Drainage ix New York. 275 



was a rapid and experienced ditcher and was able to complete about ten 

 rods per day under average conditions and a two and one-half to three 

 foot ditch. The operator of a steam ditching machine reports that he 

 contracts to dig a two and one-half foot ditch in average soil for twenty- 

 five cents per rod and that an additional one cent per rod is charged 

 for each additional inch of depth. For laying the tile and filling the 

 ditch five to ten cents per rod may be added, making the cost range 

 from thirty to thirty-five cents per rod for a two and one-half foot ditch 

 and from forty-two to forty-eight cents for a three and one-half foot 

 ditch. At the New Hampshire Experiment Station in 1904 on heavy 

 clay soil, the average cost per rod on a system of two hundred and sixty- 

 six rods, for laying out and digging the ditch, laying the tile and filling 

 the ditch, most of which was done by hand, was thirty-eight cents per 

 rod. This represents a little less than one-half of the cost per rod of 

 completing the ditch the remainder being comprised in the cost of tile and 

 transportation. The cost of digging is considered to be unusually high be- 

 cause of the very dry and hard condition of the soil and the employment 

 of unskilled workmen. 



Thus far consideration has been given to the cost per rod of installing 

 tile drains. Another view which may be taken is the average cost per 

 acre for tile drains. Obviously this depends on the number of rods of 

 tile put in per acre of land drained. The point has been made that 

 a large part of the land in the state does not require a regular system of 

 drains at frequent intervals to give large and profitable returns from the 

 practice. In fact most of the land to be drained would be greatly bene- 

 fited by the installation of from six to twenty rods per acre strategically 

 placed. That is, the use of tile drains in the low places and springy 

 areas. On this point the investigations of the Wisconsin Experiment 

 Station as reported in Bulletin No. 146 throw much light. A systematic 

 survey was made of the drainage conditions in several drainage districts. 

 It was found that in ]\It. Pleasant Township, just west of Racine, where 

 the surface is undulating and the soil is mostly Marshall clay loam and 

 Miami clay loam with small areas of muck and Clyde clay loam, that 

 out of 23,040 acres 13,284 acres are considered to be decidedly in need 

 of drainage and of this area 8.362 acres have been drained at any average 

 cost estimated at seventy-five cents per rod. In this area 60,333 rods 

 of tile were placed or about eight rods per acre, costing approximately 

 $6 per acre. The reports of the farmers in the region showed that the 

 increased value of the land, had averaged $20 per acre. 



In the Appleton area in the Fox River valley where red clay soil is 

 said to predominate 2,140 acres of land had been drained by the natural 

 system by 19.635, rods of tile or nine and two-tenths rods per acre. 



" In order to determine the actual benefits from tiling, a careful esti- 

 mate was made of the number of acres of corn, barley, oats and hay on 



