DRAINAGE 



217 



ground, to locate a pulley firmly in the line of the ditch 

 around which the cable can pass to drier land where 

 the horses or oxen can operate the capstan. These 

 same ditching plows are sometimes drawn by twenty 

 to thirty oxen working in pairs or four-ox teams, the 

 teams arranged tandem on the cable. The oxen can 

 pull through rather soft land ; yet where the mud is too 

 deep, a long cable must be used and by passing it 

 around a pulley, as before mentioned, the cattle may 



Figure 110. Mole ditcher. 



do their pulling on solid ground on one side of the 

 line of ditch. 



In tough soils the ditches will remain effective for 

 several years, but finally fill up and become of little 

 service. Such surface drains should be placed at one 

 side rather than on the center of the line, where a per- 

 manent drain should some time be placed. A ragged 

 open drain is much in the way in making a permanent 

 tile drain. It is often much easier to construct the 

 permanent drain on a new line where the soil and sur- 

 face are uniform. 



Ditches may be made with these implements at a 

 very low cost, often at 10 cents per rod, or even less. 

 These ditches will sometimes last for a dozen years, or 



