On reciaimmg Marsh Land, 71 



first of April following. He would then find, that where 

 the rubbish had grown in the greatest quantity, and been 

 beaten down by various causes operating on it, there the 

 sediment (becoming incorporated with it) had formed a 

 new soil three or four inches in depth, completely adapt- 

 ed for the reception of grass seeds. 



This would be the proper time for the farmer to profit 

 by his former mistakes, (in delaying to sow his marsh 

 when first reclaimed) by immediately drawing off the 

 water and casting his seed with a liberal hand upon the 

 slimy surface of this new formed stratum, composed of 

 putrified vegetables and mud ; nor let him forget as the 

 vegetation advances, that, for insuring a good crop of 

 valuable grass, he must have a stock of cattle, the number 

 of which ought to be in proportion to his acres, so as to 

 keep down the superfluous growth of the wild plants. 



EFFECTUAL IRRIGATION, 



Or droxvning the Marshy as it is called. 



After a meadow has been many years in bank, the fine 

 grasses almost all gone, and the surface generally cover- 

 ed with a coarse vegetation scarcely eatable, composed 

 of weeds, rushes, bogs, &c., the farmer then thinks it 

 time to let down the marsh and drown it. This method 

 is performed by cutting away the bank opposite the 

 ditches, and by removing the mud from off* the sluices ; 

 thus, the water having a free course through all the 

 ditches, circulates the sediment equally over all parts of 

 the marsh. A period of from five to seven years is con= 

 sidered necessary to produce the desired effect. Within 

 this time there will have formed on the surface of the 

 XT»arsh (on an average) a stratum of virgin mud, of from 

 eight to twelve inches in depth. Should the marsh be 



