156 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



half that of Back Swamp. The size of the upper portions of the main 

 ditch and of the lateral ditches was determined by the requirements 

 of the machinery to be used in their construction; all lateral ditches 

 will remove a run-off of i inch or more of water in 24 hours from their 

 watersheds. The ditches are planned to remove this amount of 

 water when the depth is but 5 . 5 feet, and will remove about 30 per 

 cent more when running bank full. 



The improvements recommended are in the nature of straighten- 

 ing and clearing the Lumber River channel, and are estimated to cost 

 about $3,500. The main feature of the improvements, however, is 

 the construction of efficient ditches in the principal drainage channels 

 within the district. These ditches are designed with sufficient capa- 

 city to take care of all the water that they may reasonably be expected 

 to be called upon to handle, and they are of sufficient depth to act as 

 outlets for future farm drainage in the district. The ditches are to 

 follow, in general, the natural "runs" of the swamps, but in one or 

 two cases, as, for instance, in Cypress Branch and Jacob Swamp, cer- 

 tain divisions have been made which it is believed will prove advan- 

 tageous to the construction of the ditches and for the handling of the 

 water. 



The toal cost of the recommended improvements, which will make 

 available for cultivation all the land within the district, 32,850 acres, 

 is estimated at $142,62 1 . This gives a cost per acre of $4 . 34. Since 

 the expenditure recommended may reasonably be expected to more 

 than double the land values of the district, it would seem that the 

 investment should be an attractive one from this standpoint 

 alone. 



The work has been planned with a view to permanence and effi- 

 ciency rather than to cheapness of first cost, but it is not believed that 

 any recommendations have been made that will not be amply justified 

 by results. 



NOTE. Various estimates have been made of the amount of land 

 which might be reclaimed by drainage. Some students place the 

 total area of swamp and overflowed lands of the United States at 

 80,000,000 acres. This is nearly three times the area of Great Britain 

 and Ireland (see Senate Document 443, 6oth Congress, ist session). 

 While this is an important and attractive field of effort, we must not 

 fail to measure the cost of such reclamation works against their future 

 productivity, and compare this with results in other possible lines of 

 agricultural expansion. EDITOR. 



