62 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



HAMPSHIRE. 



Report of the Committee. 



The "vrord meadow, in its first sense, si^'nifies flat, depressed 

 land, generally lying upon the banks of a brook, or river ; as 

 for example, the meadows on the banks of the Connecticut 

 River, or upon Muddy, Flat or Beaver Brooks in the eastern 

 part of this county. Meadow land does not, necessarily, imply 

 "wet land, neither does it exclude such, as those will admit wlio 

 have observed the grounds situated near the streams here 

 named. Meadow is sometimes, though improperly, used as a 

 synonym of the word swamp, signifying low, spongy ground, 

 soft in consequence of the water's being suffered to remain, 

 where draining has not been employed to remove it. These 

 are usually seen interspersed among the hills of the four western 

 counties of this State. The term swale is used among the 

 farmers in the same sense as the word swamp, as here defined. 

 Such land, as is indicated by the words swamp and swale, has 

 been regarded as more or less valuable, according to the quan- 

 tity and quality of the grass produced. It not unfrequently 

 holds the water that falls upon it, as well as that which runs in 

 from the surrounding hills, bringing down, often, the choicest 

 mineral elements of the soil, which sink beneath tlie water, 

 and are thus rendered nearly worthless until the water is 

 drained off. 



The more solid matter, found in a swamp, when drained is, 

 sometimes, peat ; a substance of vegetable origin, more or less 

 saturated with water, consisting of roots and fibres in almost 

 every stage of decomposition, from the natural woody substance 

 to the almost perfect black vegetable mould. Mr. Shipman's 

 reclaimed swamp, in Iladley, furnishes one of the best specimens 

 of this quality, that has come under the observation of the, 

 committee. 



Mud, such as is found in some of these swamps, is a moist 

 soft earth, differing essentially from peat. Swale mud is more 

 thoroughly decomposed than peat, and resembles it less than it 

 does muck, a decomposition of vegetable matter — more com- 

 pletely disorganized than peat. It is not so easy to draw a 



