IMPROVEMENT OF MUCK SWAMPS. 161 



120 feet deep to secure a foundation. He now raises corn, oats, and wheat. 

 He seeds his newly cleared swamp in September, sowing six quarts of 

 timothy seed to the acre, whenever it is necessary to seed his meadows, which 

 is about once in six or neven years, as he wishes to have a thick stand of hay. 

 He plows his swamps when wet by fastening a piece of pine plank, 8 by 10 

 inches, to each horse's foot. This is held in place by a piece of fence wire 

 drawn over the hoof and kept from slipping sideways by the shoe calks. 



Mr. Charles has succeeded in raising good crops in all seasons, wet or dry, 

 and found his investment very profitable. 



THE CHANDLER FARM. 



The " Chandler Swamp " is well known throughout Michigan, from the 

 efforts made to reclaim it by the late Senator Zachariah Chandler. 



This swamp, containing about 6,000 acres, is a very difficult one to reclaim. 

 The muck in it is very deep, and before the efforts made by Mr. Chandler to 

 reclaim it, except in very dry weather, was not passable even for a man. 

 The J. L. & S. R. R. traverse a portion of this swamp, and they have had 

 great difficulty in maintaining a road bed. The road bed is supported on 

 the principle of floating rather than being carried by a stable foundation. 

 A train passing over causes a series of waves to run from the track that can 

 be felt for ten rods or more. The track used to be frequently covered with 

 water. I have rode over it when the rails were out of sight for more than a 

 mile. Once a train was derailed, and you can yet see the car tops of that 

 train standing near the track. The cars settled so rapidly in the miry swamp 

 that it was not considered profitable to take them out. 



This swamp Mr. Chandler commenced to reclaim in 1868. He experi- 

 enced unexpected difficulties. First, he imported under contract a large 

 number of men from Holland, who he thought would be valuable for the 

 work of ditching. These men, as soon as in this country, finding wages on 

 railroads higher than offered by Mr. Chandler, left at once and commenced 

 work on the railroad, thus causing considerable loss. He persevered, how- 

 ever, until he finally had about fifteen miles of open drains constructed. 



At the time of his death, in 1883, the marsh was commencing to repay the 

 enormous outlay put upon it. Timothy and foul meadow grass had been 

 introduced over nearly the whole tract, and thousands of tons of hay were 

 annually cut. Besides that, good crops of corn and roots were raised on 

 various portions of the marsh. The draining was at best but partially done, 

 the open drains were a long distance apart, and served to remove little more 

 than the surface water. Since his death the open drains have not been kept 

 in good order, and unless a different policy is followed, it is only a question 

 of time when the swamp will return to its original wild condition. 



METHODS OF DRAIXING MUCK LANDS "WITH TILES. 



As already remarked, the open ditch is not without value for this purpose, 

 and in case of a wet swamp, an open ditch should always be dug the year 

 preceding the construction of under drains. The muck, when tlioroughly 

 wet, occupies much more bulk than when dry and consolidated. The result 

 is that nearly every muck marsh settles after being drained. 



The settlement varies with the amount of water, but it is frequently three 

 to six inches and sometimes a foot. This settlement is sufficient to disar- 



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