inches of the bottom of 4-foot ditches to be
finished by the graders. This makes the cost of digging about 43 cents per
rod. In loamy soil the cost will be a little less than this, and in very
hard ground, a little more. In sandy and peaty soils, the cost will not be
more than 30 cents. Probably 43 cents would be a fair average for soils
requiring drainage, throughout the country.

This is about 17 cents for each yard of earth removed.

In soft ground, the caving in of the banks will require a much greater
mean width than 12 inches to be thrown out, and, if the accident could not
have been prevented by ordinary care on the part of the workman, (using
the bracing boards shown in Fig. 28,) he should receive extra pay for the
extra work. In passing around large stones it may also be necessary to
increase the width.

The following table will facilitate the calculations for such extra work:

CUBIC YARDS OF EXCAVATION IN DITCHES OF VARIOUS WIDTH.
_Length of 12 _Inches 18 _Inches 24 _Inches 30 _Inches 36 _Inches
Ditch._ Wide._ Wide._ Wide._ Wide._ Wide._
Yds. Feet. Yds. Feet. Yds. Feet. Yds. Feet. Yds. Feet.
1 Yard. 0 12 0 18 0 24 1 3 1 9
1 Rod. 2 12 3 18 4 24 6 3 7 9

Men will, in most soils, work best in couples,--one shovelling out the
earth, and working forward, and the other, (moving backward,) loosening
the earth with a spade or foot-pick, (Fig. 41.) In stony land, the men
should be required to keep their work well closed up,--excavating to the
full depth as they go. Then, if they strike a stone too large to be taken
out within the terms of their contract, they can skip a sufficient
distance to pass it, and the digging of the omitted part may be done by a
faithful day workman. This will usually be cheaper and more satisfactory
than to pay the contractors for extra work.

[Illustration: Fig. 41 - FOOT PICK.]

Fig. 41 - FOOT PICK.

Concerning the amount of work that one man can do in a day, in different
soils, digging ditches 4 feet deep, French says: "In the writer's own
field, where the pick was used to loosen the lower two feet of earth, the
labor of opening and _filling_ drains 4 feet deep, and of the mean width
of 14 inches, all by hand labor, has been, in a mile of drains, being our
first experiments, about one da