206 MOSQUITOES 



prised at the size of the stalks, tliey being much larger than the 

 first set of stalks that appear on my land. When I consider the 

 fact that the land on which this asparagus was growing has pro- 

 duced large crops every year for tw^enty years, without fertilizers 

 of any kind, and still produces better crops than my land, which 

 has had $000 worth of fertilizers to the acre applied to it during 

 the last twenty years, it convinces me that this land, for garden 

 purposes, surpasses any which I have ever examined. . . . 

 We realize, in a measure, the great value of the material which 

 nature has for ages been storing up for man's future use, if he 

 be wise enough to avail himself of it." 



It has been too frequently thought that to throw up an em- 

 bankment to keep out the waters, and to build sluices and gates 

 to let the interior water out, were all that was requisite ; and, 

 under this mistaken view, many instances have occurred greatly 

 to the loss of the persons interested, and to the prejudice of the 

 whole subject. An eminent engineer has said of reclamation ; 

 " What at first sight seems a mere mud and water proposition 

 really requires, for its proper economic development, the best iDrod- 

 uct of the latest practice in several fields of engineering and other 

 sciences. Although the method of reclamation is centuries old, 

 it may now be worked out by the aid of much that is novel in 

 methods of construction and operation. ' ' 



Successful reclamation requires a most careful consideration of 

 all the conditions existing, w^hicli generally vary in some feat- 

 ures at every point, and not the least of the difficulties to be met, 

 and one which to-day accounts for many expensive failures, is 

 the ravages of the musk-rat, and yet even he can be circumvented 

 with proper care. Unsuccessful reclamations can all be accounted 

 for by the neglect of some important point. A partially drained 

 marsh is, no doubt, in a w^orse sanitary condition — more pesti- 

 ferous and pestilential — than if not drained at all, and for most 

 crops it is likewise a failure. Besides, the soils in all marshes are 



