On reclaiming Marsh Land. 69 



ocean. It is abked, ^vhat method should a farmer adopt 

 so as to render a light peaty meadow more compact? 

 I answer, the only pr<;bable and sure way would be, to 

 fodder his cattle throughout the winter on it : for their 

 treading would have a tendency to consolidate the surface, 

 and to cause a much thicker growth ofyoung grass the fol- 

 lowing spring, It may appear incredible to those persons 

 who are strangers to this kind of marsh, when I tell them, 

 that a mass of such peat or horse-dung mud, as large as a 

 hogshead or wagon body, exposed for a few weeks in 

 summer to the sun and winds, would take fire as soon as 

 it was applied; or, if thrown into water, would float as 

 light as a cork ; yet, extraordinary as it may appear, (if 

 proper care be taken to get a sward of herd-grass upon it) 

 it would astonish the beholder to view the abundant crop. 

 The innumerable roots of the herd-grass, while they ob- 

 struct the rays of the sun, and the winds from penetrating 

 the surface, at the same time shut in and retain the mois- 

 ture for their own benefit ; yet if cultivation in proper 

 time should be neglected, this kind of marsh will finally 

 become so very light and porous, that a man, in attempt- 

 ing to walk over it, would sink to the depth of his ancles. 

 Am I asked, by what method are meadows to be con- 

 tinued improveable, so that they may be rendered capa- 

 ble of yielding considerable quantities of grass by the 

 ordinary resources of any practical farmer, and that in the 

 most easy and least expensive way ? I ansv\er. by irri- 

 gation in three ways: 1st, Partial. 2d, Effectual. 3d^ 

 Internal. 



OF PARTIAL IRRIGATION, 



When meadows have been some time in bank, it 

 is alvAays to be presumed that a considerable portion 

 of them have been brought into good grass, and that 

 Q 



