SALT MARSHES, IJJ 



shillings per acre, yielding an income of £444, a gain of £278, or 

 10| per cent, on the outlay per annum. Admiral Bentrick speaks of 

 dyking one hundred and eighty acres of salt marsh (near Plymouth) 

 at an expense of £4,000, yielding a clear profit of £560 a year. This 

 dyke was a mile and a half long, seventy-two feet wide at the base, 

 and twelve feet high. 



I have several communications from gentlemen in New Bruns- 

 wick, obtained through the politeness of Charles S. Lugrin, Esq., 

 Secretary of the Provincial Board of Agriculture, New Brunswick, 

 and of gentlemen in this State, extracts from which I will quote, as 

 giving information needed. Charles Sidelle, of New Brunswick, 



says : 



"1 would say, all the marsh on the Straits of Northumberland 

 has been dyked, and the result has been very satisfactory. It 

 produces on an average, two tons of hay per acre. As to the 

 comparative value of the hay, it is worth three-fourths as much as 

 timothy and clover. Some qualities of it are equally as good for 

 horned cattle as timothy and clover. The soil is generally a kind 

 of blue mud, although a small portion is a gray corky soil ; both 

 kinds produce about the same qualities of hay. The marsh 

 produces sedge before it is dyked, and broadleaf after. We dyke 

 from four to six feet high (say two feet above spring tides) from 

 fourteen to eighteen feet wide in the bottom, from four to five feet 

 wide on top. As to cost, a good dyker will put up six feet in 

 length per day, of our largest dyke. Draining is the only treat- 

 ment it requires after dyking. There is nothing else produced on 

 the marsh but grass. As to the mode of building dykes, we put 

 large dovetail sods, grass side out, on the outside of the dyke on 

 each side, to prevent the tide from disturbing them till they get 

 solid. In a short time they will be held firmly together by the 

 grass roots. 



But it requires a good amount of practice to build a strong 

 dyke, as the soil is very light when dry. I have examined several 

 pieces of marsh between Eastport and Portland, and believe the 

 soil to be the same as ours. For the first few years after dyking, 

 the quality of the hay will not be quite as good as afterwards. The 

 most of our marsh has been dyked sixty years, and produces as 

 good a crop now as ever it did. It is worth from sixty to eighty 

 dollars per acre, while our unmanured upland is not worth over 

 ten to fifteen." Howard Freeman says : 



" The cost of dyking will depend largely upon the soil out of 



