72 On reclaimwg Marsh Land. 



permitted to lie down for eighteen or twenty years, it 

 ^^ill then have collected a new stratum of from twelve to 

 twenty-eight inches in thickness. After that lenizth of 

 time, there cannot be perceived any additional accumu- 

 lation of mud, because the flow of the common tides will 

 be no higher than about on a level with the surface ; and 

 I think it would be a certain loss to any farmer to let his 

 marsh continue in its wild state after it had been down 

 for even ten years, for the accumulation of the mud 

 would in no way compensate for the loss of the differ- 

 ence of time, in which profit might have been derived 

 from it in the ordinary manner of mowing and grazing. 

 The first tim.e that w ild marsh may have been reclaimed, 

 has never been considered so valuable nor profitable, nor 

 will it so readily receive or retain that system of im- 

 provement, as a meadow which had been some years 

 previously in bank, and turned dowm and drowned, and 

 a second time reclaimed and cultivated. 



I must here remark, that it is in a great measure owing 

 to practical knowledge in agricultural science, in which 

 seme of my neighbouring farmers have displayed their 

 talents in the judicious management of their meadows, 

 that their veal has deservedly acquired the applause of 

 the citizens of Philadelphia ; and the markets of New- 

 York, as well as Philadelphia, uill warrant me in saying, 

 that the beef sent from Salem county has never been 

 excelled, by that supplied from, any other, part of the 

 United States, and I have the vanity to believe, that 

 even the best farmers in England have not exceeded us. 



INTERNAL IfiRIGATION. 



1 can say but little of the salt marshes lying near the 

 sea coast, and x^hich had been periodically covered by 

 the water of the ocean previously to their being reclaim- 



