26 



acres, however, it is estimated that only 2,000 acres have re- 

 ceived the supplementary hand work necessary to complete the 

 drainage and from, previous data it is estimated that the cost of 

 the hand work on the remaining 3,150 acres will average 68 

 cents per acre, bringing the average cost of the machine ditching 

 supplemented with hand work to $2.75 per acre, and making the 

 average cost per acre for the 2^ years' operations $4.00 per 

 acre. 



The various methods and implements used can be divided into, 

 two classes, the vertical ditchers and the horizontal. The vertical 

 ditchers are also divided into two classes, hand implements and 

 power machines. On the contract work in Atlantic County, the 

 first work was done by the U. S. Drainage and Irrigation Co. 

 using the "three-man" spades. 



The 300,000 feet paid for by the State was installed with the 

 Manahan "two-man" spade and a power machine of the vertical 

 class, which lifted out sods 10 inches wide and 30 inches deep 

 and 12 inches along the course of the ditch. The second year 

 contract work was done for Atlantic County by both the U. S. 

 Drainage and Irrigation Co. and Manahan with all these imple- 

 ments. 



The machine adopted by Atlantic County for its work the- 

 third year is of the horizontal type with gasoline power. The 

 principle is about the same as that of the gang plow, that is, a 

 tractor or hauling machine is anchored at a point on the meadows 

 and pulls a ditch cutter toward it for a distance of 500 feet with 

 a cutting speed of about 40 feet per minute. The hauling ma- 

 chine then pulls itself ahead 500 feet, anchors and repeats the 

 operation. The hauling machine is mounted on skids and slides 

 over the meadow. In this way the use of wheels is avoided and 

 the necessity of laying track eliminated. 



The sod removed from the ditch comes out in two strips 10 

 inches wide and 15 inches deep, a strip being thrown to each 

 side. These strips, on account of their length, give less trouble 

 than the blocks removed by spades as they cannot be floated back 

 into the ditches by the high tides. The sides of the machine 

 ditch are smoother than the sides of the spade ditch and there- 



