In the first place, we have great doubt whether pipes can be laid close enough to make the joints secure without collars, unless carefully laid by hand, or unless they are round pipes, rolled in the making, when half dried, and so made straight and even at the ends. In laying such sole-pipes as we have laid, it requires some care to adjust them, so as to make the joints close. Most of them are warped in drying or burning, so that spaces of half an inch will often be left at the top or side, where two are laid end to end. Now, if the foot never goes to the bottom of the drain, the pipes must be laid with a hook or pipe-layer, such as will be presently described, which may do well for pipes and collars, because the collar covers the joint, so that it is of no importance if it be somewhat open. Again, we know of no method of working with a pick-axe, except by standing as low as the bottom of the work. No man can pick twenty inches, or indeed any inches, lower than he stands, because he must move forward in this work, and not backward. Each land-owner may judge for himself, whether his land requires the pick in its excavation. In soft clays, no doubt, with suitable tools, the trench may be cut a foot, or more, lower than the feet of the workman. We have seen it done in our land, in a sandy soil, with the Irish spade, though, as we used sole-pipes, our "pipe-layer" was a live Irishman, who walked in the trench backwards, putting down the pipes with his hand. We are satisfied, that the instances in which trenches may be opened a foot or two below the feet of the workmen, are the exceptions, and not the rule, and that in laying sole-tiles, the hand of a careful workman must adjust each tile in its position. We have found a narrow spade, four inches wide, with a long handle, a convenient tool for finishing drains for sole-tiles. [Illustration: Fig. 73. Fig. 74. NARROW SPADES FOR TILES.] We have thoroughly tested the matter; and in all kinds of soil, give a decided preference to spades as broad at the point as at the heel. We have used common long-handled spades, cut down with shears at a machine-shop, into these shapes. The spade of equal width, works much more easily in the bottom of a trench, because its corners do not catch, as do those of the other. The pointed spade is apparently nearer the shape of the sloping ditch, but such tools cannot be used vertically, and when the heel of the pointed spade is lowered, it catches in the side of the trench, before the point reaches the bottom. Very strong spades, of various width, from three to eight inches, and thick at the heel, to operate as a wedge, will be found most suitable for common use. The narrowest spades should have the spur, as shown in Fig. 64, because there is not room for the foot by the side of the handle. The various tools for finishing the bottoms of drains, as figured in Morton, are the following: [Illustration: Fig. 75. Fig. 76. Fig. 77. Fig. 78. Fig. 79.