700 



F A R IM E U S ' R E G I S T E K. 



[No. II 



judging from the small portion which has been I 

 drained and culiivated, is ol' very great and also 

 very durable ferlilily. This soil has certainly 

 much vegetable matler; but much ol' earlh also ; 

 is about 2 to 2.^ leet deep, and rostiriL' i)n a sui)soil 

 of what ap|)ears 1o be a icnacious blue cjtiy, when 

 first dug up, but which becomes pulverized by ex- 

 posure, and forms K^riile soil. No doubt the solu- 

 ble vegetable matter has sunk into tills clay, and 

 given to it both its color and i^ls productive power. 

 1 never saw any soil that appeared richer than this 

 land, or that [jromised a greater profit upon the 

 expense of improveinent. Still, very lew persons 

 have yet begun to drain their swamp lands, and 

 all their cultivation is on the firm knolls, which 

 were never rich, and are now very mucli reduced 

 by the unceasing cultivation of corn, year after 

 year, which is the general practice of the country. 

 The sole mitigation or change of this course, (if it 

 be either,) is, that peas are always planted among 

 the corn, and the land thus made to bring two 

 crops in each year. But the peas are gathered as 

 well as the corn, and then stock turned in to take 

 all that is left ; so that nothing of the crop is 

 given to the land as manure. 



The soil of liiese dry knolls is generally sandy ; 

 but sometimes quite stiff. The latter is much the 

 meanest soil of the two, for product, and also the 

 least manageable under cultivation. 



The mere observation of the map of North 

 Carolina will show this remarkable peculiarity, 

 that all the numerous streams have tlieir sources 

 in the interior and central parts of the swamps, 

 and thence flow, some in every ditl'erent direction, 

 to seek lower outlets. This is not only the case 

 as to the great swamp region now under consid- 

 eration, but also as to the other great svyamps 

 which lie south of the Patnlico. This general 

 f Id alone would clearly prove that the iireat body 

 of the swamp land is generally higher than the 

 dry and firm soil which lies without, and through 

 which the swamp streams, which in some cases 

 are larixe and nnvigable rivers, seek their passage 

 to the two sounds. It is not meant that the 

 Fvvamps at their edires are hiirher than the outer 

 firm land immediately adjacent. On the contrary 

 they are lower; but gradually rise towards tlie in- 

 terior, and each long anil narrow rid^e or knoll of 

 firm ground that is reached seems a low step or 

 dike to a hi<iher elevation of swamf) within. In 

 my IbrmersliLrhtexaniinationofthe Dismal Swamp 

 in VirLMuia, I was struck with, and invited atten- 

 tion to, the like fact of the swamp being hiixher 

 than nearly all the surrounding country, dry, firm 

 and elevated as the latter was. But still there 

 was oti one side, (the western,) which 1 did not 

 vi-;it, higher land, fi-om which streams might flow 

 into the swamp, and help to supply the vast su- 

 perfluity of w;iier, which parsed oil in every other 

 direction. But even if such is the case in Virgi- 

 nia, (which I now doubt, or suppose at least that 

 the supply of streams from without is of but se- 

 condary importance.) it certainly is no" so in North 

 Carolina. Whence then can be derived the great 

 supply of water which not only keeps saturated 

 this vast extent of morass, but fills, and keeps full, 

 several lakes of considerable magnitude, and feeds, 

 throuizh all seasons, numerous strejmis and even 

 deep rivers? Can the rain water alone be suffi- 

 cient to produce such great results'? Or can there 

 be aa additional supply from below, in undiscot'er- 



ed and unsuspected springs, and abundant enough 

 in supply for the great effect produced? If rea- 

 soning a priori, 1 should have iiilerred that- in a 

 climate as warm as this, and having no more rain, 

 that all the rain that liill on a before dry and level 

 surface, and returned there lor want of fall to 

 an outlet, (and therelbre to be wasted only by ab- 

 sorption of the earth and evaporation,) could not 

 serve to maintain wetness through all seasons, and 

 consequently could not Ibrm a morass. But even if 

 this inltjrence is erroneous, and permanent swanq>s 

 would be thus formed by rain water alone, retained 

 exactly where it lell, there is yet a much greater 

 and more inexplicable effect produced here, where 

 numerous and large streams are perpetually draw- 

 ing away the waters of the swamp, and of which 

 moreover the land is so elevated that the rain wa- 

 ter may flow off, but cannot possibly be increased 

 by flowing to, from other lands. 



The channels of the streams near where they 

 pass out of the swamps, being deep enough, may 

 well be used to receive the canals, or main-carrier 

 ditches, made to drain the outer parts of the 

 swamps, which are the lowest parts ; and to pre- 

 vent these parts being again flooded li'om the inte- 

 rior and higher part of the great swamp, some of 

 the nuiriCrous long nnd narrow ridges may be usecL 

 as natural dikes or barriers. The only lands that 

 I saw or heard of in this neighborhood, on which 

 draining had been commenced successfully, were 

 the farms of Dr. Armislead and Mr. Swilt ; the 

 Ibrmer being much the more advanced and consid- 

 erable operation. The proprietor, though with 

 but short experience as a farmer and drainer, and 

 his work therefore necesarily imperfect and insul- 

 ficient, still has etiected a great and admirable 

 change, and which has already been attended with 

 great profit. His main-carrier is upwards of two 

 nfiles in length, twelve feet wide, and about four 

 feet deep; which depth is not enough by two or 

 three feet, which addition the proprietor designs to 

 ilive as soon as can be conveniently done. This 

 canal passes through the middle of his swamp 

 land, and serves to drain and to fit (or putting to 

 use the whole body of about 500 acres. It empties 

 into a swamp creek. Still, the overflow of water 

 from the interior swamp could cover the head of 

 this canal, and render it incapable of discbar<iing 

 even one-tenth of the supply; but that has been 

 guarded against by a short dike which has been 

 made to unite the adjacent ends of two of the 

 long ridges, and which, thus united, form a per- 

 fect defence. But it is enough, and more than it 

 can now do, for the canal to discharge all the wa- 

 ter from heavy rains which fall on the area it is de- 

 signed to driiw from. In each of the three last 

 years there has been a storm of rain and wind in 

 August or September, which overflowed the drain- 

 ed swamp, and all its cultivated portion, li'om two 

 to three leet deep, notwithstanding all the discharge 

 of the canal. This glut of water on such disas- 

 trous occasions was no doubt much increased by 

 the wind blowing down the dead trees, and their 

 tops falling info and partially chokinjr the canal. 

 Tlie crop of corn now on the ground, thoutrh a 

 very heavy product, oilers evidence of the destruc- 

 tive effect of the wind and the flood of last Sep- 

 tember. The enlartjing of the canal, and the en-' 

 lire destruction and removal of the dead trees, will 

 greatly lessen, if not entirely guard against such 

 evils. 



