1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



161 



MSADOWS AND SWAMPS. 



UR fathers, in (he early 

 part of the seventeenth 

 century, settled near tide 

 water, at Boston, Dor- 

 chester, Charlestown, 

 Newton and Salem. As 

 their number increased, 

 they sent out parties into 

 the surrounding country 

 to select suitable places 

 for settlement. They 

 pursued their way 

 through pathless for- 

 ests, wading the swamps, 

 crossing the bridgeless 

 streams, and climbing hills, and when they 

 found a level tract cleared of trees, which 

 had been cultivated in corn by the Indians, 

 they selected it as the centre of a settlement, 

 especially if it was near a stream of water. 

 They inferred that if it had been cultivated 

 by the Indians, it must be good land. Did 

 not the Indians know what was the best land ? 

 So they settled on the borders of these old, 

 worn-out plains, and planted their corn. 



They had but few implements and those of 

 the simplest form — clumsy hoes, and wooden 

 spades, or shovels shod with iron, were almost 

 the only tools they had. 



Of course their cultivation was of the rudest 

 kind, and it is no wonder that their crops were 

 poor. But they were observing men, and they 

 soon learned that although the lands they first 

 planted were easy of cultivation, yet they 

 would }ield but little reward for their labor. 



As their means increased and they obtained 

 cattle and horses, and built themselves ploughs 

 and carts, they began to cut down the forests 

 and plant where the soil was enriched by the 

 decay of vegetables for centuries. This vir- 

 gin soil returned large crops, with even the 

 slightest cultivation. They used but little ma- 

 nure, and when the soil began to show signs 

 of bting exhausted, they cleared another field 

 and traubferred their cultivation to that. But 

 as in every new country, so in this, the process 

 of exhausting the soil came to an end ; and 

 farmers learned by hard experience that if 

 they would have the soil feed them they must 

 feed it ; yet many of them have not yet learned 

 this lesson, except in theory, and so they con- 

 tinue to try to force a hard, dry and exhausted 



soil to yield a crop without furnishing it the 

 means of doing so. 



Now Nature has done better for them than 

 they know. There is virgin soil all around 

 them, — that is, soil made up of the debris of 

 vegetable matter, — that has not been exhausted 

 by constant cropping, accumulated in the 

 meadows, swamps, and ponds. Almost every 

 farm in New England has rich mines of this 

 material, which have not yet been worked, and 

 many of them inexhaustible mines, capable of 

 making their owners rich and thriving farmers. 

 It has been truly said that he who has a peat 

 bog cannot be called a poor man. Now this 

 mine of wealth may be worked in two ways. 



One way is to transfer it to the dry and hun- 

 gry soil in sufficient quantity to restore the 

 waste which has been caused by long continued 

 cropping, either directly, or by composting it 

 with manure or other materials, and mix it with 

 it by means of the plough and the harrow, until 

 a deep and mellow tilth has been obtained to 

 eustain the growing crops, and then by means 

 of mineral materials, restoring what the soil 

 has lost. 



The other way, and that to which we would 

 specially call attention at this time, is the 

 draining and cultivation of the meadows and 

 swamps themselves. Turn out the worn-out 

 soils to pasture, or allow them to grow up to 

 wood, and give your strength and attention to 

 your low grounds, which have never yet been 

 broken by the plough. When we see a far- 

 mer employing his leisure in digging ditches, or 

 putting in tiles, or spreading sand or gravel on 

 his meadows, we set him down as a thriving 

 man, as one who will succeed. He knoivs 

 where his labor will pay. Most of these low 

 lands may be drained. Let them be well sur- 

 veyed; ascertain where is the best out-fall, 

 and how deep it must be made, and then set 

 about it with a will, even if the main ditch has 

 to be made four or five feet in depth. Having 

 made the main drain, then make as many side 

 drains as may be necessary to take off all the 

 water standing within two or three feet of the 

 surface. Tiles will be best in most cases, for 

 the bide drains. These will take up no land, 

 and will be out of the way of the plough and 

 the mowing machine. This is probably the 

 most effectual and permanent method of re- 

 claiming these lands. The draining accom- 

 plished, the subsequent treatment must depend 



