52 BULLETIN 2*72, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



estimates $17 as the average cost per acre of draining, permanent 

 swamps. 1 This figure includes public drainage, private drains, and 

 clearing the land for cultivation. Where the original surface is cov- 

 ered with stumps, the additional expense of clearing cut-over cypress 

 land in Louisiana has been found to range from $30 to as high as 

 $100 an acre, depending upon the character of growth. 2 This makes 

 a total expense ranging from $47 to $117, or an average of $82 per 

 acre, for reclamation. If the present value of reclaimed swamp lands 

 and the demand for them is considered, this expense undoubtedly is 

 not justified. 



In large drainage projects plans seldom include the reclamation of 

 all the land within the district to be drained. The cost of such work, 

 under present economic conditions, would be altogether prohibitive. 

 Doubtless in some future period the rise of land values will warrant 

 very costly drainage systems. Those cypress lands, which may 

 reasonably be expected to remain to a large degree undrained for 

 many decades, include (1) sloughs and lagoons in otherwise undu- 

 lating swamp and overflowed land, (2) strips between levees and the 

 normal river channel, (3) entire tracts of deep swamps where cypress 

 grows in pure stands because the land is too wet for other species, (4) 

 narrow marginal swamps along rivers subject to periods of high 

 overflows, and (5) countless small inland "ponds" and dead swamps 

 in flat, poorly drained regions. 



VALUE OP RECLAIMED SWAMP LANDS. 



The market value of reclaimed swamp lands is generally from $15 

 to $25 net over and above the cost of the drainage and other work. 1 

 An expense of $12 an acre for draining, $30 to $100 for clearing, and an 

 initial land value of say $1, plus the operator's profit of $15 to $25, 

 give final values to reclaimed cypress lands ranging from $60 to 

 $140 an acre. This may profitably be compared with the expense of 

 reclaiming wet prairie land, which will include approximately $17 

 for draining and clearing, 1 $5 to $15 for the land, and the operator's 

 profit of $15 to $25, or a total of $35 to $60. The latter closely ap- 

 proximates current local sale values of drained lands in good condi- 

 tion to produce agricultural crops in the lower Mississippi Valley. 

 Close to good markets, values run above $100 an acre, for inten- 

 sive use. 



This high value of reclaimed prairie land, over and above the cost 

 estimates for an efficient drainage system by conservative engineers, 

 allures capital strongly toward utilizing rich swamp for agriculture. 



1 U. S. Senate Document 443, 60th Cong., 1st sess. Prepared by Office of Experiment Stations, IT. S. 

 Department of Agriculture. 



2 TJ. S. Department of Agriculture, Bui. 71, Office Experiment Stations (Professional Paper), "The Wet 

 Lands of Louisiana and their Drainage." 



