«584 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 11 



Bome years previously in bank, and lurned down 

 and drowned, and ihe second time reclaimed and 

 cultivated, 



I must here remark, that it i.^ in a great niea- 

 glJre owiniT to practical knovvledge in agricul- 

 tural pcience (in which pome of my neiirhbnr- 

 innr farmers have displayed iheir talents in the 

 judicious manacrement of their meadows,) that 

 their veal has deservedly ncquired the applause 

 of the citizens of Philadelphia ; and the mar- 

 kets of New York, as well as Philadelphia, 

 will warrant me in eaying, that the beef sent 

 from Salem cuunty has never been excelled by 

 that supplied from any other part of the United 

 States; and 1 have the vanity to believe, that 

 even the best farmers in England have not ex- 

 ceeded us. 



Internal Irrigaiinn. 



I can say but little of the salt marshes lying 

 near the sea coast, and which had been periodi- 

 cally covered by the water of the ocean previous- 

 ly to their being reclaimed. There is an opinion 

 generally prevalent, that a certain portion of salt 

 is beneficial to grain and grass: may not too 

 great a quantity of it be also prejudicial ? I have 

 often used the pickle from my meat tubs, and with 

 complete success, in the destruction of the St. 

 John's wort, and ranstead, or snap-dragon, where 

 they have occasionally appenred on my land. 

 And I am inclined to believe that all perfectly salt 

 TTiarshes, after having been in bank for several 

 years, (and when the native vegetation of the soil 

 |tas died,) becoine almost a barren waste, and 

 when exposed to the penetrating rays of the sun, 

 their saline particles j^re extracted for some inches 

 in depth, so that distinct particles of almost pure 

 salt may be seen on the surface. Indeed, I have 

 peeti the salt in such profusion when passing over 

 the marsh, that my shoes would be as white as if 

 walking in a thick hoar (i'ost. and I cannot believe 

 that any soil so highly impregnated with salt can 

 be rendered profitable, for a series of years, in 

 either grain or grass. As I know that some exper- 

 iiTients are makin<r to reclaim this highly saturated 

 and almost useless kind of property, I will here- 

 with submit my opinion as to the beet mode of 

 preparing this kind of real estate, whereby the 

 owner may calculate on deriving more certain pro- 

 fit i'rom it than is trenerally received. 



So fur as I have had opportunities of nbservinfr, 

 I have generally seen sr.rings of good fresh water 

 issuini; from the uplands and woods, and b}'- the 

 time they have united their numerous rills, they 

 will havp formed a creek of considerable size arsd 

 depth, which, in meanderincr through the marsh, 

 is discharged into the Inrger creek or river through 

 the sluices or flood gates. Now nothing appears to 

 ine more rational to be done, than that the fiirmer 

 should make a right application of this fresh wa- 

 ter; which to one thus situated, [ consider of the 

 greatest importance. To fi-eshen this reclaimed 

 marsh, so as to make it just brackish enoush to 

 produce all the improved kind of grasses, he has 

 nothinfr more to do than to shut down his inside 

 doors to his eUiicps or flood ffatcs, and hold the 

 water until it shall have raised in height, so as to 

 cover the surface of the whole marsh : his trunks 

 lying in the batdv (as before described,) will llien 

 vent all the superfluous water. Let this be done 

 in the full, and be continued until the fbllowinfr 



spring, then the water might be drawn ofi", and 

 grain or grass sown, as suited the fancy of the 

 owner. I have no doubt that in repeating this 

 process for two seasons, the marsh will freshen 

 exceedingly, and otherwise be materially im- 

 proved. I would also suggest, that throughout 

 the summer, the sluices or flood gates should be 

 attended to, by having boards slid in (hem ; and 

 in the mouths of the ditches, pieces of plank 

 should be set edgeways, so as to keep in all the 

 ditches a certain and continued supply for the cat- 

 tle, and diflerent kinds of grain and grass which 

 may have been committed to the soil. The height 

 of the water in the ditches can easily be regulated 

 by the number of planks to be put down, the one 

 over the other. Another great advantage to be 

 derived from this process would be, as I have 

 before said, that the weight of water lying for 

 several months on this peaty and light marsh, 

 would tend to compress and render it much more 

 susceptible of receiving the seed to advantage 

 when sown on it. 



Grain in Meadows. 



J cannot say any thing in favor of the diflTerent 

 kinds of grain, either from my own cultivation or 

 that of n)y neighbors. 1 have known good crops 

 of wheat, rye, corn and oats produced ; but yet I 

 have covisidered the cultivation of grain generally 

 in meadows, as much too precarious (or piofitable 

 culture. You may sometimes have a beautiful 

 and strong standing crop of wheat or rye on the 

 good blue mud along the bank, or edges of the 

 creek or guts ; but it would be no more than a 

 mere sMp, with here and there a patch, compared 

 to the residue of the marsh; all the other parts 

 will be nothing but weeds and rubbish. I also 

 consider it a certain wnsre of time, labor and mo- 

 ne}', in endeavoring to derive a profit li'om sowing 

 any kind of grain on the peaty or horse-dung sod; 

 it may vetjetate lor a while, and produce a show of 

 some straw, but very little, if any grain. I admit 

 that grain has sometimes succeeded on the good 

 blue mud soil, but Avhen j'ou take into considera- 

 tion that all kinds of grain are uncertain in marsh 

 grounds, and also the hosts of enemies of differ- 

 ent tribes which will pre}' upon it, such as grub- 

 worms, mice, and birds without number; and 

 moreover the grasshoppers and coclcroaches which 

 attack the grain alter it has been reaped, and while 

 in shock, you ma}' readily conclude that the risk 

 of the destruction would be much more probable 

 than a fiiir calculation for profit. 



M}' judgment, therefore, is, (calculating for a 

 series of }'ears, sav six or seven,) that the loss 

 would by f.'ir overbalance the profit. In my agri- 

 cultural pursuits in early life, I was led to believe 

 that the marsh was the very quintessence o( nu- 

 triment for all plants, and that all kinds of grain 

 might be cultivated there in great perfection. I 

 tried different kinds of grain, and succeeded in 

 causinff them to crow; but, I remendier. not to 

 my satisfaction. I have long been satisfied in my 

 own mind, that (he upland was by nature intend- 

 ed for the production both of grain and grass, but 

 that the marshes were designed for grasses only. 

 There can be nothincr niore true in agricultural 

 science, (according to my estimation,) than that a 

 plough should never enter a marsh soil ; we may 

 be assured that the best side of any marsh i? up- 

 permost. 



