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 Cyclopaedia
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 o