"As to tools, it is the same with them as it is with the art of draining itself—too much rule and too much drawing 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 purchased 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 Cyclopædia of Agriculture, and would try them, and then order others of the country blacksmith, differing in several respects; less weighty and much less costly, and, moreover, 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 clays, will get down four feet with a twelve-inch opening, ordinarily; if he wishes to show off, he will sacrifice his own comfort to appearance, and will do it with a ten-inch opening."
Having thus "freed our mind" by way of preliminary, we propose to take up our subject, and pursue it as practically and quietly as possible to the end. It may be well, perhaps, first to suggest by way of explanation of Mr. Denton's letter, above quoted, that drains are usually opened in England by the yard, or rod, the laborer finding his own tools.
As has been intimated, the implements convenient for draining, depend on many circumstances. They depend upon the character of the earth to be moved. A sharp, light spade, which may work rapidly and well in a light loam or sand, may be entirely unfit to drive into a stiff clay; and the fancy bottoming tools which may cut out a soft clay or sand in nicely-measured slices, will be found quite too delicate for a hard-pan or gravel, where the pick-axe alone can open a passage.
The implements again must be suited to the workman who handles it. Henry Ward Beecher, in speaking of creeds, which he, on another occasion, had said were "the skins of religion set up and stuffed," remarked, that it was of more importance that a man should know how to make a practical use of his faith, than that he should subscribe to many articles; for, said he, "I have seen many a man who could do more at carpenter's work with one old jack-knife, than another could do with a whole chest of tools!"
What can an Irishman do with a chopping ax, and what cannot a Yankee do with it? Who ever saw a Scotchman or an Irishman who could not cut a straight ditch with a spade, and who ever saw a Yankee who could or would cut a ditch straight with any tool? One man works best with a long-handled spade, another prefers a short handle; one drives it into the earth with his right foot, another with his left. A laboring man, in general, works most easily with such tools as he is accustomed to handle; while theorizing implement-makers, working out their pattern by the light of reason, may produce such a tool as a man ought to work with, without adapting it at all to the capacity or taste of the laborer. A man should be measured for his tools, as much as for his garment, and not be expected to fit himself to another's notions more than to another's coat.
If the land-owner proposes to act as his own engineer, the first instrument he will want to use is a Spirit Level, or some other contrivance by which he may ascertain the variations of the surface of his field. The natural way for a Yankee to get at the grades is to guess at them, and this, practically, is what is usually done. Ditches are opened where there appears to be a descent, and if there is water running, the rise is estimated by its current; and if there is no water rising in the drain, a bucketfull is occasionally poured in to guide the laborer in his work. No one who has not tested the accuracy, or, rather, inaccuracy, of his judgment, as to the levels of fields, can at all appreciate the deceitfulness of appearances on this point. The human eye will see straight; but it will not see level without a guide. It forms conclusions by comparison; and the lines of upland, of forest tops and of distant hills, all conspire to confuse the judgment, so that it is quite common for a brook to appear to the eye to run up hill, even when it has a quick current. A few trials with a spirit-level will cure any man of his conceit on this subject.
And so it is as to the regular inclination of the bottom of drains. It is desirable not only to have an inclination all the way, but a regular inclination, as nearly as possible, especially if the descent be small. Workmen are very apt to work at a uniform depth from the surface, and so give the bottom of the drain the same variations as the surface line; and thus at one point there may be a fall of one inch in a rod; at another, twice that fall; and at another, a dead level, or even a hollow. On our own farm, we have found, in twelve rods, a variation of a foot in the bottom line of a drain opened by skillful workmen on a nearly level field, where they had no water to guide them, and where they had supposed their fall was regular throughout.
The following sketch shows the difference between lines of tiles laid with and without instruments. Next to guessing at the fall in our field, may be placed a little contrivance, of which we have made use sufficiently to become satisfied of its want of practical accuracy. It is thus figured and described in the excellent treatise of Thomas, on Farm Implements.
