November 30, 1907 



HORTICULTURf: 



699 



The Value of Swampy Land 



Some years aj;o the lat(^ H. H. Ilmiiu'well sold an 

 ont-of-tlie-\vay 1-it et land. It was swampy and con- 

 sidered nsele^s. I'ro'oably the main reason for selling 

 was tliat it was not likely to become part of an\ land 

 scheme. The family have all bought on the westerly 

 side of the tewu, and this is on the east. I often felt 

 surprised that he let it slip out of his hands for he 

 had long appreciated the value of peat and was quick 

 to see bargains of this kind. Though wet, it was 

 high enough to be easily drained. There was a small 

 stream which wriggled its way through, blocked here 

 and there with leaves and Ijranches — worse than useless 

 for drainage purposes. 



The time came -when the now owner wanted to make 

 •in ice pond, and was anxious to dispose of his "mud." 

 It was sold to the Ilunnewells, and brought almost as 

 much as the price paid for the land. The estate 

 bought over a thousand loads, and it was a good in- 

 vestment. 



Noihing is so valuable on dry land as a mixture of 

 this black mud, or peat. What we bought was a very 

 good brand. This swamp was a depression surround- 

 ed on all sides except the south by dense woods, and 

 for generations leaves had been deposited here The 

 "mud" was mainly leafsoil, and this could be plainly 

 seen when breaking it up It is much better than the 

 tough, leathei-y stuff that conies from stratified spagh- 

 num m.oss, which we are familiar with in what stable- 

 men use for box stalls. We had given it a thorough 

 trial — for alraost all kinds of planting. It has been 

 used for pot plants — azaleas, acacias, heaths, cytisus, 

 choriaemas, and boronias, with excellent results. Tender 

 rhododendrons which are stored in plant cellars and put 

 out in the summer, never made better roots. My seed- 

 lings made— most of them — two growths last season, 

 and sonie set buds, so that the prospects of living to 

 see them bloom — whirli ilr. Hunnewell doubted — 

 seem iirighter. TJliododemlrnns planted last spring 

 and some of tliem very large plants — a load for a pair 

 of horses — have all done well. Sometimes as much 

 a? two cart loads were used to a plant. They look 

 better this autumn than the plants not moved, which 

 suggests some idea of renewing the soil about the old 

 plants in the beds ^\ith "mud." Some large plants, 

 standing in tlie way of improvements, and moved late 

 last autumn, showed not a sign last spring, of the shift. 

 This peat was used in tlie planting of evergreens — 

 large and ';mall--l.ist spring, and all have done well. I 

 think it was fortunate we had it on band ; in my opin- 

 ion it was "mud" which carried all our new planting 

 successfully through the late very dry summer. 



The drainage of swamp lands is beginning to have 

 the attention of the Federal Government. It is work 

 for the States and should not be left to the time-wast- 

 ing methods of the national government. The States, 

 fuss about highwa3's; the drainage of swamps is a 



larger question, and affects the whole nation materially 

 and physically. It is a question of health as well as 

 national prosperity. We all know it has got to come 

 as population increases, but it is none too soon to com- 

 mence now. The lands to be reclaimed are among the 

 best, and when drained would become lastingly fer- 

 tile. Ahuost all of them are high enough to be drained, 

 and when very low ditching and throwing them into 

 sections or "lands," will still further render them cul- 

 tivatablc. I-and so treated is generally dry enough 

 for most, if not all farm crops. In the fen district of 

 Lincolnshire, England, lands of similar composition are 

 treated to a covering of clay marl from nearby pits, and 

 will then oTow grass and other grain crops. For as- 

 paragus, onions, turnips, and all crops of the cabbage 

 family, there is no better land. Draining and ditch- 

 ing a large area on the Sprague place at Brookline has 

 made good pasture and hay land of land that was only 

 lit for nieadov.' hay, and was unsightly, and unhealthy 

 at best. Nearer home, on the Wellesley College estate 

 areas of low wet land have been improved, and some is 

 now used for growing celery. The Fenway part of the 

 Metropolitan Park System — the most beautiful of all — 

 shows what has been accomplkshed in the reclamation 

 of unsiglitly swamp land. The Wellesley Town Park, 

 now in the making, is a strip of land about a mile 

 long. A brook divides it. and low land borders both 

 sides all the way. Surveys have been made and grades 

 given for deepening and widening the brook. It is 

 v/onderful what has been accomplished. Boggy land 

 is now good pasture land, and yields no inconsiderable 

 amount of good hay. 



It may be excusable that people clear wood land, and 

 cultivate dry easily worked slopes, and leave low lands 

 that need draining. It is easier. The cost of sur- 

 veys and draining is considerable, but such lands when 

 ilrained are more reliable than uplands. There is 

 hardly a summer in the east without a dry spell of 

 weather, and every gardener knows he cannot depend 

 on getting crops without a lay of water pipes. A sec- 

 tion of this land properly drained, ditched and "land- 

 ed," could alv/ays be depended upon. 



Whenever T have crossed the big swamp that lies be- 

 tween Hoboken Heights and Putberford, New Jersey, 

 I cannot help thinking what an oversight it is and a 

 disgrace to tb.e State that such a valuable piece of land 

 so near a great city should be unused. If the 'Taig 

 guns" at Washington are really in earnest, let them get 

 to work on this, and show to all the States what can 

 be done; there could be no l)etter object lesson, and no 

 better place to show it. If the Hollanders had it in 

 Holland tliev would not waste much time about it. 



Wrllrftley. Mass. 



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