ing operations, so the cost of
draining will be reduced in proportion to the amount of the work which he
can "do within himself,"--without hiring men expressly for it. The estimate
herein given is based on the supposition that men are hired for the work,
at wages equal to $1.50 per day,--while draining would often furnish a
great advantage to the farmer in giving employment to farm hands who are
paid and subsisted by the year.

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 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.

3 bushels of Wheat at $1.66 per bushel.

5 bushels of Rye at 1.00 per bushel.

12-1/2 bushels of Oats at .40 per bushel.

10 bushels of Potatoes at .50 per bushel.

6-2/3 bushels of Barley at .75 per bushel.

1,000 pounds of Hay at 10.00 per ton.

50 pounds of Cotton at .10 per pound.

20 pounds of Tobacco at .25 per pound.

Surely this is not a large increase,--not in a single case,--and the prices
are generally less than may be expected for years to come.

The United States Census Report places the average crop of Indian Corn, in
Indiana and Illinois, at 33 bushels per a