f 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, a