The last implement, which is a scoop for the bottom of trenches for round pipes, is one of the tools mentioned in Mr. Denton's letter, as not being found to the taste of his workmen. For scooping out our flat-bottomed trenches, we use a tool like Fig. [77]. For boggy land, soft clay, or, indeed, any land where water is running at the time of the excavation, scoops like the following will be found convenient for flat bottoms.
Fig. 80.
Fig. 81.
Fig. 82.
Drawing and Pushing Scoop, and Pipe-Layer.
The pushing scoop (Fig. [81]), as it is called, may be made of a common long-handled shovel, turned up at the sides by a blacksmith, leaving it of the desired width.