r
for any purpose may be applied. An implement like a subsoil plow,
constructed to run four feet deep, and merely doing the work of the
pick, would be of great assistance. Prof. Mapes says he has made use of
such an implement with great advantage. For tile-drains, the narrower
the ditch the better, if it be only wide enough to receive the tiles. A
mere slit, four inches wide, if straight and of even inclination at the
bottom, would be the best kind of ditch, the pipes being laid in with a
pipe-layer. But if the ditch is to be finished by the machine, it is
essential that it be so contrived that it will grade the bottom, and not
leave it undulating like the surface. Fowler's Drain Plow is said to be
so arranged, by improvements since its first trials, as to attain this
object.

Having thus briefly suggested some of the points to be kept in mind by
inventors, we will proceed to give some account of such machines as come
nearest to the wants of the community. Fowler's Draining-Plow would meet
the largest wants of the public, were it cheap enough, and really
reliable to perform what it is said to perform. The author saw this
implement in England, but not in operation, and it seems impossible,
from inspection of it, as well as from the theory of its operation,
that it can succeed, if at all, in any but soft homogeneous clay. The
idea is, however, so bold, and so much is claimed for the implement,
that some description of it seems indispensable in a work like this.

The pipes, of common drain tiles, are strung on a rope, and this rope,
with the pipes, is drawn through the ground, following a plug like the
foot of a subsoil plow, leaving the pipes perfectly laid, and the drain
completed at a single operation. (See Fig. 88.)

The work is commenced by opening a short piece of ditch by hand, and
strings of pipes, each about 50 feet long, are added as the work
proceeds; and when the ditch is completed, the rope is withdrawn. When
the surface is uneven, the uniform slope is preserved by means of a
wheel and screw, which governs the plug, or coulter, raising or lowering
it at pleasure. A man upon the frame-work controls this wheel, guided by
a sight on the frame, and a cross-staff at the end of the field.

Drains, 40 rods long, are finished at one operation. This plow has been
carefully tested in England. Its work has been uncovered when completed,
and found perfect in every respect. The great expense of the machine,
and the fac