doweled together with short pieces of No. six wire, to keep the tiles to their places. The joints are left the eighth of an inch or more open, to admit the water. Such drains are thought to do well in gravelly or

clayey soils, but not in very light, sandy soils.

DRAINS MADE OF EARTHEN TILES.

All things considered, we judge drains made of earthen tiles to be the most economical and durable, for all those whose funds are adequate to meet the expense of the outlay, for they are the most expensive, but their durability is such they are in the end the cheapest. Tiles are made of common brick clay, dried and burned. Such tiles are so porous that the water will pass through the pores in quantities sufficient to drain an ordinary piece of marsh.

KINDS OF TILE.

There are three kinds of tile made; one called the horse-shoe tile, made half round, and open at the bottom; others are made of the same shape, with a sole at the bottom; there is a third kind, called pipe tile, being a round tile, with a hole through them, from one and a half to three inches in diameter, according to the quantity of water to be drawn off. The pipe tiles are more particularly used for draining cellars, and conveying water to barns and out-houses, but may be used advantageously to drain lands.

WHAT KIND IS BEST?

This depends upon the earth in which they are to be laid. If upon a clay or hard-pan bottom, which can be made smooth, the common horse-shoe tiles are the ones to use. When they are to be laid in loose sand, or quicksand, the horse-shoe tiles with soles are the ones to make use of, or the pipe tile, as is most convenient.

HOW ARE THEY LAID?

Dig the trenches of sufficient depth-three feet is best,—straight, and level as the inclination you design; about six inches wide at the bottom, or wider if you please. If the bottom of the trench is uneven, lay a clapboard down lengthwise to lay the tile upon; this makes them uniformly level. Begin at the lower end of the ditch, and place the tiles end to end, and over each joint may be placed a little hay or straw, to keep out the sand; fill up as you proceed, walking backward as you

lay the tiles. It is the practice of some, with whom boards are cheap, to lay them down, and place the sole tile upon them. Using boards depends much upon the nature of the earth where you lay your tiles; circumstances should govern in such cases. Care should be used to prevent the earth, when filling up, from crowding the tile out of place. When pipe tiles are used they ought to be placed upon a board, and some hard substance put on each side, to keep them from rolling out of their place.

TWO TIERS OF TILES.

When the quantity of water to be drained off is considerable, two tiers of tiles may be laid in one ditch. Some contend that if the quantity of water requires two tiers, another ditch had better be dug, and lay one tier in each, making two single drains, instead of one double

one.

TURF DRAINS.

It is a common practice in England, when bogs are to be drainedand their bogs are similar to our dry marshes-to dig ditches as if they are to be filled with stone. The operator next digs a narrow channel along the centre, with a spade, a few inches wide at the top, and five or six inches deep, terminating at the bottom at a point. This latter ditch is covered by the turf taken from the main ditch, cut into pieces of any convenient length, and put down inverted. The ends of the pieces of turf may be cut obliquely, and lap over each other. The turf is then gently pressed down. Such drains are said to be very cheap, and known to last twenty years and over.

COST OF DRAINS.

The cost of drains will vary with the soil, the depth, cost of materials, price of labor, and the season of the year they are made. This accounts for the discrepancy of the various writers upon the subject. Those who desire the work to be done well, without regard to cost, estimate the expense much above one who designs to make a cheap and substantial drain, for lasting from ten to twenty years only. One individual may have an abundance of stone, and but little timber; others may have more timber than stone; and with some boards, or sawed timber, will cost double of what it will to another one who has mills near at hand. All these things considered, an estimate that would be

reliable for one would not be for another; therefore, any calculations of the cost of drains in this article would be superfluous.

IMPLEMENTS USED IN DRAINING.

There have been several machines invented designed to facilitate and lessen the expense of draining, none of which, we believe, work uniformly well upon all soils and marshes; owing, in a great measure, to the fact that a large portion of our marshes have, at various depths from the surface, partially decayed stumps, trees, and sometimes, though not often, boulders of some size. Our marshes have also layers of stiff clay to be dug, which may alternate with marl, sand or quicksand. All these things render it impossible to construct an implement to work uniformly. Some of them, no doubt, lessen the labor materially.

But in making drains the main reliance is to be placed upon tools of the spade kind, and manual labor. Draining spades are made of several patterns, from the common spade to one terminating at a point, and one four or five inches broad only. There are draining shovels of several sorts, and scoops for cleaning out the drains; and, in addition, there are sometimes augers of different construction, to bore through stratas of clay or compact earth, for the purpose of better locating drains, or to drain a small pool of water, similar to or what is called a cat-hole. Plows and scrapers may be used in some drains to advantage.

JANUARY.-The figures opposite this month show a general degree of cold very seldom experienced in this latitude, for such a length of time. During the cold term of the 7th, 8th and 9th the temperature remained below zero through more than sixty consecutive hours, and on the evening of the 9th was stationary, for several hours, at 24 and 25 degrees below zero. At 11 A. M., of the 9th, the temperature was 14 degrees