75 



great respect, say that "salt marslies must not be drained unless where 

 the water stands upon them ; or unless the meadow lias a soft bottom." 

 If the alluvion is shallow and rests on a hard pan, the drainine; will injure 

 it. A farmer in Lynnfield says, "that salt marshes should be ditched, 

 not drained"; by which I understand him to mean that the object 

 aimed at is not to take the water away from the bottom or roots of the 

 grass, but to remove it from the surface. I submit these authorities 

 without comment on a subject in which I am not much versed. 



Great improvements have been made in dykeing salt marsh ; and 

 effectually excluding the salt water. 



I. The first is an improvement in ten acres of salt marsh diked on 

 Kent's Island, Newbury. I shall subjoin the owner's account of it, 

 in the letter which he was kind enough to address to me.* He has 

 been amply compensated for the experiment. One circumstance is 

 remarkable, that the breaking of the sod was injurious. The plain 

 inference from this will be confirmed by a statement from Glouces- 

 ter. From a thorough examination of this reclaimed meadow, it is 

 my belief, that the application of two or three inches of clay or loam 

 upon it, where it has not been dug over for peat, and the sowing of 

 English grass seed would make it in the highest degree productive. 

 The intelligent owner has kindly promised to test this matter, of the 

 favorable result of which I have no doubt. 



II. A second experiment in dykeing salt marsh is now going on 

 at Ipswich. A tract containing 103 acres has been dyked about three 

 years ; the expense of dykeing, as the situation was particglarly favor- 

 able, was $355, at $4 GO per acre. The dyke is 55 rods in length, 

 12 feet at bottom, 4 feet at top, the height varying; but in the creek 

 the bottom is increased to 20 feet. I have an account of nine acres 

 of this dyked meadow^, which may be consi ered a fair sample of what 

 may be expected from the remainder. The year before the dyke 

 was made the produce of this nine acres was not considered worth 

 the expenses of gathering. The first year after the dyke was made, 

 the nine acres yielded 3000 lbs. of hay ; the second year six tons ; 



* Appendix K. 



