16 MR. Huntington's address. 



timate ; and the counsel for the county, apparently 

 surprised at this judgment of the old farmer, differing 

 from that of all the other witnesses, and thinking he 

 had caught him napping, exclaimed with a loud voice, 

 (the old farmer being quite deaf,) "do you presume 

 to say, sir, that this meadow land is worth $10 the 

 acre, and more than this valuable field ?" The old 

 farmer, raised a little by the apparent temper and 

 spirit of the question, replied substantially as follows. 

 I may not give the precise words, but I do not mis- 

 take the substance of the answer. ^' I do presume, 

 sir, to say so — and I know so, and there is no mistake. 

 I have worked over these meadows, and know all 

 about it. I have sold a good deal of English hay from 

 mine, and I know I get more and better English hay 

 from my old meadows, than I do from my uplands. 

 The fact is, there is a bottom and foundation in these 

 meadows, which we do not, and cannot find in the 

 uplands, and there is no mistake about it. I do 

 presume, sir, to say again what I have said before, 

 and I know it is true." 



In this connexion, it may be proper merely to 

 advert to the improvements, which have been made 

 within a few years in the cultivation of salt marsh by 

 ditching, draining and dykeing. There is a large 

 quantity of this land in the county, fourteen thou- 

 sand one hundred and thirty nine acres, being just 

 about equal to the quantity in tillage. It is well 

 known that a large portion of this salt marsh is com- 

 paratively unproductive. The experiments, which 

 have been made, in several instances, at improved 

 modes of cultivation, in the ways referred to, augur 

 well for success. If it is found, on farther experi- 

 ment, that these lands are susceptible of improve- 

 ment in these or other ways, to the degree, which 

 the experiments actually made would seem to war- 

 rant us in expecting, it is obvious that a vastly in- 

 creased productive power may be obtained from this 

 source, and considering the amplitude of the source, 

 it would be difficult to estimate its value or impor- 



