The performances of subsurface drains installed by two different methods (trench and trenchless) were compared using water table depths for two different periods (1980 through 1984 and 1990 through 1991). Data were gathered from a long-term study conducted at Iowa State University’s Northeast Research Center at Nashua, Iowa. Drain installation methods were also evaluated by using the drain outflow data for 1990 and 1991.