RECLAIMING SWAMP-LANDS. 119 



concluded that its growths could be changed iu four or five 

 years from brush, skuuk's-cabbage and water-grass to Timothy 

 and redtop, and be made to yield one and one-half to two 

 tons of good hay per acre. Draining was the first step, and 

 we commenced by lowering the main brook some three feet 

 at the foot of the swamp, for this purpose going down from 

 the swamp some two hundred and fifty rods. The ditch was 

 continued at the same depth some sixty rods across the north 

 side of the swamp, which so drained about six acres that 

 ploughing was undertaken. For this purpose a large cast- 

 steel Minnesota prairie plough was used, drawn by two yoke 

 of oxen. It was late in the Ml when the plough arrived, and 

 hence only about two and one-half acres of the dryest portion 

 was ploughed. This ground after being harrowed was sown 

 to Timothy, redtop and clover, but so late that the grass-seed 

 did not come up till spring. This ground yielded about a ton 

 and a half of good hay per acre. A part of the swamp is 

 grown up to alders, birches and maples, the largest of them 

 about six inches through. Last winter four or five acres of 

 wood were cut oft', and last August about two acres were 

 cleared and dra2ro;ed with a stout, three-cornered harrow and 

 sown with the usual grass-seeds. To-day (November 12) 

 it is covered with a nice mat of grass, some four inches high. 

 My plan is to serve all the wooded portion in the same way, 

 and after stocking with grass-seed, pasturing it close for 

 three or four years, until the stumps are rotten, when it can 

 be ploughed with the big plough. We shall use both tiles 

 and open ditches iu future draining, and so practically test 



the merits of each. 



J. D. Tayxoe. 

 Westfield, Nov. 1872. 



