ON MEADOW AND SWAMP LAND. 37 



wealth, that I can now more confidently recommend for a residence, 

 on the score of salubrity. What has been effected here, may be 

 effected elsewhere, by a similar process ; and I respectfully submit to 

 land owners in sickly neighborhoods, Avhether the work is not, in every 

 point of view, worthy of more general prosecution. 



Last year, in a report by the Society's Committee on Meadow and 

 Swamp Land, a scientific and practical survey of the meadows of the 

 county was recommended. Such a survey, thoroughly executed, 

 would be highly advantageous to the farming interest, and reflect de- 

 served credit on the Society. 



Very respectfully. 



Yours, &c., 



EDWIN M. STONE. 

 Beverly, September 30th, 1846. 



SAMUEL C. PITMAN'S STATEMENT. 



To the Committee on Meadow and Sivamp Land : 



Gentlemen, — The swamp to which I have called your attention, 

 is composed in part of muck and part of sandy clay soil, and contains 

 ten acres and twelve rods. In the year 1839, the first year I came 

 to live on the farm, and by the way, the first year of turning my 

 attention to^farming, — this land was so thickly covered with brush, 

 brake and briars, that it was with great difficulty a man could walk 

 through it. A few years previous to this, it contained a heavy growth 

 of hard wood. In August, 1840, I had the brush and brake cut 

 and burned. In June, 1841, I commenced pulling the stumps, which 

 averaged, large and small, five hundred to the acre. One hired man 

 with myself and one yoke of oxen, cleared about three acres in twen- 

 ty days. The last part of summer and fall, I cleared, ditched and 

 ploughed, the remainder, I would here state that I made use of a 

 strong purchase — consisting of tackle and fall, to remove the stumps : 

 I supposed my purchase with one yoke of oxen, would move one 

 hundred tons. The expense of pulling the stumps, reckoning my 

 own time at one dollar per day, and the oxen at fifty cents per day, 

 I estimate to have been ^175. In 1842, 1 planted about one half 

 the land with corn and potatoes, and had a very fair crop of each. 



