The following facts with regard to excavator's work, may be of use: "In loose ground a man can throw up about 10 cubic yards per day, but in hard or gravelly soils 5 yards will be a fair day's work. Three men will remove 30 yards of earth a distance of 20 yards in a day. A yard (cubic) of concrete requires about 3 hours' labor to mix and throw in, or if in heavy masses, and the materials handy, about 2 hours. With regard to the weight of materials, 19 cubic feet of sand, 18 ditto clay, 24 ditto earth, 15½ ditto lime, 20 ditto gravel, will each weigh one ton. A cubic yard of earth before digging will occupy about 1½, cubic yards when dug. Sand and gravel does not increase more than one-third as much as earth in bulk when dug, but will decrease in height one-fourth more than earth. A wheelbarrow (that is to say the broad, shallow barrow used by navvies) holds 1/10 yard cube. A cubic yard, or 27 cubic feet of earth, is a single load, and contains 20 bushels; 1 cubic yard of gravel contains 18 bushels in the pit; when dug it will increase nearly one-third in bulk, but will subside nearly one-fourth in height, and decrease one-fifth in bulk when formed into embankments. When earth is well drained it will stand in embankment about 1½ to 1."

This will prove a useful rule for the amateur in throwing up embankments, mounds, etc., in his grounds or garden. If revetted, to use an engineer's term, or covered with turf, the inclination may be greater, because the roots of the grass bind the surface earth together and keep it from being washed down by heavy rains. This will be evident from an inspection of the side of a hedge or bank covered with turf which may be inclined to the horizontal base line at angles ranging from 10° to 200.