124: HOW TO GET A FARM. 



no other name. His boys hunt in it for skunks or 

 rabbits, or for birds or honeycombs. It is known 

 through the neighborhood as the swamp. It is good 

 only for an occasional load of rails, perhaps a load 

 of wood. Though assessed as waste land, yet it does 

 not yield the annual,, taxes. Such it is considered 

 by all who know it ; and such, while in this condi 

 tion, it really is. In vain has the owner endeavored 

 to dispose of it at a low price ; it is too well known, 

 and too little valued by those who do not under 

 stand the capabilities of ground thus situated, to 

 tempt them to buy. 



Yet this swamp may contain ten acres or a hun 

 dred, and be so located that a single ditch cut 

 through the centre will render it comparatively dry. 

 Cross drains on both sides of and emptying into the 

 central ditch, composed of wood or tile, if sunk at 

 intervals of thirty feet apart, will render it firm 

 enough for the plough. By covering them they be 

 come underdrains. The main ditch itself may in 

 some cases be covered also, leaving the ground, 

 when cleared, without break or obstruction. It 

 needs no manure, for nature has there concentrated 

 an untold wealth of her choicest fertilizers. Who 

 can doubt that fifty acres of a swamp like this, 

 bought at a nominal price, and thus treated, will 

 yield to the beginner a speedier and richer return 

 than thrice the quantity of upland whose salable 

 value consists in the single fact of its being upland 

 instead of swamp ? 



From my own personal experience, I can speak 

 of the value of these swamp lands which are so 



