CHAPTER VII. - "WILL IT PAY?"
Starting with the basis of $60, as the cost of draining an acre of ordinary farm land;—what is the prospect that the work will prove remunerative?
In all of the older States, farmers are glad to lend their surplus funds, on bond and mortgage on their neighbors' farms, with interest at the rate of 7, and often 6 per cent.
In view of the fact that a little attention must be given each year to the outlets, and, to the silt-basins, as well, for the first few years, it will be just to charge for the use of the capital 8-1/3 per cent.
This will make a yearly charge on the land, for the benefits resulting from such a system of draining as has been described, of five dollars per acre.
Will it Pay?—Will the benefits accruing, year after year,—in wet seasons and in dry,—with root crops and with grain,—with hay and with fruit,—in rotations of crops and in pasture,—be worth $5 an acre?
On this question depends the value of tile-draining as a practical improvement, for if there is a self-evident proposition in agriculture, it is that what is not profitable, one year with another, is not practical.
To counterbalance the charge of $5, as the yearly cost[pg 162] of the draining, each acre must produce, in addition to what it would have yielded without the improvement:
10 bushels of Corn at .50 per bushel.