334 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



two or three years' cultivation, by which it is impossible 

 to drain it without mechanical means. As this is a per- 

 fectly natural effect, the same difficulty will occur. It is 

 owing to the decay of the mass of fibrous roots that com- 

 pose the marsh soil, and which remain entire and slowly 

 growing so long as covered with water, but which decay 

 and compact together as soon as the water is withdrawn. 

 Many thousand dollars have been spent in draining 

 marshes in the United States, which the owners were 

 compelled to abandon after getting two or three crops. 

 Wherever the value of such lands will warrant the use 

 of a steam draining machine, it will be worth while to 

 drain them. Until such time, they may be used for pas- 

 ture and coarse hay, but still more profitable for the 

 manuring of upland with the inexhaustible supply of 

 swamp mud which they afford. 



The farm of the Hon. John M. Clayton^ is also in this 

 county, on the railroad from New Castle to Frenchtown, 

 and is most delightfully situated and neatly cultivated. 

 May he be a happy Cincinnatus upon it. 



Solon Robinson. . 



A Plain Talk — Agricultural Resources of 

 Lower Virginia. 



[Richmond Enquirer, December 21, 1849, from Norfolk Beacon] 



[December 18?, 1849] 



Who from the Northern or Eastern States would think 

 of emigrating to this region, for the purpose of farming ? 

 Yet, although a Western man, and pretty well acquainted 

 with the richness of Western soil, I am free to say that 



' John Middleton Clayton, farmer, lawyer, statesman. Born at 

 Dagsborough, Delaware, July 24, 1796; died at Dover, November 9, 

 1856. Senator from Delaware, 1828-1836; chief justice of Dela- 

 ware, 1836-1839. After Harrison's campaign, in which he took an 

 active part, devoted his energies to scientific farming. Reelected 

 Senator, 1845. Secretary of state in President Taylor's cabinet. 

 Retired to his farm, said to be the most beautiful on the New Castle 

 Railroad, in 1850. Raised fine peach trees. See sketch in Diction- 

 ary of American Biography, 4:185-86. 



