44 



CANADIAN FARM YEAR BOOK. 



required to enumerate the various 

 snags a beginner will encounter, so it 

 is not possible to go into details here. 

 The machine, though weighing several 

 tons, will travel over the softest 

 ground, and the writer has ditched and 

 made a good job in absolutely new 

 land, between stumps and over hills 

 and hummocks of varying size. Tree 

 roots cause no trouble, neither do old 

 logs, no matter how large or tough, 

 and even buried pine stumps, the 

 toughest of all, can be torn out with- 

 out the least trouble. However, lest 

 readers might imagine that nothing 

 causes a stop, it is well to mention a 

 very bad enemy to these machines — 

 boulders and large stones. Through- 

 out Wellington, Bruce and Grey coun- 

 ties there are few places where stones 

 are not encountered, and even if they 

 cannot be seen quite often a big fel- 

 low is unearthed three feet be- 

 low the surface. Stones increase the 

 cost of ditching by fully 25 per cent., 

 and for this reason prices in stony dis- 

 tricts are often rather high. However, 

 stones do not prevent work, and good 

 work being done at that, but very ma- 

 terially increase the difficulties of the 

 operator. Wherever stones are likely 

 to be encountered only the heaviest 

 type 6f machine can be used with suc- 

 cess; others will prove a heart-break. 

 The writer has operated a 20 horse- 

 power 5V2' X 8' machine for several 

 seasons in stones quite successfully. 



The gross cost of operating one of 

 these machines is very hard to give 

 accurat#ly to suit all conditions. How- 

 ever, the writer will give his experi- 

 ence in hard, dry, and sometimes 

 stoney ground for the season of 1914. 

 The total, per rod, allowing for gaso- 

 liner repairs, oil, wages, depreciation 

 of machine, and interest on money, 

 etc., was 25c for an average depth of 

 three feet. This, of course, allows for 

 no profit for the owner. Experience, 

 larger jobs and better digging, reduce 

 this cost very considerably, but the 

 owner must not calculate too closely 

 on his estimates, for if there is not one 

 thing there is another. Mother Earth 

 is full of surprises a few feet below 

 the ground surface. Machines equipped 

 with caterpillar traction wheels are 

 very slow movers, and consequently 

 small jobs far apart are not profitable, 

 owing to the cost of moving. Until 

 farmers realize that the cost of ma- 

 chine work is very largely increased 

 by much moving, there will not be 



much reduction in prices, which are 

 now 35c. per rod for a 3-foot ditch. 

 With government aid at their hand 

 there is no excuse for farmers not 

 making their jobs a good size, when 

 they have it to do, and thereby saving 

 money for themselves and increasing 

 the profit to the machine ditcher. 

 Hand labor does not figure much in 

 underdrainage work, except in some lo- 

 calities. When the excellence of ma- 

 chine work becomes thoroughly recog- 

 nized the professional ditcher will lose 

 his job. Particularly at this crisis in 

 national affairs is machine work so 

 necessary. Every available man from 

 the country districts has been called 

 to the colors, and if it wasn't for the 

 machines very little underdraining 

 would be done until the war is over. 

 Laying aside the labor consideration 

 the great value of the traction ditcher 

 lies in the fact that with it a large 

 tract can be underdrained in a very 

 short time which otherwise would 

 take months or even years of hard 

 labor. The farmer is thus enabled to 

 reap the benefit of this reclaimed land 

 the next season and thereafter, where- 

 as if he depended on hand labor it 

 might never be done or would take 

 years to realize the same profit if 

 waiting to have it done by hand. In 

 the writer's experience work done by 

 hand is often poorly graded and much 

 too shallow to be really efficient. 



In the future practically all ditching 

 operations in Ontario will be done by 

 machinery, and as farmers become 

 more educated to the value of under- 

 draining these machines will fill a 

 very large place in agricultural work. 

 Therefore, it behooves those who have 

 a large amount of such work to do to 

 investigate for themselves, and if they 

 have the necessary capital and can 

 handle the machine to invest in one, 

 feeling confident that it will do the 

 work and do it right.— A. Hutchinson. 



Steep Mouldboard Plow. 



