THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



271 



Nevertheless, there are but few soils which will not 

 respond to underdr.ainagc if -properly treated. 



The farmer may reasonably expect to begin work- 

 ing his land a week or ten days earlier in the spring 

 with the soil in good condition than if it were not 

 drained. He may expect that his winter grain and 

 clover will not be injured by the heaving of the soil, 

 as is the case with wet clay soils. He may expect his 

 crops to endure the drought of summer with less injury 

 than those on undrained land. He may adjust the 

 rotation of his crops irrespective of the fact that some 

 portions of the field are wet while others are dry. He 

 may continue his cultivation during the summer with- 

 out being obliged to avoid or go around portions of 

 the field which, by heavy rainfall, are made too wet 

 for profitable cultivation. 



COST AND PROFIT OF TILE DRAINAGE. 



The ultimate question that must be answered in 

 regard to drainage is, "Will it pay?" The agricul- 

 turist can usually answer that question if he can ascer- 

 tain what the cost of the work will be. From what has 

 been said regarding the necessity of varying the dis- 

 tance between drains to accomplish the same work in 

 different classes of soils, it will be seen that the cost 

 must necessarily vary greatly. The price of labor and 

 material in different sections of the country is also 

 subject to constant change. Farms of which parts have 

 natural drainage and parts require artificial drainage 

 may be improved at a cost of $6 to $8 per acre for an 

 entire farm where the outlets are provided by nature. 

 In this case the improvement consists in draining the 

 wet land and fitting it for profitable cultivation. On 

 farms which require drains at uniform distances of, 

 say, 100 feet, the cost may be $14 per acre, while on 

 those lands requiring drains thirty-three feet apart the 

 cost will be $22 to $30 per acre. The cost will vary, 

 of course, according to the price of material and labor. 



Tiles are sold by the thousand feet, each tile being 

 one foot long except sizes above twelve inches in diam- 

 eter, which are usually made eighteen or twenty-four 

 inches long. The prices given below are those prevail- 

 ing in the East and Middle West. Prices in the far 

 West are quoted much higher than those here given. 

 The following may be regarded as an average range of 

 prices for tile at the factory, and in some instances at 

 a railroad station 100 miles distant from the factory: 



COST OF TILES OF DIFFERENT SIZES PER 1,000 FEET. 



3-inch tiles $10.00 to $ 12.50 



3i/,-inch tiles 12.00 to 15.00 



4-inch tiles 15.00 to 20.00 



5-inch tiles 20.00 to 27.00 



6-inch tiles 27.00 to 35.00 



7-inch tiles 36.00 to 50.00 



8-inch tiles 45.00 to 60.00 



10-inch tiles 60.00 to 110.00 



12-inch tiles 90.00 to 150.00 



The excavating of the ci itches is done by workmen 

 who furnish their own tools and contract to dig and 

 grade the ditch, lay the tiles, and cover them securely 

 with a few inches of earth, at a certain price per rod. 

 The price of such work in soils which may be easily 

 handled with th'e spade, that is, those having no stones 

 and not so hard as to require the use of the pick, is 

 about 25 cents a rod for ditches averaging three feet 

 deep and for tile not exceeding six inches in diameter. 

 Such ditches may range from two and one-half to three 



anel one-half feet deep, making an average of three feet. 

 Where the range is from two to two and one-half feet, 

 20 cents a rod is considered a fair price. For depths 

 from three to five feet an additional price of 1 cent per 

 rod for each inch of depth below the average of three 

 feet is charged. That is, a ditch averaging three and 

 one-half feet deep, will cost 31 cents a rod ; one four feet 

 deep, 37 cents. It is the practice of workmen to accept 

 the average depth of the entire line as the depth upon 

 which settlement for the work is to be made. For tiles 

 eight to twelve inches in diameter, the price is 30 cents 

 for the three-foot depths and iy 2 cents an inch per rod 

 for additional depths. 



These statements should serve as a general guide 

 only in making estimates. The hauling and distribut- 

 ing of tile and the tough and hard clays encountered in 

 many localities will necessarily make considerable varia- 

 tions in- the cost of completed drains. The farmer may 

 often do much of the work with the labor he regularly 

 employs at a less cost than the price a contractor will 

 make, especially if the drains are to be laid in hard or 

 stony soil. 



The profit derived from draining wet land is more 

 apparent when we consider that the same labor that is 

 bestowed upon undrained land will produce from 20 to 

 50 per cent greater yield of cereals where the land is 

 drained. As a rule, lands to be drained should have a 

 large supply of fertility, drainage being the only thing 

 needed to make them productive. It has, however, been 

 found by experience that soils which require artificial 

 fertilizing frequently become very productive whqn 

 drained, since the fertilizers applied are able, through 

 the effect of drainage upon the soil, to bring into use 

 natural resources hitherto hidden and unavailable. 



The writer has known of many thousands of acres 

 of land that have been drained, and has never known of 

 an instance in which the money spent for drainage, when 

 thoroughly done, did not pay a large return on the in- 

 vestment. An annual profit of 25 per cent is not at all 

 uncommon. The question should be looked at in the 

 following way : If the farmer owns the land he must 

 pay the taxes, keep up the improvements, and procure 

 the necessary help and implements for cultivating it. 

 If there is land which he cultivates at a disadvantage, 

 because it is too wet to yield a full crop, or possibly 

 yields none at all, proper drainage will cause this land 

 to yield a full crop without the expenditure of any ad- 

 ditional labor, seed, or capital, and the entire increase 

 may properly be regarded as the profit of drainage. A 

 few examples which have come under the writer's per- 

 sonal observation will help to emphasize these general 

 statements. 



A twenty-acre field which usually yielded only 

 twenty-five bushels of corn per acre was tile-drained at 

 a cost of $10 per acre. The yield after drainage was 

 not less than sixty bushels of corn per acre, and the 

 yield of other crops in the rotation was in proportion. 

 This gain of thirty-five bushels, at 30 cents per bushel, 

 the selling price of corn at that time, paid for the entire 

 cost of drainage the first year. 



(To Be Continued.) 



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