Draining for Profit, and Draining for Health

by George E. Waring

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 when 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, without doubt, cause local engineers to turn their attention to the subject, and their services may be more cheaply obtained. At present, it would probably not be prudent to[pg 154] 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 different 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 comparatively 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 2-1/2 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 3-1/4 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 3/4 yards will cost as much as a full yard taken evenly from the whole side, from top to bottom.

In clay soils, free from stones or "hard pan," but so stiff as to require considerable picking, ordinary workmen,[pg 155] after a little practice, will be able to dig 3-1/2 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.