plete in every particular, that it may be considered as an absolutely permanent improvement. During the first years of the working of the drains, they will require more or less attention, and some expense for repairs; but, in well constructed work, these will be very slight, and will soon cease altogether. In proportion as we resort to cheap devices, which imply a neglect of important parts of the work, and a want of thoroughness in the whole, the expense for repairs will increase, and the duration of the usefulness of the drains will diminish.

Drains which are permanently well made, and which will, practically, last for all time, may be regarded as a good investment, the increased crop of each year, paying a good interest on the money that they cost, and the money being still represented by the undiminished value of the improvement. In such a case the draining of the land may be said to cost, not $50 per acre,-but the interest on $50 each year. The original amount is well invested, and brings its yearly dividend as surely as though it were represented by a government bond.

With badly constructed drains, on the other hand, the case is quite different. In buying land which is subject to no loss in quantity or quality, the farmer considers, not so much the actual cost, as the relation between the yearly interest on the cost, and the yearly profit on the crop,knowing that, a hundred years hence, the land will still be worth his money.

But if the land were bounded on one side by a river which y early encroached some feet on its bank, leaving the field a little smaller after each freshet; or if, every spring, some rods square of its surface were sure to be covered three feet deep with stones and sand, so that the actual value of the property became every year less, the purchaser would compare the yearly value of the crops, not only with the interest on the price, but, in addition to this, with so much

of the prime value as yearly disappears with the destruc tion of the land.

It is exactly so with the question of the cost of drain. age. If the work is insecurely done, and is liable, in five years or in fifty, to become worthless; the increase of the crops resulting from it, must not only cover the yearly interest on the cost, but the yearly depreciation as well. Therefore what may seem at the time of doing the work to be cheapness, is really the greatest extravagance. It is like buiding a brick wall with clay for mortar. The bricks and the workmanship cost full price, and the small saving on the mortar will topple the wall over in a few years, while, if well cemented, it would have lasted for centuries. The cutting and filling of the ditches, and the purchase and transportation of the tiles, will cost the same in every case, and these constitute the chief cost; if the proper care in grading, tile-laying and covering, and in making outlets be stingily withheld,-saving, perhaps, one-tenth of the expense,-what might have been a permanent improvement to the land, may disappear, and the whole outlay be lost in ten years. A saving of ten per cent. in the cost will have lost us the other ninety in a short time.

But, while cheapness is to be shunned, economy is to be sought in every item of the work of draining, and should be studied, by proprietor and engineer, from the first examination of the land, to the throwing of the last shovelful of earth on to the filling of the ditch. There are few operations connected with the cultivation of the soil in which so much may be imperceptibly lost through neglect, and carelessness about little details, as in tile-draining. In the original levelling of the ground, the adjustment of the lines, the establishing of the most judicious depth and inclination at each point of the drains, the disposition of surface streams during the prosecution of the work, and in the width of the excavation, the line which divides economy and wastefulness is extremely narrow and the

most constant vigilance, together with the best judgment and foresight, are needed to avoid unnecessary cost. In the laying and covering of the tile, on the other hand, it is best to disregard a little slowness and unnecessary care on the part of the workmen, for the sake of the most per fect security of the work.

Details of Cost.-The items of the work of drainage may be classified as follows:

1. Engineering and Superintendence.

2. Digging the ditches.

3. Grading the bottoms. 4. Tile and tile-laying.

5. Covering the tile and filling the ditches.

6. Outlets and silt-basins.

1. Engineering and Superintendence.—It is not easy to say what would be the proper charge for this item of the work. In England, the Commissioners under the Drainage Acts of Parliament, and the Boards of Public Works, fix the charge for engineering at $1.25 per acre. That is in a country where the extent of lands undergoing the process of draining is very great, enabling one person to superintend large tracts in the same neighborhood at the same time, and with little or no outlay for travelling expenses. In this country, where the improvement is, thus far, confined to small areas, widely separated; and where there are comparatively few engineers who make a specialty of the work, the charge for services is necessarily much higher, and the amount expended in travelling much greater. In most cases, the proprietor of the land must qualify himself to superintend his own operations, (with the aid of a country surveyor, or a railroad engineer, in the necessary instrumental work.) As draining becomes more general, the demand for professional assistance will, with out doubt, cause local engineers to turn their attention to the subject, and their services may be more cheaply ob tained. At present, it would probably not be prudent to

estimate the cost of engineering and superintendence, including the time and skill of the proprietor, at less than $5 per acre, even where from 20 to 50 acres are to be drained at once.

2. Digging the Ditches.-The labor required for the various operations constitutes the principal item of cost in draining, and the price of labor is now so different in dif ferent localities, and so unsettled in all, that it is difficult to determine a rate which would be generally fair. It will be assumed that the average wages of day laborers of the class employed in digging ditches, is $1.50 per day, and the calculation will have to be changed for different districts, in proportion to the deviation of the actual rate of wages from this amount. There is a considerable advantage in having the work done at some season, (as after the summer harvest, or late in the fall,) when wages are com paratively low.

The cutting of the ditches should always be let by the rod. When working at day's work, the men will invariably open them wider than is necessary, for the sake of the greater convenience of working, and the extra width causes a corresponding waste of labor.

A 4-foot ditch, in most soils, need be only 20 inches wide at the surface, and 4 inches at the bottom. This gives a mean width of 12 inches, and requires the removal of nearly 24 cubic yards of earth for each rod of ditch; but an increase to a mean width of 16 inches, (which day workmen will usually reach, while piece workmen almost never will,) requires the removal of 3 cubic yards to the rod. As the increased width is usually below the middle of the drain, the extra earth will all have to be raised from 2 to 4 feet, and the extra yards will cost as much as a full yard taken evenly from the whole side, from top to bottom.

" but so

In clay soils, free from stones or hard pan," stiff as to require considerable picking, ordinary workmen,

after a little practice, will be able to dig 3 rods of ditch per day, to an average depth of 3.80,-leaving from 2 to 3 inches of the bottom of 4-foot ditches to be finished by the graders. This makes the cost of digging about 43 cents per rod. In loamy soil the cost will be a little less than this, and in very hard ground, a little more. In sandy and peaty soils, the cost will not be more than 30 cents. Probably 43 cents would be a fair average for soils requiring drainage, throughout the country.

This is about 17 cents for each yard of earth removed. In soft ground, the caving in of the banks will require a much greater mean width than 12 inches to be thrown out, and, if the accident could not have been prevented by ordinary care on the part of the workman, (using the bracing boards shown in Fig. 28,) he should receive extra pay for the extra work. In passing around large stones it may also be necessary to increase the width.

The following table will facilitate the calculations for such extra work:

CUBIC YARDS OF EXCAVATION IN DITCHES OF VARIOUS WIDTH.

Length of Ditch.

1 Yard... 1 Rod..

12 Inches 18 Inches 24 Inches 30 Inches 36 Inches Wide. Wide.

Wide.

Wide.

Wide.

Yds. Feet. Yds. Feet. Yds. Feet. Yds. Feet. Yds. Feet.

Men will, in most soils, work best in couples,—one shovelling out the earth, and working forward, and the other, (moving backward,) loosening the earth with a spade or foot-pick, (Fig. 41.) In stony land, the men should be required to keep their work well closed up,—excava ting to the full depth as they go. Then, if they strike a stone too large to be taken out within the terms of their contract, they can skip a sufficient distance to pass it, and the digging of the omitted part may be done by a faithful day workman. This will usually be cheaper and more satisfactory than to pay the contractors for extra work.