227 
 
 for removing ordure 238 
 " in sub-soil, injurious 15 
 " movement of ...32-64-65 
 
 Sewers defects of lar<*e 228 238 
 
 Water-courses and brooks 117 
 
 " the London outfall 225 
 " glazed earthern pipes.. 229- 
 230--238. 
 
 Water-table 22 
 Win.I-mills 206 
 Wheat.... ...164-167
 
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