142 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



I found that the first thing necessary was to get rid of tlie water, so I com- 

 menced cutting drains, and soon proved the old adage, that '^' where there is a 

 will there is a way." I dug the willows out of a swale and plowed it late in the 

 fall, the water following the plow from one to four inches deep. I well remem- 

 ber one of our old farmers came along and said to me, ^'I would not plow that ; 

 it will grow up and be worse than ever." My reply was, "not while I live." 

 Others said, "you will make it look better, but you will never get pay for 

 your work." 



The words of encouragement were few. I still live, and it has grown up to 

 good crops, such as oats and hay, and at the present time there is no waste land 

 to be seen along my creek as far as the old place extends, a distance of about 

 175 rods, though I lost time and money at first by not knowing the crops best 

 adapted to such lands. 



After experimenting three or four years I settled on a plan of my own, mainly 

 like this : First cut drains suiiicient in all cases to carry off the water rapidly, 

 so in case of wet seasons it will run off as fast as it falls, and it must not fail to 

 be all off the surface by the first of June, or your work will be thrown away. 



There are many kinds of wet lands, and they want different handling. The 

 mowing marsh is generally tough, and should be plowed in the fall and left to 

 freeze through the winter, and it will be well rotted and ready for cultivation 

 the next season. I would not seed to grass until the second crop, unless the 

 ground is so soft that it is hard to work. I should recommend j^lowing all 

 kinds of low ground in the fall. In a willow swale or thicket of any kind, cut 

 with an axe a little below the surface, taking out as much of the root as you can 

 handily. Poplar groves may be subdued in various ways. If they are small, 

 pull them out. If they are large, it is easier, and I think cheaper, to cut them 

 down, and fence in and jiasture enough to keep down most of the sj^routs 

 for about three years, and the stumps will nearly all come out. Sprouts will 

 spring up along the roots, but the stumps never sprout, and the roots become 

 brittle, and break very easily with the plow. 



In all cases where the surface is composed of l)0gs and a sort of spongy, 

 mossy mixture, and filled with roots, if you can get a good burn the work is 

 done. Should you fail in this, put a fence around it and keep sheep and cattle 

 on until it becomes rotten, and what sprouts they do not keej) down should be 

 cut down every year in July or August, and they die and decay very soon. We 

 have a large amount of low, wet, swaley land, covered with all kinds of timber 

 and brambles, and water in spring and fall. In that class of land the large roots 

 run on or near the surface to d great distance from the trunk of the tree, which 

 makes it imj^ossible to do anything with it. To reclaim this sort, cut the under- 

 brush and then cut off the large timber. Let it lie until thoroughly dry, and 

 burn. Fence in and keep stock on it, sprouting off annually what the stock fail 

 to keep down, and by that time it can be plowed and seeded, and soon looks like 

 old pasture. One word about making sheep clear land. My way is to fence in 

 all such pieces and let them spring up green, then turn the sheep on, and let 

 them live there until it is thoroughly eaten and trampled down, and then remove 

 them to good feed. There is no need of keeping sheep star\dng on new ground 

 all summer, and bring them to the yard spring poor in the fall, — a course which 

 is both inhuman and unprofitable. You can subdue land and keep them on 

 good feed four-fifths of the time, and have them fat in the fall. 



I do not expect to enlighten many or much ; but Avhen I go about the country 

 and see so many open fields disfigured by cat-holes that I know can be cleared so 



