FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 351 



two weeks' time. Afterwards the ditch filled with water and was emptied by 

 three days' pumping. It is now thought that under any contingency the water 

 can be drawn down by tliree days' pumping sufficiently low to leave the drain 

 tile, that Mr. McGraw intends to put in, six inches above its surface. A ditch 

 has been dug through the lowest part of the prairie, nine and one-half feet 

 broad at the surface, four feet deep and two hundred rods in length ; also one 

 hundred and eighty rods of smaller ditches. In making the ditclies, the hu- 

 mus or vegetable matter was thrown on one side, and the marl or lower strata 

 on the other. The last named substance after the ground was plowed was 

 hauled on to the land and dumped in cart-loads, to ho spread in the spring for 

 a fertilizer. Mr. McGraw plowed quite a large tract of this prairie land last 

 fall, to be ready for a spring crop. This improvement is prosecuted under 

 the superintendence of Mr. McGraw's father-in-law, ]\Ir. Ubcrhurst, who is a 

 practical farmer, and a graduate from the Agricultural college of Prussia. 

 He formerly had charge of the stock-feeding department of tlie Prussian gov- 

 ernment farm, where six hundred cows were fed, for the sole purpose of 

 ascertaining by experiment, what food for them could be grown and used to the 

 greatest profit. Mr. McGraw has capital to carry out any plan of impro vement he 

 desires to make, and with such practical and scientific knowledge as is possessed 

 by Mr. Uberhurst, to direct the outlay of capital, we may expect to see the 

 model farm of the State, on the Saginaw marshes, and to hear of results from 

 practical operations, that Avill greatly encourage those who intend improving 

 marsh lands. 



In 1860, upon ascertaining that the salt rock underlaid the whole of the 

 Saginaw valley, Mr. Daglish and I anticipated an extensive business in the 

 manufacture of salt. The only methods then known for reducing the brine 

 was by solar evaporation and the old fashioned kettle blocks. Believing that 

 the prairies would be extensively used for evaporating works, and the naviga- 

 ble waters for transportation, we purchased a sufficient quantity of swamp land 

 to secure two miles of the navigable portion of the Cheboyganing creek, with a 

 view of its future use for purposes above referred to ; but time developed a 

 cheaper process for making salt than even by solar evaporation, so the idea of 

 using the land for that purpose was abandoned. We never doubted the prac- 

 ticability of improving the land by diking and pumping, but the only data 

 within our knowledge upon which to base an estimate of the expense of diking, 

 was the contract of the Bay City and East Saginaw railroad company with 

 Capt. Smith for grading their track across the low prairie. Capt. Smith was 

 to receive one hundred dollars per day for furnishing and running his dredge, 

 and in prosecuting the work he averaged one hundred lineal feet per day. At 

 that rate the expense would preclude the possibility of a profit on the cost of 

 the improvement, so tlie matter rested, till 1877, when upon consulting with 

 dredge owners, we ascertained that the work could be done at a price that 

 would give a reasonable prospect for a benefit on the outlay in improving the 

 laud. After determining to prosecute the work, we secured the services of Mr. 

 Joseph I. Forcier, through whose practical knowledge of the work of dredging 

 and untiring industry in prosecuting it, our operations have been greatly facili- 

 tated. By Mr. Forcier' s advice we hired the dredge from the corporation of 

 East Saginaw at the rate of ten dollars for each working day it should be in 

 our possession. After fitting the dredge for work, Mr. Forcier hired his assist- 

 ants and commenced work on the eleventh day of May, 1878, and during the 

 next ninety-six working days excavated a ditch thirty feet wide, averaging 

 nearly six feet deep, three and a quarter miles long, throwing the earth out- 



