THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



VOL. I. 



Siu^iMsacD^^s) iiwtii'WQS a©^Qa 



NO. 3. 



EDMUND RUFFIN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. T. W. WHITE, PRINTER. 



ACCOUNT OF THE EMBANKMENT AND CUL- 

 TIVATION OF THE SHIRLEY SWAMP. 



To the Edilor of the Fanners^ Register. 



Shirley, June 26th, 1S33. 

 Agreeable to your request I have examined my 

 journal, and find the foUov/ing results froni re- 

 claiming eighty -five acres of swamp land at Shir- 

 ley. The swamp was heavily covered with gum 

 and ash trees, and overflowed twice every day by 

 the tide water at the flood, but left free from water 

 at the ebb tide. The land was reclaimed in the 

 year 1825, by contract, at the expense of .^1.25 

 per running yard, for the dike, in the following 

 manner. In the first place, a way about fifty feet 

 wide was cleared on the line or route for tlie dike, 

 and then a ditch about three feet wide and two 

 feet deep, was dug throughout the course, for the 

 ,dike to be run upon, to keep it from leaking 

 underneath. The dike was then commenced at 

 low tides, by digging pits in the most convenient 

 places on the outside of the line of the dike, (and 

 only on the outside, and never nearer the dike 

 than twenty feet,) and loading v.'heelbarrows 

 with the mud from the pits, which were rolled up 

 to the dike on tliick planks, and tlien deposited in 

 a rougli shape, until the whole line or course of 

 dike was gone around, so as to give the mud time 

 to settle and dry. The dike being seventeen 

 hundred yards long, sixteen feet at base, four 

 feet at top, and six feet high, it took about five 

 months to go around it the first time, by which 

 time it had settled so much as to require nearly as 

 much mud the second time of going around as the 

 first, to get- it to its required size. On going 

 around it the second time, the creeks (three in 

 number,) were stopped out as they came to them, 

 by driving down four rows of large piles, or poles 

 pointed at one end, and placed close together, quite 

 across the creeks, so as to keep the mud from 

 washing away as it was thrown in. The base of 

 the dike at the creeks was fifty feet, and the dike 

 made much higher and wider at the top than the 

 other parts, to allow for the greater settling. After 

 all the creeks were stopped, and the dilce complet- 

 ed, a trunk, with a floating valve, (JVote i1,) 

 made of very thick pine plank, was put down at 

 the highest side of each creek, about twenty feet 

 from the creek, with a ditch leading to the creek, 

 to let off the water at low tide, but exclude it at 

 high tide. The cost of dike, trunks and all, was 

 ^2167.50. The winter of 1825-26, 1 cleared fifty 

 acres of the reclaimed land, by cutting down the 

 trees, and burning them in heaps, but did not grub 

 up the stumps. (^NoU B.) The spring of 1826, 

 I merely listed up (very imperfectly) rows six feet 

 apart, Avith the grubbing hoes, just wide enough 

 to get earth to cover the corn, but did not pretend 

 to grub up the large stumps or roots, even in this 

 list. From the 12th to the 20th May, I plant- 

 ed the fifty acres in corn on the six feet lists, 

 two feet apart, as near as we could come at it, con- 

 sidering the rough state of the land : and on thin- 

 ning out the corn, left three stalks in the hill. It 

 Vol. I.— 17 



produced a very heavy crop of stalks, and a good 

 crop of corn, considering the rough state of the 

 land ; the fodder fired before we could gather it all. 

 The crop produced, as by journal, three hundred 

 and eighty barrelsof merchantable corn, and sixty 

 five of short corn fed to hogs. This crop was sold 

 in the spring of 1827, at S3 per barrel, being 

 $1140, besides the hog corn and some fodder. 



The winter of 1826 and '27, 1 cleared the balance 

 of reclaimed land, and in the spring of 1827 listed 

 it in the same manner as last year, and planted the 

 whole 80 acres* in corn, about the same time in 

 May as last year — and had the promise of a very 

 heavy crop of corn, until the storm of August 26th 

 broke the dike in three places, and overflowed the 

 reclaimed land, and apparently destroyed the crop 

 of corn. I was at the mountains, and my over- 

 seer despairing of saving any part of the crop, did 

 not pretend to repair the damages. But as soon as 

 1 iieard it, I hastened home ; and when I arrived, 

 the tide had been flowing in and out for ten or fif- 

 teen days, and it required twenty days to repair 

 the damages, (which was done with the plantation 

 hands,) so that the corn had been sulyect to the 

 tides for thirty days at least, and I was afraid was 

 ruined ; but fortunately the crop was matured be- 

 fore the storm, and all that stood up was saved — ■ 

 and I made about half a crop. 



Crop made this year, as per journal — merchant- 

 able corn four hundred and eight barrels, and so 

 much unsound corn that we did not pretend to 

 measure it ; fed some of the best of it to hogs ; 

 balance made manure of. Crop sold for '^2 per 

 barrel — amount .^816. 



I nov,^ found that the dike had settled, or sunk so 

 much that it would not do to risk another crop of 

 corn upon the reclaimed land without raising it; 

 and with my plantation hands, I raised the dike one 

 foot higher during the winter of 1827 and '28. 



In tiie spring of 1828, planted in the same way, 

 and about the same time in May as last year, se- 

 venty acres of the reclaimed land in corn, and ten 

 acres of the dryest part in cotton. We had a very 

 wet summer throughout, and made a short crop of 

 corn on the reclaimed land, in consequence; and 

 neaily a total fiiilure in cotton. Crop as by jour- 

 nal, made on tliis land this year, four hundred and 

 fifty four barrels merchantable corn, fifty four good 

 short corn fed to hogs, and a great deal of rotten 

 corn. Cotton made-^only six hundred and twenty 

 pounds, picked or nett cotton. This crop of corn 

 sold for i^2.40 per barrel, making $ 1089.60 ; and 

 cotton was worth, I suppose, ten cents the pound, 

 (though that was used on the plantation) which, ad- 

 ded tothe corn, amounted to i$ 1151.60. The dike 

 now had so much sunk or settled, that we had to raise 

 it again this winter a foot higher all around. The 

 reclaimed land had also sunk a little, and the 

 stumps were disappearing by rotting. 



* Five acres of the area was at all times lost by being 

 covered, or kept too wet, by the small creeks — so as to 

 leave the whole quantity fit for cultivation, eighty acres 



onlv. 



