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RECLAIMING SWAMP LANDS. 25 



Credit. 



1865. 2 tons hay, . 



1866. 2] tons hay, 



Present value of land, . 



Net profit, 1125 00 



Statement of George A. Adams. 



Before entering upon a detailed account of my operations 

 upon one acre of meadow land entered for premium, I beg the 

 indulgence of the committee for a few moments, while I give a 

 brief account of the tract of land of which it is a part. Little 

 Cedar Swamp is a name applied to a plot of two hundred acres 

 of very low land situated in the easterly part of the town of 

 Hopkinton. It is a part of an extensive tract of land donated 

 to Harvard University in the early history of the country by 

 one Edward Hopkins, Esq., of England. 



A century ago this swamp was covered with an immense 

 forest, so dense that a yoke of oxen could not possibly be driven 

 through it. It was then a famous resort with sportsmen, for its 

 thickets afforded an abundance of fowl, and Cold Spring Brook, 

 which meanders through it, was replete with fish. A succeed- 

 ing generation demolished the forest, and for a few years 

 secured a fair crop of fair meadow hay. But both the quantity 

 and quality of the hay deteriorated rapidly, and the proprietors 

 united in building a dam, at- considerable expense, for the pur- 

 pose of flowing the land during the winter, considering it an 

 advantage to protect the grass roots from severe freezing, and 

 hoping also that cranberries, which had already made their 

 appearance, might be encouraged thereby. The dam also 

 secured an extensive reservoir for the benefit of a mill which 

 was controlled by the meadow owners. 



But the effect upon the hay crop was not as favorable as 

 anticipated and in a few years the grass was considered scarcely 

 worth the cutting. Cranberries were now paying great profits 

 in some portions of the State, and certain speculators bought up 

 plots of this meadow and attended their culture, but soon became 

 discouraged, and were glad to sell their land for less than its 



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