126 ESSEX AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Selections from an Essay on the Improvement of Wet 

 Meadows and Swamp Lands. 



BY TEMPLE CUTLER. 



The first great and important point to be attended to, is 

 thorough draining ; this is the great desideratum, — no one may 

 expect complete success in attempting to reclaim wet, or bog 

 meadows, or swamps, without first sufficiently draining them ; 

 and, unless this is practicable, no one should, with confidence, at- 

 tempt the enterprise. It is on this point many have failed of 

 success. They may, indeed, for one or two years, obtain a tol- 

 erable crop, but land, not fully drained, even with all its top- 

 dressings of gravel, of loam, of soil, or of good manure, will 

 soon go back to its natural state, producing little besides its nat- 

 ural wild grasses, and will be entirely unfit for any kind of cul- 

 tivation. The first great object, then, should be to ascertain if 

 the land in view can be drained; and, according to my observa-- 

 tion, there is not, in our county, much land that may not be 

 well drained, if right measures are taken ; but the draining of 

 some pieces of meadow is far more expensive than others, and 

 this should be the first item of expense to be taken into the cal- 

 culation, and, in general, the first operation to be performed. 



Much of the land I refer to, which abounds in our county, 

 and many other parts of the State, are runs, or narrow strips of 

 land in vales, where water seems to ooze along, and, by stealth, 

 saturates the ground, and forms a quagmire, which must be 

 drained before any other operations can be performed. If there 

 is a fall sufficient for water to run, no one need hesitate to com- 

 mence the operation of draining. The soil is generally of a 

 kind of loose peat, to the depth of from two to many feet. If 

 the growth is trees, they are not thrifty, while it remains flowed, 

 or in its quagmire state, and such land is not profitable for a 

 growth of fuel ; the trees must be taken off, root and branch, 

 and this is more easily performed on peat ground than some 

 may be aware. The roots of some kinds of trees, and, gener- 

 ally, all kinds on such land, do not run deep, but spread on the 

 surface. Cutting off" a few roots, at a distance from the body, 



