130 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



brakes, briars, alders, and other swamp productions, decidedly 

 " too near the house " to be pleasant, for the house stands in the 

 center of a lot of eight acres, and of course pretty near all parts 

 of it. 



When I got my house built, and things set to rights around it, 

 I pitched into this "bit of swamp," with three Irishmen, and the 

 tools necessary to cut down, dig out, root up, and get rid of the 

 bushes, root and branch, including another half acre along the 

 brook not quite so swampy. By going a mile down the brook, 

 and getting some of my neighbors to help a little, I got the 

 water of the brook to run away upon a pebbly bed, instead of 

 oozing through a mass of muck, and then I found that a short 

 side-ditch made my swamp plowable, and forthwith its sod was 

 reversed. True, the plowman complained of a degree of softness 

 which let his plow in unpleasantly deep, but I didn't care. I 

 said, " let her rip." When done I said, " what a mass of muck." 

 I will have it all hauled up the hill, and spread where I am going 

 to plant blackberry plants in the spring. It is the best kind of 

 manure for them. I would have composted it if I had anything 

 to compost it with. 



After I had got all the sods, and bogs, and roots, and loose 

 muck off, I found that the sponge being taken away, the water 

 took itself away ; and I plowed it again, this time turning up some 

 of the white sand that underlies the surface. It lay freezing, and 

 thawing, and mellowing until dry enough to plow and harrow 

 this spring. Last week I received from Mr. E. Bagley, of Usque- 

 baugh, R. I., the premium cranberry grower of " Down East," two 

 barrels of cranberry vines, partly cut and partly pulled, with 

 roots, from his meadow. They were said to be of the cherry vari- 

 ety, and cost $4 a barrel — $8 for enough to set out upon a quar- 

 ter of an acre. First I put a man with a stout yoke of oxen to 

 plow the ground. It is not now a swamp, but about as dry, on 

 the surface, as the land alongside, where the oats are growing 

 most luxuriantly. After plowing, it was thoroughly harrowed, 

 and then furrowed twenty inches apart, and set Avith vines in 

 little bunches, from six to twelve inches apart, or with long run- 

 ners laid down in the furrow, and covered with a hoe, leaving 

 the sprouts out. All the vines in the barrels had to be over- 

 hauled and sorted out, and straightened, and were then dipped 

 in muddy water and planted, whether with or without roots, so 



