ESSEX SOCIETY. 43 



they did little more than merely to tear it up in spots, there 

 being so many roots. It was so bad I concluded not to culti- 

 vate it. 



At this time I built a shop adjoining my house, from which 

 I could see to any part of my little farm, and give directions 

 about the work without leaving the shop. Having but limited 

 means, and not being able to do much on the land myself, I 

 made but slow progress in improvements. I commenced a 

 ditch six feet from the ploughed or upland, and ran it around 

 the swamp on three sides, six feet wide and eighteen inches 

 deep, and threw the muck upon the space between the ditch 

 and upland, which gave me six feet more in width to my up- 

 land around the meadow. This looked well, and I was not 

 content to stop here. According to the Yankee motto, think- 

 ing it best to keep moving, the following year I filled the ditch 

 with stones at the bottom, then gravel, then loam, until it was 

 filled even with the surface of the swamp. Then I cut anoth- 

 er ditch around the swamp, directly beside the one that I had 

 filled up, and threw the mud on the same, which added six 

 feet more, or twelve feet in all, to the upland on three sides of 

 the swamp. I again filled the ditch as before, and threw the 

 muck from another on top. I pursued this course, until the 

 whole swamp was reclaimed, which raised the surface eighteen 

 inches higher than it was before. I then removed more than 

 half of the muck to the upland, and returned as much loam 

 from the upland in its place. Then by ploughing, the loam 

 and muck were well mixed. I have an open drain leading 

 through the meadow, from the spring by the hill, to a drain by 

 the road ; thus the meadow is rendered dry enough for any 

 kind of cultivation. 



This method could not be practised as a general rule, with 

 regard to economy in reclaiming wet land. I had good rea- 

 sons (or thought I had) for reclaiming my own in this way. 

 In the first place, it was but a small piece, near the house, and 

 a convenient place for a garden. I also wished to remove the 

 gravel and loam from the side of the hill to put in a bank wall, 

 and make room for a row of cherry trees. I wished to make 

 it myself, and add to the beauty of the scenery about the gar- 



