ESSEX SOCIETY. 27 



them grow than in mild weather, and one cause of this, as your 

 Committee believe, is, that they are then often kept too warm in 

 their pens, so that, on going out, their perspiration is checked, 

 and their health consequently injured. Whether hogs are fatted 

 in summer or winter, let the eye of watchfulness be always 

 upon them, and the liberal hand extended to supply their wants 

 at regular hours, and then — if at all — the business will be 

 made a remunerating one. 



ALLEN W. DODGE, Chairrnan. 



Meadow and Swamp Lands. 



The fact being now well established, that peat meadows, after 

 having been reclaimed, are among the most valuable and pro- 

 ductive of cultivated ground, the question arises. What, from 

 past experience, is the best method to be pursued in reclaiming 

 such land ? On many tracts of peat meadow, which are free 

 from bushes and trees, the expense of inverting the sod may be 

 entirely saved. From the experience of one of the committee, at 

 least, the most economical course to be pursued, and that which 

 gives the greatest return for the outlay, is, after draining by 

 marginal and other ditches, to haul on, in the winter, (if the 

 meadow be soft,) about one hundred and fifty loads of gravel to 

 the acre ; spread in July following ; and, early in September, after 

 having put on some compost or ashes, seed down to grass. 

 Meadows reclaimed in this way have continued to produce good 

 crops longer, without top-dressing, than similar land which had 

 been planted till the turf was subdued, and then sown down 

 without any admixture of sand or gravel. The inquiry is some- 

 times made, Of what benefit can mere sand or gravel be to such 

 land 1 It is well known that meadows which are submerged 

 during a great portion of the year contain acids which are dele- 

 terious to cultivated plants. In order to induce fertility, such 

 acid must be corrected. It is said by chemists that every hun- 

 dred lbs. of granite contains six or seven lbs. of potash ; this alkali 

 is abstracted by the peat from gravel, when applied to such land, 



