50 



for cultivation, but in many instances boasting of a depth and 

 richness oT soil far superior, it may be, to the long cultivated 

 arable lands on higher grounds. 



For these reasons, any well-directed experiment in draining 

 swamps and improving unproductive lands is deserving of par- 

 ticular favor, and our Agricultural Societies throughout New 

 England, as well as every farmer who rejoices in the substantial 

 prosperity of the people, have taken a deep interest in the sub- 

 ject, and have sought to furnish aid and encouragement to those 

 enterprising men who have taken hold of the work in good 

 earnest, and instead of adding to the extent of a farm by buying 

 of a straitened neighbor additional acres of worn-out soil at a low 

 price, which would be dear as a gift, have converted their own 

 alder swamps or water lots, the chosen resorts of reptiles, into 

 rich soil, suitable for tillage, and of permanent fertility, thus 

 setting examples well worthy of imitation. 



The " Committee on Improving MeadoAv and Swamp Lands," 

 have been called upon to exercise their duties but in a single 

 instance the present season — that of an entry by Dr. W. T. G. 

 Morton, of Needham, for " the best experiments in reclaiming 

 Wet 3Ieadows.'' The Committee accordingly visited Dr. Morton's 

 farm on the 15th of August last, and made a careful examination, 

 not only of that portion of the land, one acre, which was entered 

 for a premium, but of other portions that have been reclaimed. 

 These consist of between five and six acres of swamp meadow, all 

 of which ten years ago were nearly submerged in the fall and 

 spring, and wet through the summer, producing nothing but cran- 

 berry vines, ferns, noxious weeds, low bushes and tussac grass — 

 (dactylis coespitosa.) 



A sluggish, shallow brook, ran through the swamp, and the first 

 act of the owner was to enlarge this stream and increase its depth 

 — he fortunately having command over the outlet — and then by 

 means of blind ditches, at right angles and also parallel with the 

 brook, the swamp was completely drained. After plowing some 

 parts of the soil, and removing incumbrances, he hauled up on 

 the meadow gravel and loam, from a hill in the neighborhood, cov- 

 ering the surface to a depth of from four to six inches. Then 

 making it smooth and level, he sprinkled over it some top-dress- 

 ing, and sowed grain, or grass seed. The noxious plants were in 

 this way extirpated, and the portions of meadow laid down for 

 grass, now produce every year from two to three tons of excellent 

 hay. 



The work of reclaiming these meadows has been going on since 

 1851, and now, having been completed, adds greatly to the value 

 of the farm, and furnishes a reservoir of grass which is unlikely 



