DRAINAGE OF WET LANDS OF SOUTHEEN LOUISIANA. 



81 



The last column in this table shows that for removing a 24-inch depth the 

 saving in fuel per year in using a compound condensing slide-valve engine 

 instead of a simple slide-valve engine with the same pump would be $1,295. 

 The labor charges for operating the two plants would be about equal, and an 

 examination of the diagram of cost (fig. 18, p. 77) will show that the first cost of 

 the plants would be very nearly the same and would be approximately $13,000. 

 The interest and depreciation charges at 13 per cent would be $1,690 per year, 

 which, added to the fuel cost of $1,057, would make for the compound-con- 

 densing type a total charge per year of $2,747, exclusive of labor. This is 

 equivalent ito a charge of $0.78 per acre per year. Labor charges would bring 

 this up to about $1.06 per acre per year. On districts where the service is 

 very intermittent or that are much smaller than this one, the fuel and labor 

 charges would be relatively larger. 



As mentioned above, few pumping districts are keeping careful and complete 

 records of operation of plant. Without such records it is impossible to tell 

 whether or not the plant is being run economically or to ascertain sources of 

 waste. From the standpoint of the ovsmers of the land such records are as 

 essential as are the accounts of any business concern to its proprietors. These 

 records are also essential to the future Intelligent design of similar plants. 

 If any progress is to be made in the matter of design and construction, not 

 only of the pumping plant but also, of the reservoir system, careful and complete 

 records must be kept. This need of records is more essential for purposes of 

 design and construction than for securing careful operation, because a system 

 that is poorly designed to meet local conditions can never be satisfactory even 

 if operated ever so carefully. The individuals and districts that are interested 

 in drainage by pumping owe it to the future success of this form of reclamation 

 and to their own self-interest to keep such records, for it is possible that much 

 money can be saved in first cost of improvement, as well as in reduced operation 

 charges. 



Thus far, in the absence of detailed and reliable data, the design of plant has 

 been based on a number of reasonable assumptions. However, when there is 

 such a variation in these assumptions that the resulting plants for similar dis- 

 tricts vary in capacity from 50 to 100 per cent, and in character from the lowest 

 to the highest grade machinery, it is evident that a larger percentage of actual 

 facts is needed as a basis of design in place of so much that is assumed. Owing 

 to a variation in local conditions from one district to another, the records should 

 be extended over a large number of typical districts, and it would be much better 

 if a complete record could be secured from every pumping plant of importance. 

 A few dollars spent in keeping such records will be worth many times the 

 amount to each individual district, and the benefit in general to the work of 

 drainage by pumping will be far-reaching and lasting. 



The following form is recommended as one including the essential features of 

 daily operation of plant. 



Form for daily pwrnping records. 



Date, 



Hour. 



Eeservoir 

 gauge. 



Outfall 

 gauge. 



Speed of 

 pump. 



Steam pres- 

 sure 



Oil 

 meter. 



Rainfall. 



Remarks. 



