. Book of the Farm; being a revised edition of The handy-book of husbandry, a guide to farmers. Agriculture. 126 HANDY-BOOK OP HUSBANDRY. PLANK, BRUSH, AND POLE DRAINS. When 2-inch planks or slabs can be cheaply procured, a good drain may be made by cutting the bottom of the ditch so as to leave a shoulder at least three inches on each side as shown in Fig. 56, and lay across—resting on the shoulders—pieces of Fig. 56. plank or slab sawed to the proper length, to reach from one side of the ditch to the other, and fitted as closely as possible ^^m "//////'/^^^ "^^ their edges. For the
. Book of the Farm; being a revised edition of The handy-book of husbandry, a guide to farmers. Agriculture. 126 HANDY-BOOK OP HUSBANDRY. PLANK, BRUSH, AND POLE DRAINS. When 2-inch planks or slabs can be cheaply procured, a good drain may be made by cutting the bottom of the ditch so as to leave a shoulder at least three inches on each side as shown in Fig. 56, and lay across—resting on the shoulders—pieces of Fig. 56. plank or slab sawed to the proper length, to reach from one side of the ditch to the other, and fitted as closely as possible ^^m "//////'/^^^ "^^ their edges. For the smaller drains— "^""^ ' ^ " not more than six inches across, between the shoulder, common hemlock boards, ^"^^^^^^ one inch thick will suffice, and will last for a long time. In all cases the wood should be thoroughly soaked before laying, so that it will not be necessary to leave joints to allow for swelling. In a clay subsoil, such a drain would last long enough to be economical. In quicksand it would be good for nothing. The grain of the wood must run across the ditch. If a ditch is filled with brush (especially cedar) to its top, com- mencing at the upper end, and laying the butts toward the mouth of the drain, and the brush then pressed down as closely as pos- sible, and covered with well-compacted earth, it will make a very good " make-shift " drain—so much better than none at all, as to commend itself highly to those who cannot afford to make stone or tile drains. Small poles laid evenly in the ditch, with just enough fine covering to keep out the loose dirt of the filling will often prove very good. When either the poles or the brush decay, the earth itself will often preserve the channel for a long Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original War
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookpubl, booksubjectagriculture
