36 ON MEADOW AND SWAMP LAND. 



may do most of this work within themselves, and at times when their 

 teams are not required for other service. Besides, much of the 

 swamp land in this county, has been, at a remote period, covered 

 with a heavy growth of pine, and the fuel raised from beneath the 

 surface, will, in most instances, remunerate the expense incurred. 

 Such has been the fact in several cases in my own neighborhood. 

 My neighbor, Mr. SulUvan Brown, who has this year raised a fino 

 crop of corn and potatoes on land that two years ago was mere bog, 

 informs me that the entire cost of reclaiming it has been defrayed 

 by the wood obtained. 



Another consideration by which I would urge this kind of improve- 

 ment, is Health. If "time is money," so is health. The salubrity 

 or insalubrity of a neighborhood or town will always affect the value 

 of landed property. Whatever, therefore, renders a place more 

 healthy, makes it more attractive for habitation, and consequently in- 

 creases the value of real estate. This fact is worthy the attention 

 of all, and especially of those inhabiting towns through which pass 

 the iron arteries centering in Boston. The rapid growth of the Me- 

 tropolis is every year impelling hundreds of its business men to seek 

 homes for their families, during the summer months, in the country, 

 and such will continue to be the case for many years to come. The 

 facilities of railroads make it nearly as convenient for a merchant 

 doing business on Long wharf to reside twenty or thirty miles in the 

 country, as to live at the south or west ends of the city ; and in se- 

 lecting a residence, its healthiness will determine the choice. 



Much of the summer sickness in the country, is attributable to an 

 impure atmosphere produced by the miasma of meadows and swamps. 

 Draining and culture will, of course, in all such cases, remove this cause 

 of disease. This truth has been remarkably exemplified in the north 

 parish in Beverly. Formerly, fevers and other forms of summer and 

 autumnal disease, prevailed extensively every season. About twenty 

 years ago, the reclaiming of meadows and swamps was commenced, 

 and up to the present time, between thirty and forty acres have been 

 converted into productive land. The effect has been wonderful. 

 During ten years past, not a case of malignant fever has onginated 

 in those neighborhoods, formerly so sickly; and the parish has become 

 one of the most healthy places in the State. Last year, but four deaths 

 occurred in a population of about seven hundred — three infants and one 

 ftdult aged 86 years. Indeed, there is not a spot in the Common- 



