292 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



somewhat impaired by a dry and stormy season. The corn 

 suffered from strong winds ; the potatoes rotted badly in the 

 field; oats, onions, &c, did fairly. The grasslands looked 

 well in the latter part of autumn ; and the prospects for the 

 spring are generally considered encouraging, as much prep- 

 aration has been made to enter upon an active year. 



C. A. GOESSMANN. 



The Report was read, and laid upon the table for future 

 action, when Mr. Ware presented the following essay upon 



RECLAIMING SWAMP-LANDS AS TO PROFIT AND THE PUBLIC 



HEALTH. 



The subject of reclaiming swamp-lands has been so often 

 referred to in the reports of this Board, and so frequently 

 discussed at its meetings, that I hesitate to attempt any 

 thing more upon it ; but the importance and value of im- 

 provements in this direction are so great, that it may be well 

 to add line to line, and precept to precept, until the owners 

 of swamp-lands become awakened to the value of money 

 and labor judiciously bestowed upon such lands, as an 

 investment yielding much greater per cent than United- 

 States bonds or ordinary stocks. There are thousands of 

 acres in Massachusetts of what are now wet, cold, boggy 

 swamps, covered with bushes and hassocks : they fill the 

 air with miasma, are an eyesore to the passer-by, a foul blot 

 upon the face of the earth, and are of no value in their 

 present condition. By a small outlay, compared with the 

 results, they may be made the most productive lands that 

 we have. 



The first thing to be done in order to reclaim such lands 

 is to lower the water-level by draining, commencing at the 

 outlet, and making it as low as the location will allow, taking 

 that as a base of a system of drainage more or less thorough, 

 according to the situation. In order to illustrate the mode 

 of operation, I will give two or three instances of successful 

 reclaiming of swamp-lands. And first the method used on a 

 swamp adjoining my own farm in Marblehead, which con- 

 tains about six acres, and lies contiguous to a pond contain- 

 ing five acres. The water in the pond was some ten or 



