THE VALUE OF EECLAIMED LANDS. 55 



Wherever properly reclaimed swamp lands are found their fertility is recognized; 

 almost without exception they are more fertile than surrounding uplands. They are 

 frequently used in special crop production, such as in growing celery, asparagus, 

 cranberries, or onions, but in dairying or general farming they are unexcelled as per- 

 manent pasture or hay land. The consensus of opinion in districts where swamps 

 have been reclaimed and farmed for many years is that there is no more valuable por- 

 tion of the farm than the swamp, properly reclaimed. 



There is much swamp land in the United States within easy reach 

 of the best markets. New Orleans is surrounded by swamps, but 

 here the problem of reclamation is rendered exceedingly difficult 

 owing to the vast area involved and the periodic invasion by the 

 Mississippi River in front, and Lakes Borgne and Pontchartrain in 

 the rear. The city of New York is in the immediate neighborhood 

 of vast areas of swamps and marshes, and even the partial drainage 

 of this land is being productive of admirable results. The great 

 value of stable land in the vicinity of New York for manufacturing 

 purposes is uncontested, and even the partial drainage of the breeding 

 places of salt-marsh mosquitoes in portions of New Jersey adjacent 

 to New York has resulted, aside from limiting the mosquito supply, 

 in the increase in value of the lands to the owners. After the 

 first ditching the crop of salt hay nearly doubles. The operations 

 carried on conjointly between the city of Brooklyn and the town of 

 Sheepshead Bay, a few years ago, showed the remunerative results 

 to be obtained by simple and beneficial operations. The contents 

 of the ash barrels of the city of Brooklyn were conveyed out into the 

 salt marshes upon specially constructed trolley tracks and in large 

 naetal tanks. The tanks were so made that upon reaching the ter- 

 minus they were taken up by machinery, carried out by an overhead 

 trolley line, and by machinery dumped at a given spot. In this way 

 some hundreds of acres of salt marsh were covered with a 12-foot 

 layer of the contents of the ash barrels of Brooklyn. The layer was 

 packed down by water and contained so much organic matter that 

 almost immediately grass and sunflowers began to grow. At the 

 end of the second year enough soil had formed so that Italians had 

 begun to plant cabbages and other vegetables. 



The Government is taking up the subject of reclamation of swamp 

 lands through its Reclamation Service, and extensive surveys are 

 being made by the United States Geological Survey. Under the 

 United States Department of Agriculture appropriations have been 

 made for some years to enable the Secretary of Agriculture to inves- 

 tigate and report upon the drainage of swamps and other wet lands 

 and to prepare plans for the removal of surplus waters by drainage. 



A number of interesting and important publications have already 

 been issued by the United States Department of Agriculture, two of 

 which are of general interest, namely. Circular No. 74, Office of 

 Experiment Stations, Excavating Machinery Used for Digging 



