IjaPEOVEMEXT OF BOG MEADOWS. 203 



Improve 3IENT or Bog Meadows. 



Those bog meadows which are to be found in almost every 

 BGCtion of oar countrv, if so situated as to admit of draining^ 

 may make very valuable lands. In some parts of the northern 

 states, they are said to exceed almost any others for raismg 

 hemp. Great crops of herds-grass may also be raised upon 

 them. But they must be vrell drained pthe drier thev are laid 



the better. . i j • « + 



The method recommended, for drammg these lands, is, tirst 

 to run a ditch through the middle, and draw off as much of the 

 water in this way as possible. When the meadow is very wet 

 and miry, you commence at the lowest part of the ground,, 

 where the outlet is to begin, and from thence carry the ditch 

 into the meadow, sinking it all the way, as you proceed, as 1o%t 

 as will barelv give the water a current to run off; a ditch 

 should then be run, of the same depth, all round the edge of 

 the bog, for the purpose of cutting off ail the springs. Cross 

 ditches should then be made, in number and size, proportionate 

 to the extent of the bog, and of the depth of the middle and 

 surrounding ditches. When the mud, taken from the ditches, 

 is carted on to dry gravelly and sandy land, it makes excel- 

 lent manure ; and gravel and sand is equally beneficial, too, as 

 a manure for bog meadows. * 



Potatoes, cabbage, carrots, beets, turnips, parsnips, and even 

 corn, and almost every grain, except w^heat, have been cultivat- 

 ed to great advantage on well drained bog lands, w'hen well 

 manured with upland earths. Hops, also, are cultivated to 

 great advantage on these lands. 



When the farmer discovers that there is but a thin layer of 

 bog dirt, situated on a deep clayey bottom, it, perhaps, ought to 

 deter him from the expense of draining the s=wamp, especially 

 if it be covered with a thrifty growth of timber. Because sit- 

 uated as such clayey bottoms are, so contiguous to the sur- 

 rounding wet lands, it would probably always retain too muck 

 moisture, to admit of the successful tillage of any soil that 

 ciight be made on the surface. 



It should be remembered that bog lands will settle down ve- 

 ry much after draining, for which a proper allowance should. 

 be made with respect to ths depth of the ditch^, 



* See essay oq manures. 



