Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1906-10-18

acres of his farm. On one half or
this the increased yield was 100 per
cent. and on the other half so per
cent.
Mr.. Nels Holman of Deerfeld fees
that his experiment in the draining
a marsh for pasture is highly success
full. His land was similar to that OF
Mr.. Foil until 1903. when Mr.. Ed
ward Roichenbach, Jefferson drain
age engineer and contractor, planted
and put in a drainage system cover
ing forty acres. The land is becom-
ing more firm every year and the
grass has begun to grow between
the boys where the water formerly
stood continually. At least ten per
cent of the money invested was
realized from the benefits OF the tile
in the first year. Drainage on the
farms of Joseph Winterling, of the
Jefferson County Asylum, and OF
ex-Gov. w. D. Hoard, which were
among those visited by Professor
Whitson also gave good results.
Tests Show Good Results.
OF a total of about 500 acres Of
tiled land investigated, eighty per
cent yielded one half of Inc money
] invested in tile in increased crops
each year. Ten per cent of the land
was used merely for pasture, and the
annual income from the tile was per-
haps ten per cent of the amount in
vested. Only in one instance was,
tile found that did not work success
| fully, and in that case the cause was.
| defective outlet and the back
water of the river rather than any
fault of the tile itself.
Benefits of Open bitches.
The value of open bitches was al
so investigated. Aside from remov-
| ing the surface water, open bitches
receive seepage from the soil, and
! furnish an outlet for tile drainage.
Although open bitches are common
at roadsides, ana are used with adj
vantage to remove the surface water
from cultivated fields, they are most
necessary in broad marshes. Upon
such areas they are the first step in
reclamation. In newly settled local
| titles where land is comparatively
! cheap, the marsh lands are usually
| first drained by open bitches in order
to convert them into meadows, for
-
not at present warrant the expense
of tile drainage. Then, also, peat
soil is not ready for tile Immediately
upon the completion of the open
ditch; it is much better to allow the
soil to go through the settling pro-
cess before the laying of tile is at
! tempted.
Cost of Work.
| The valuation of the land after
!, it has been surface drained will de-
termine whether it will pay to ditch
In the Little Yellow district of $4,000
acres the price of land has advanced
$40 an acre while the cost of drain
age was about SO per acre. In the
| Remington district at a cost of 81
an acre the land value has increased
| from SIS to $40 an acre. The cost
per acre in the Beaver district ranged
| from $3.50 to Sc per acre, according
to distance from the ditch. Two Sec
tons of land drained by ditch
through peat underlaid by sand were
and could not now be bought for SIS
an acre. The cost of digging open
bitches is between eight and ten
cents cubic yard. The work is
facilitated greatly by the use of
steam or gasoline dredges, but the
work and cost of building and tear
ing down dredge is SO great that a
contractor can not afford to take a
piece of work amounting to less than
$4,000 The cost of digging small
bitches, by hand, two feet wide at
the bottom, three feet deep, and
eight feet wide on top, is between
fifty and sixty cents per rod. sum-
mary of the benefits of drainage re-
vealS the fact that such Improvement
allows the cultivation of land other
wise not available for farming; per-
mits of earlier working of the soil
in spring; allows the ground to warm
up more rapidly in the spring months,
thus increasing the length of the sea-
son and lessening the danger of
frosts. 1t produces a good ventila-
ton and filth in the soil increases
the amount of water available to the
crops; aids nitrification and retards
Identification. 1t lessons considerably
the surface washing Of the soil, and
finally, it allows fields to be made
uniform in outline, under which con-
dition they york to better advantage.