Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-10-06
Importance of the Work to
Flat Counties Little Reali-
zed Elsewhere
WRITES ABOUT MACHINE
Steam Shovel and Five Men Scoop Out
1900 Wagon Loads of Dirt In a
Single Day-New Law Works Well
Farmers Arc Fastening to Re-
claim Their Land.
oecial to Times Republican.

Special to Times Republican.
Kanawha, Oct. 6.-Those who have
not visited the more level portions or
our state and talked with the people
who reside there can hardly realize
the Importance which they attach to
the subject Of artificial drainage.
On many Of the farms Of this county
the bitches already dug or In process
of construction are almost as necessary
to their successful cultivation as the
irrigating bitches of an arid region.
Hancock county contains at the pres
ent time twelve or thirteen drainage
districts, every farm of which Is cap
able of being drained. A large ditch
is first run thru one of these districts
and an assessment corresponding 10
the benefits accruing to its owner Is
levied against each farm In the region
to be drained. The ditch furnishes an
outlet to every farmer in the district
and IL another farm lies between the
outlet and his own he may under the
existing law, tile thru the land be-
part Of the expense, the proportion
Of which varies according to the ben
ef1ts arising from the work. If the In
termediate farmer can establish the
fact that his land was already suffi-
GENTLY drained his less favored neigh
Dor must do all his thing at his own
expense, doubtless viewing the mat
ter in about the same light that the
man does who has to make a journey
of half a mile to reach his mail box
while his neighbor accomplishes
similar result by travelling only a few
steps.
One Of the monster machines that is
used in the construction Of these ar
tificial waterways was operating last
week on the farm Of Mr.. Robert Stew
enson. few miles from this town. In
appearance it is not unlike that of a
one story frame-store building, with
the framework Of a high square front
the entire outfit being mounted on
skids. From the frame in front extend
two timbers each sixteen by eighteen
inches and thirty feet in length. Huge
chains extend to the extremities OF
these arms from which are operated
pacity of a cubic yard. The arms move
alternately. one on either side and L.
500 yards Of earth are moved, on an
average, in a day. The power Is fur
nished by two sixteen horse engines. A
long wire cable attached at one end
to post firmly fixed In the ground
and at the other to sort of windlass
in the frame of the machine supple,
the means of locomotion which Is ac-
complished without loss Of time.
-
BY the use Of this machine, operated
by five men, ditch sixteen to twenty
feet wide at the top, four to ten feet
deep and 300 feet long may be dug
in one day. The outfit is said to have
cost $4,000. Resident landowners, al
most to man, are enthusiastically In
favor of putting in these drains, altho
it is an expensive undertaking, this
only objection heard being the fear
that the bitches might be flied to a
point above where lines Of tile enter
them by the caving of the banks DUR
ing heavy rains, and by the action OF
the frost in the spring.
AN example OIL Tic importance WHICH
some men attach to the privilege and
duty Of voting was noticed a few
weeks ago in the case of a farmer who
sold his place and decided to move to
town. The farm he sold and the town
he selected for his future home wero
located in different counties. Circum-
stances rendered it most convenient for
the removal to take place late in tho
fall, but that meant the loss of his
ballot, because Of the residence re-
auirement. So just sixty days before
election day certain farmer moved
to town and If the very emphatic an.
nouncement he made Of his ideas on
matters political are to be credited it
is safe to say that the Roosevelt vote
in Iowa will be greater by one than
It would have been had the man Sc
]ected as moving day a date suited to
his personal convenience.
c. E. WILSON.
Foley's Honey and Tar cures coughs