THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



145 



also be able to cut its way through wood-lots, as well 

 as through swamp lands. 



Given such a machine, the rest is comparatively 

 easy, for, by it, grades can be cut, which, by hand labor 

 would be quite impossible. That is, impossible to keep 

 . the cost within proper limit. There are a few things 

 which are done by machinery which it is possible to 

 accomplish by hand, but at a much greater expenditure 

 of time, and time is money. 



In these days of fierce competition, the annihilation 

 of time in the performance of any given work is 

 desirable. Hand labor compared with traction ditch- 

 ing is at about the same ratio as is the difference 

 between the cradle and the self-binder. If anything, 

 the difference is more marked in the former than in 

 the latter. Especially so is this the case where there 

 is not much fall. Of course, where the fall is, say, 

 ten per cent, hand labor is much more expeditious than 

 is the case where the fall is only one or a fraction of 

 one per cent. Perhaps I should make my meaning as 

 to per cent more clear. By a ten per cent grade, I 

 mean one foot in ten, or ten foot fall in one hundred 

 feet of length. And a one per cent is one foot fall in 

 one hundred feet of length. But when the fall is only 

 a few inches per mile in length, then the difference 

 between traction ditching and spade ditching is more 

 marked. In traction ditching, one grade can be cut as 

 cheaply as another. The power required in each case 

 is the same. The operating speed in each case is the 

 same, the only differenece being that it requires more 

 care on the part of the operator. 



The difference in the cost of cutting drainage 

 ditches by hand labor or by traction power is perhaps 

 not as great as is the cutting of trenches for pipe 

 line work. Last season was perhaps the first time this 

 field was invaded by the traction ditcher to any great 

 extent. In pipe line work in Ohio last season machines 

 were used, which, operated by three men, did easily the 

 work of from 25 to 100 men, according to the size of 

 the machine. There were instances in which one 

 machine cut over one mile of trench per day, by using 

 two crews to operate it, one night and one day. The 

 trenches in this case were from three to three and a 

 half feet in depth. 



These pipe lines were not laid out with regard 

 to getting nice soil to work in, for the reason that 

 iron pipe is very expensive, and the trenches were 

 laid out with the paramount idea of making the distance 

 as short as possible from one town to another. In 

 this way machines were working in adverse conditions 

 nearly all the time. Enough machines to complete 

 this work in the specified time could not be secured, 

 and hand labor was employed, in some cases at 

 a cost of $2.00 per day, and even at that price the 

 number of men desired could not be obtained. Cutting 

 ditches by hand is hard, laborious, back-breaking work, 

 and when the demand for labor in other lines, where 

 the duties are not so onerous, is so great, a laborer 

 can hardly be blamed for not wanting to get in the 

 trenches, even though the recompense promised is 

 greater than he can get elsewhere. 



A machine propelled by horses is not traction ditch- 

 ing, nor is it, I think, treating fairly man's greatest friend 

 to put him at work which in a very few months will make 

 him old before his time, and fit him for no other place 

 except the boneyard. It is a hard pull all the while, 

 and will break a horse down more quickly than the 



street car ever did. Bone and sinew cannot compete 

 with iron and steel. 



Traction ditching is no longer an innovation. It 

 has come to stay, and has made itself as much of a ne- 

 cessity as has the trolley car, the bicycle and the auto- 

 mobile. And until such time comes as inventive genius 

 shall devise some method more expeditious, the Traction 

 Ditcher will continue making more friends and doing 

 more work as the years roll by. 



THE LEMONWEIR DRAINAGE DISTRICT. 



The Lemouweir Drainage District comprises some 

 15,000 acres located in Monroe and Juneau counties, 

 Wisconsin. The district has been before the court over 

 a year, and has met with determined opposition from 

 tome of the people affected from a belief that the cost 

 incurred would not be compensated in the advantages 

 obtained- The town of Cutler, in Juneau county, filed 

 a remonstrance against the proposed ditch on the ground 

 that as the outlet of the ditch in the Lemonweir river 

 lies in their town, so much water would be poured on 

 to them as to make it impossible for them to maintain 

 roads and bridges. After a number of hearings and con- 

 tinuations, the Circuit Judge finally overruled all ob- 

 jections and the construction of the ditches was ordered. 

 The judge appointed, as commissioners, Mr. B. C. Dame, 

 of Oakdale; Mr. W. S. Fryer, of Tomah, and Mr. Chris 

 Wagensen, of Camp Douglas. 



The soil in the Lemonweir Drainage District may 

 be divided into two classes. Portions of the district are 

 overlaid with peat with a sand and clay subsoil. It is be- 

 lieved that ditches four and six feet deep will drain this 

 land very effectually. Other portions of the district are 

 heavy clay soil, which will require deep ditches and 

 close tile drains to make the drainage a success. It is 

 the intention of the commissioners to furnish an outlet 

 for every land-owner in the district, so that after the 

 mains are constructed each one can drain into the mains 

 in such a way as he thinks best. 



Tile drainage is as yet used very little, but is bound 

 to be in great demand as soon as the outlet ditches are 

 constructed. As an example of what tile drainage will 

 do for this land, the case of Mr. B. C. Dame, one of the 

 commissioners, may be cited: Mr. Dame had a field of 

 100 acres. Most of this was wet swamp, producing only 

 wild hay. He tiled this land, or the wet portion, with 

 three and four inch tile, laid three and four feet deep, 

 and eight rods apart. As a result, Mr. Dame has one 

 of the finest pieces of land in the county, and 100 bush- 

 els of oats or 800 bushels of onions per acre is a common 

 yield from this land. 



The plans and surveys made call for the construc- 

 tion of about twenty-seven miles of mains and laterals, 

 with a depth of four to eight feet and widths of eight 

 to sixteen feet. Bids will be called for soon and con- 

 tracts let, so as to begin work the coming spring. Con- 

 tractors can get further information by addressing any 

 of the commissioners. 



THE DYING CALF. 



An amateur sportsman had mistaken a calf for 

 a deer, and the calf was breathing its last. 



"T-tell mother," gasped the dying martyr, address- 

 ing the sympathetic sheep who stood near by, "t-tell 

 mother t-that I died game." Chicago Daily News. 



