14 A STUDY OF FARM EQUIPMENT IN OHIO. 



respect. It seems well established that where no systematic steps 

 have been taken to prevent it or to repair damage there has been 

 a steady depreciation in the productiveness of these farms. The 

 buildings and other improvements on any farm may clearly have 

 undergone a process of deterioration, yet the sale value of the farm 

 may have been enhanced, not only by the rise in land values, but 

 also by increase in value of the raw materials from which improve- 

 ments are constructed. Well-planned improvements may add value 

 to the farm above their cost of installation, while others may im- 

 mediately represent the loss of a large part of their cost, if measured 

 by their effect on the farm value. Each farm, therefore, was studied 

 as an individual problem and is most interesting when considered 

 in that light. 



DRAINAGE. 



Tile drains are so intimately associated with the land that it may 

 be impracticable to consider them separately. With the possible 

 exception of the cost of water supply, the outlay in tile drainage is 

 only one which can be depended on to add its face value or more to 

 the value of the bare land and continue to do so indefinitely. The 

 drains occasionally become clogged and require cleaning, but in this 

 study they have been appraised at the full cost of installation. To 

 attempt to appraise them accurately on the basis of their effect on 

 the farm value would be impossible from the information at hand. 

 No valuation has been placed on natural drainage channels con- 

 sidered aside from the land. The investment in artificial drainage 

 systems has been attributed directly to the portions of the farm 

 drained. 



WATER SUPPLY. 



On many Ohio farms there are natural sources of water supply, 

 which, like natural drainage, can scarcely be valued apart from the 

 land. Their value may not equal their cost, as in the case of streams 

 which permanently render a considerable area unavailable for crop- 

 ping or which subject fields and fences to damage from high water. 

 On the other hand, the value of a continuous supply of pure water in 

 a convenient place, without expense or labor, can not be estimated 

 by comparing it with the cost of installing artificial water systems, 

 which may represent several failures before a satisfactory supply is 

 obtained and will surely represent a continual expense for labor and 

 maintenance. In studying the distribution of the investment, only 

 the cost of installing the water system has been considered, less a fair 

 amount for depreciation of pumi)s, tanks, windmills, etc. This total 

 investment in water system has been divided as accurately as possible 

 among the various enterprises on the basis of use. This naturally 



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