EQUIPMENT OF THE AVERAGE FARM. 39 



one post will be required for each 11-foot rail length. Picket fences 

 require 1 to If posts per rod. The pickets, wire, etc., cost 60 cents 

 to $1 per rod, and the labor of erecting 15 to 20 cents per rod. None 

 of these types are now built to any great extent. 



Barbed-wire fences for cattle usually consist of 3 or 4 wires at a 

 cost of 3 to 4 cents per rod for each wire. Posts are usually set 1 1 

 to 22 feet apart, costing 5 to 8 cents per post for setting. They are 

 of oak, chestnut, catalpa, Osage orange, locust, and cedar, principally, 

 costing anywhere from 10 cents up. The corner and brace posts 

 cost from 50 cents up for the posts, and from 50 cents to SI for 

 setting. 



Woven wire costs 25 to 75 cents per rod for the usual heights and 

 grades, the lower heights usually taking several strands of barbed 

 wire in addition. As a rule posts are set 11 to 33 feet apart. Set- 

 ting of posts for woven-wire fences costs about the same as for barbed 

 wire, but the end posts must be heavier and more firmly braced, 

 costing as high as $3 on some farms for post and setting. The labor 

 of erecting wire fences, outside of setting posts, is estimated at 5 to 

 10 cents per rod, but accurate figures are not easily available. This 

 refers, of course, to ready-made fence, i. e., not woven on the ground. 



Board fences usually require two or more posts and 25 to 40 feet 

 of lumber per rod. The rise in price of fence lumber has practically 

 restricted board fences to the lots about the farmstead. While the 

 estimates must be varied to suit conditions, it is probable that 45 

 to 60 cents per rod for barbed wire, 60 to 90 cents for woven wire, 

 and from $1.25 up for board fences will cover the cost. 



DRAINAGE. 



The investment in artificial drainage shown in Table VII (p. 26) 

 represents the cost of installing such improvements. Only a few 

 farms have practically all fields drained. Figure 2 represents the 

 drainage system on farm 10, as shown on the owner's map, all of the 

 farm except the wood lot being tile-drained. The owner's map shows 

 the size, depth, and location of all tile, this being very convenient 

 when drains are to be cleaned or new ones installed. The cost of the 

 drainage on this farm was $17.70 per acre for the whole farm and about 

 $18.60 per acre for the area drained. 



The average of the group of 21 farms showed an investment of 

 $366.43 per farm for drainage. At the rate prevailing on farm 10, 

 this would tile about 20 acres thoroughly. In practice, however, 

 "strings" of tile are found only in the low places, and a much larger 

 area could be drained. The work of digging the ditches and laying 

 the tile was often done by contract at the rate of 6 to 10 cents per 

 "rod-foot" for small tile, i. e., a ditch 1 rod long, 1 foot deep, and wide 



212 



