160 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



The crops raised from the 23^ acres including the swamp in field No. 8 

 .are as follows : 



Tear. Crop. Remarks. 



1873 Oats, 45 bushels per acre. 



1874 Wheat, 603 bushels; 26.21 per acre. That on peat, heavy 



straw, and little grain. 



1875 Meadow 60 tons hay. 



1876 Grass meadow, 43 2-3 tons hay. 



1877 Corn, 1,826 bushels ears. Potatoes, 300 bushels. 

 1.S78 Roots, amount not known, but poor. 



1879 Oats, good crop. 



1880 Wheat, good crop. 



1881 Grass, good crop. 



1882 Grass, not known. 



1883 Corn, 349 bushels; failure everywhere. 



1884 Corn, 788 bushels. 



The College has also drained other muck swamps only one of which, and 

 that a very small one, has been subjected to the ordeal of raising grain. 



Fields No. l<i and 14, containing about 30 and 40 acres respectively, were 

 .at one time largely swamp and marsh. Probably at least 20 acres was a 

 .swamp covered with a growth of heavy tamarack and so boggy and miry as 

 to be imjoassable. A worse swamp is seldom found. Some portions of the 

 swamp were covered with rushes and several inches of water. The muck 

 was very deep, and in 1879 at time of a drouth was very much injured by a 

 .fire. The swamp has been open ditched so as to remove most of the surface 

 water since 1876. 



The complete system of drains was only finished on this swamp in 1885, 

 but a good part of it has been drained for several years. In this swamp the 

 tile were placed as low as possible, the depth varying from 2^ to 4^ feet. 

 The result of what has been done with this swamp is sufficient to prove that 

 •our muck lands may yet be made of value. Already the wild grass and 

 sedge has nearly died out and has been succeeded by June grass, although 

 nothing has been done to clear out the wild grass and get tame started, yet 

 the College already has a pasture of great value. 



SWAMP IMPROVEMENT BY FAEMERS. 



In 1878 I laid out a system of drains for D. L. Case, Esq., of Lansing, 

 the object being to drain a muck swamp containing about thirty acres. This 

 .swamp was springy and miry, besides receiving the drainage from consider- 

 able land in the vicinity. To secure an adequate outlet, a railroad culvert 

 needed to be lowered about two feet. Considerable difficulty was experienced 

 in getting this done and a temporary drain was laid to the culvert at once. 

 After a delay of about two years the railroad company lowered the culvert, 

 thus giving a good outlet. 



The system of drains was completed in 1882. The results have been in 

 -every way remarkable, and to most of the people of the vicinity a great sur- 

 prise. This reclaimed swamp, although in the edge of the city and formerly 

 worthless, is now the most valuable piece of suburban property for garden- 

 ing near the city of Lansing. Nearly all kinds of vegetables are grown with 

 more certainty and of better quality than on the uplands surrounding. 



Mr. C. B. Charles, of Bangor, Mich,, has reclaimed 100 acres of muck land, 

 having many miry places, that was formerly wooded with elm, ash, and tama- 

 rack timber, A railroad running across a portion of this had to put in piles 



