168 



FARMERS' REGISTER— RECLAIMING MARSH OR RUSH LAND. 



sibility to answer tliese questions in the negative. 

 Among no class of our citizens, is there more ur- 

 banity and refinement, more talent and informa- 

 tion, a less disposition to serrccy and mystery in 

 their avocations; it is needless to add, that there is 

 no scarcity or deficiency of land to be reclaimed. 

 Within a few years, several hundred acres have 

 been subdued and made productive on Cooper ri- 

 ver. Mt. Myrick, (on tlio estate of Col. Harles- 

 ton,) Mr. Carson and Mr. John Huger, have each 

 added largely to the arable land on that river. 

 Have not the community a claim ujwn each and 

 every one of these gentlemen for inlbrmation on 

 this subject.' A detailed account of the process by 

 which they have made fertile and productive, lands 

 •which were barren and unproductive, will be val- 

 uable to their successors, and posterity certainly 

 have some claim upon us to repay in part the ob- 

 ligations imposed by our ancestors. Each of these 

 gentlemen have embanked large quantities of land, 

 and the information they could communicate would 

 be valuable in proportion to the extent of their ope- 

 rations, for errors are more easily detected, and 

 improvements more easily suggested, under these 

 circumstances than v^hen we are limited and con- 

 fined in our movements. 



I have reclaimed two fields, Ml". Editor, and 

 although my experience and information is much 

 more limited than that possessed by the gentlemen 

 already named, yet, I will give you an account of 

 the means adopted, and hope to correct the errors 

 which no doubt I have committed, when others 

 better qualified than myself shall communicate 

 with you on the subject. The first stop in the pro- 

 cess was, to clean up on tlie margin of the river, a 

 space about twenty feet wide around the whole 

 field, so that at low water 1 could walk over the 

 ground, and select the site or foundation upon which 

 the bank was to be raised. To determine upon the 

 spot would not appear dilficult, yet upon no point 

 has there been a greater diversity of opinion, than 

 upon the best position for the bank. Our fathers 

 thought a wide margin essential to a good bank ; 

 some that the width of the margin gave strength 

 and stability to it; others that it only afforded an 

 ample supply of materials to keep the bank in or- 

 der after it was made, thus differing as to 'how,' 

 'why,' or 'wherefore,' but all agreeing as to the 

 fact that wide margins were essential. This theo- 

 ry, (for it is nothing more) was in practice carried 

 to a great extreme ; thirty acres and more of a 

 plantation of two hundred acres being frequently 

 left in marsh for the purpose of repairing banks. 

 But, Mr. Editor, our fathers lived in times of 

 large crops and high prices and little expenditure ; 

 carriages were not so essential to the wives of those 

 days, and King-street did not present so many at- 

 tractions to the daughters of those excellent old 

 gentlemen. Necessity has sharpened the wits of 

 jeir sons, and they Qifter much reflection and nu- 

 merous experiments) have determined that nar- 

 row margins make tighter banks than wide ones, 

 and that thirty or forty acres of river-swamp is 

 more valuable under bank and ditch, than as re- 

 ceptacles for black-birds and their broods. That 

 banks made near the river are more tight and com- 

 pact than those erected at a distance from it, is an 

 opinion, daily becoming more prevalent, and the 

 reasonableness of the thing is so evident, that we 

 are surprised it should have remained to be disco- 

 vered in our day and generation. 



The rice lands, (I allude to those on Cooper ri- 

 ver) are for the most part light, and composed of 

 vegetable matter, Avhich has for ages been accu- 

 mulating, and is now entirely decayed. Tiie foun- 

 dation of these lands is clay, but it will take a 

 long course of cultivation to bring us to the foun- 

 dation, if (as we all believe) the deposits from the 

 river return nearly as much both to the quality 

 and quantity of the soil as is taken from it by cul- 

 ture. So very light are these lands when first re- 

 claimed, that they yield, to the pressure of any con- 

 siderable weight, and will form hollows or low 

 spots where such pressure is continued. The 

 weight of a river bank, (such as are made on Coop- 

 er river) is very great, and place it where you 

 will the eartli settles, and the tendency of the wa- 

 ter is to lay at the bottom or foundation of it. If 

 this is allowed to continue, both the bank and the 

 foundation upon which it stands becomes sobbed 

 and rotten, and the bank, of course, is liable to all 

 the casualties which necessarily attend weak bar- 

 riers opposed to strong forces. Under these cir- 

 cumstances, there are many advantages resulting 

 from narrow margins, which will present them- 

 selves to the experienced planter. The land is al- 

 ways more firhi and strong as you approach the 

 river than as you recede from it, irt'consequence of 

 the drain which the ebbing of the tide affords that 

 portion of the land. But if the water does accu- 

 mulate (or pond, to use a plantation phrase) about 

 the base of the bank, it is, with great facility 

 drained off. I have heard it urged by those who 

 prefer wide margins, that it is easy to ditch the 

 margin and thus rid ourselves of the evil while we 

 retain the good. If this was true, it would be an 

 answer to my objections only on one point: it 

 would still remain to be proved, that the increased 

 security which the planter enjoys, is such as to 

 compensate him for the abandonment of a sixth or 

 eighth of his rice-land. But it is not easy to ditch 

 a wide margin and keep the ditches open; no man 

 who has attempted it will contradict me, the con- 

 tinual ebb and flow of the tide, the deposits of the 

 river added to the trash always found on the mar- 

 gin, fill up these ditches almost as fast as they can 

 be cleaned, and no attention, (shoi-t of the daily use 

 of the spade) will prevent their filling up. I might 

 exemplify this remark in a variety of ways and by 

 numberless instances, but one will be sufficient. 

 Remove a trunk from your river bank, and fill up 

 the gap in the bank, leaving the outside dock open; 

 in a short time deposits commence, and before 

 much time has elapsed, the margin is formed and 

 the excavation is obliterated. But it is useless for 

 me to say more on this subject ; it is folly to reason 

 against established facts. Let me not be misunder- 

 stood; I speak of banks with narrow margins, not 

 of banks without margins, though I do acknowl- 

 edge that one of the best banks I have ever seen 

 had little or no margin to it. 



A margin of ten, fifteen or twenty feet will 

 prove ample for all the purposes of security , and the 

 mud found between this and low water mark, will 

 afford abundant materials for keeping up the banks 

 after it is once made. In addition to all this, we 

 may add, that every field will present irregulari- 

 ties and corners, which (the bank being kept 

 straight) will be left out, and thus add to the means 

 of repairing damages and accidents. Having sa- 

 tisfied myself that a narrow margin is to be prefer- 

 red and made a careful examination of the site 



