78 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



able. As yet but a very small proportion of this laud lias 

 been reclaimed. While our farmers are striving to increase the 

 amount of hay upon arable lands, their most available resources 

 to effect such increase are often left untouched. That the 

 value of such land is not appreciated is evident from the mere* 

 ly nominal price at which in most instances it is held, while 

 if its value was properly understood, a goodly portion of the 

 upland would be readily parted with, if necessary, to furnish 

 means to reclaim thi^. The replies show that they have been 

 very generally neglected throughout the State, while there is 

 an almost uniform testimony as to the satisfactory nature of 

 the results, where efforts have been made to reclaim them. Only 

 two instances are found in which this is not the case, and it 

 may well be doubted, if in these, the experiment was fairly 

 made. One says, the result was not satisfactory, the other, that 

 the cost is too great, and no further particulars are given. All 

 others sav, that at a cost varying from fifteen to sixty dollars 

 per acre, it has been found a profitable investment, paying all 

 expenses in from three to five years, and it is apparent from the 

 tenor *of renjark, that those whose experience is greatest and 

 whose practice the most thorough, attach to them the highest 

 value. I liavc been disappointed in not being able to obtain 

 written statements of facts, which have come to my knowledge, 

 and which would serve to place the vahie of such lands in a 

 strong light. Some have, however, been received in the replies 

 to the circular, and a few are appended : 



FKOM S. W\ COBUEN, BLOOMITIELD. 



" There is probably about three hundred acres of low meadow in 

 this town, most of -whicli is mowed for the natural meadow grass grow- 

 inf» on them, with little effort to bring them into English grass. Some 

 have been cut through with one main ditch. Some have been resorted 

 to for the muck they are composed of. Ditches on the border of 

 meadows and jwamps, if only one can be afforded, will be found far 

 more useful than one through the middle. Cold soaks from high lands 

 are the bane of all low, wet spots, as this water is cold and springy, and 

 consequently, destructive to a high order of vegetable life. 



People in this region have been far too shy of their low, wet lands. 

 These contain the cream of uplands and often of barn yard and farm 

 house besides. Properly drained, they are a never-ending source of 



