NORFOLK SOCIETY. 291 



ject has increased in interest and importance, the more it has 

 been contemplated. As one method of obtaining some accu- 

 rate and profitable information on the subject, which shall be 

 available to the community, we would suggest and recommend 

 that those who shall succeed us in office, or a special committee 

 to be raised for the purpose, be required to ascertain, by corres- 

 pondence or otherwise, precisely what has been done in the re- 

 claiming of meadow and swamp lands in each town in the 

 county, within the last ten years ; what has been the process 

 adopted in each case ; what the expense, and the results ; what 

 the locality and nature of the land ; and what its value in its 

 former, and in its present state. By comparison of these sev- 

 eral processes and results, we believe some mode of effecting 

 most valuable and permanent improvements may be found, 

 which will prove of general utility, and save much fruitless 

 labor and cost in experimenting. 



And as a further means of extending this improvement in 

 the agriculture of the county, and of increasing its benefits, 

 your committee would suggest and recommend the expediency 

 of providing for a scientific survey of the large tracts of swamp 

 and bog land in the county, (or of such lands as the owners of 

 them may desire, it) which may be converted into productive 

 mowing or tillage land, so as to furnish the community with 

 an exact analysis of the soils in such lands, and the most proper 

 and economical mode of reducing and preparing them for better 

 use. We regard this as a matter of public policy. We would 

 rid the whole county of Norfolk of all those places which now 

 present so forbidding an aspect to the eye, and create a noxious 

 miasma so destructive of health, while they add nothing to the 

 wealth of their owners. And we would present, instead, a clean, 

 cultivated, healthful surface, attractive to the taste of those who 

 are seeking places of rural residence, and remunerating to the 

 labors of those who cultivate the soil. In no way does it seem 

 to us, can a portion of the funds of this society be more use- 

 fully employed, during another year. 



It may be objected, that the funds will not admit of such an 

 expenditure ; and, in this case, your committee would suggest 

 and recommend the expediency of a respectful application to 



