essments on abutting and adjacent property. The same principle has
been applied to the financing of drainage projects for reclaiming farm
lands. Recently the special assessment method has come into limited
use in financing rural highway improvements. The policy in such cases
is to assess the abutting and adjacent property in a zone along the
improved road for a percentage of the cost of the improvement. The
amount so assessed does not ordinarily exceed one-fourth of the total
cost of the improvement and may be considerably less. The assessment
is spread over an area extending back from one to six miles from the
improved road. The assessment area is generally divided into about
four zones parallel to the road. The zone next the road is assessed at
a rate arbitrarily determined as a fair measure of the benefit, and
each succeeding zone is assessed at a somewhat lower rate. Generally
about three-fourths of the total assessment is placed on the half of
the assessment area lying next to the road.

Many systems of making assessments have been proposed which are
mechanical in application after the area and rate of distribution of
benefit have been established, but in practice it is always found
necessary to make adjustments on individual parcels of land because of
variation in benefits received and it is impossible to eliminate the
exercise of human judgment in equalizing the assessments.

=Zone Method of Assessing.=--The area to be assessed on each side of
the improved road is divided into zones usually four in number, but a
larger or smaller number of zones may be adopted. The rate for each
zone is then arbitrarily determined. For a typical case, the first of
four zones would receive an assessment of 50 per cent of the amount to
be borne by the area; the second zone 25 per cent, the third 15 per
cent and the fourth 10 per cent. Other percentages sometimes adopted
are 45, 25, 20 and 10 and 60, 20, 15 and 5. The set of percentages
first mentioned seems to insure the most equitable distribution for an
area all of which is substantially equally productive.

When a road, for the improvement of which an assessment is being made,
lies on two or more sides of a parcel of land all of which is within
the assessment area, the rate is arbitrarily reduced to relieve that
parcel of land somewhat, or the assessment is first spread as above
outlined and afterward equalized as judgment dictates.

In applying the zone method some difficult