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AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
region, and under its guidance the farming 
interest has been rapidly improving the past 
few years. Plainfield has some fine farms, 
but the best lands are reputed to lie in the 
towns of Brooklyn, Putnan, Pomfret, and 
Woodstock. In this middle region of the 
county, there is probably as good farming 
as can be found in the State. 
dyer’s nursery. 
The influence of this establishment which 
has been a long time in operation, is seen in 
all parts of the county. It has furnished fa¬ 
cilities for planting orchards, and ornamental 
trees, and shrubs, which are still rare in 
farming districts. These establishments for 
the most part have sprung up in the vicinity 
of large cities and villages, and have relied 
mainly upon men of wealth in the suburbs 
for their patronage. But this is put down 
in the heart of a rural country, without a 
city, and has devoted special attention to 
those trees and shrubs best adapted to farm 
uses. Hence came many of the fine or¬ 
chards in this region and hence the ever¬ 
greens and deciduous trees that now shelter 
so many homes from the wintry blast and the 
summer’s sun. The Messrs Dyer, upon 
Raspberry Hill, have illustrated upon their 
own grounds the capabilities of Horticulture, 
and every man who visits them on business 
goes hence with some new ideas of the 
useful and the beautiful, to be put in prac¬ 
tice upon his own farm. 
ORCHARDS. 
The apple orchards of this region are 
very fine, and the display of this fruit at the 
county fairs is as good as any we have ever 
witnessed. Larger collections of course are 
realized at the State Fairs, but the apples of 
this Windham county are hard to beat. The 
Mexico apple originated here, and is wor¬ 
thy of a much wider celebrity than it now 
enjoys. The Cogswell Pearmain has been 
extensively propagated at the nurseries and 
has a large place in many of the orchards. 
It is a splendid dessert fruit of the first 
quality. The soil is well adapted to this 
fruit and its cultivation is gradually extend- 
' ing. It ought to have a prominent place 
among the exports of the county. 
SOIL. 
The rocks which show themselves in 
houlders and ledges in all parts of the county 
belong to the “ Eastern primary group” ac¬ 
cording to Percival, and are granitic, por- 
pbyritic, or micaceous gneiss. The soil 
varies from a stiff strong clay to a light loam 
but slightly argillaceous ; in general howev¬ 
er clay loams predominate, and with judi¬ 
cious cultivation may be brought to high fer¬ 
tility. There is a remarkable strip of Sandy 
land lying along the west of the Quinebaug, a 
mile or two wide and terminating near Brook¬ 
lyn village. This land produces excellent 
rye, but needs a large admixture of muck or 
clay, to make it largely productive. 
The soil on the eastern and western bor¬ 
ders of the county is of poorer quality, and 
is more rocky. It is however good grazing 
land, and the chief profits of the farm are 
from dairy produce. The stock is native, 
crossed with blooded animals, and the aim 
has been to develop milking qualities. 
The progress which farming is making in 
this region is indicated by the increased at¬ 
tention paid to the making of manures. On 
the best farms, it is carefully housed. The 
old and wasteful process of wintering stock 
at the hay-stack has been abandoned, cattle 
ai; !i altered, and the manure saved in barn 
cellars, or under sheds erected for the pur¬ 
pose. Muck from the swamps is drawn to 
the yards and stables, and the luxuriant 
crops herald the praises of these ores of the 
farmers’ mines. There is a growing faith, 
that capital expended in this business is re¬ 
munerative ; that a farmer may make money 
as surely as any of his neighbors, if not as 
fast, while he enjoys life far better. Farm¬ 
ing conducted with skill and capital puts on 
a new aspect to the young. The home¬ 
stead is no longer a rude shelter from the 
weather, treeless and comfortless. It is the 
abode of human beings, with cultivated 
minds and refined tastes, meeting man’s es¬ 
thetic as well as his physical wants. A 
very good time of it we had in Windham 
County, and if we go another year, we ex¬ 
pect to have a better.— Ed. 
A LITTLE THING. 
“ For want of a nail the shoe was lost, for 
want of a shoe the horse was lost, for want 
of a horse the man was lost.” 
Being in the country, I had an example of 
one of those small losses which a family is 
exposed to through negligence. For the 
want of a latchet of small value, the wicket 
of a barn-yard leading to the fields was often 
left open. Every one who went through 
drew the door to ; but as there was nothing 
to fasten the door with, it. was always left 
flapping; sometimes open and sometimes 
shut. So the cocks and hens, and the chick¬ 
ens, got out and ran off to the w’oods ; and 
after the pig ran all the people about the 
place—the gardener, and the cook, and the 
dairy-maid. The gardener first caught sight 
of the runaway, and hastening after it, 
sprained his ankle ; in consequence of this 
the poor man was not able to get out of the 
house again for a month. The cook found, 
when she came back from pursuing the pig, 
that the linen she had left by the fire had 
fallen down and was burning; the dairy¬ 
maid having, in her haste, neglected to tie 
up one of her cows, the cow had kicked a 
colt that was in the same stable, and broken 
its leg. The gardener’s loss of time was 
worth twenty-five dollars, to say nothing of 
the pain to be suffered. The linen which 
was burned, and the colt which was spoiled, 
were worth as much more. Here, then, 
was caused a loss of fifty dollars, as well as 
much trouble, plague and vexation, for the 
want of a latch which would not have cost 
three cents. —.Say. 
High or Low Church. —Father Taylor 
pastor of the Seaman’s Floating Chapel in 
Boston Harbor, was once asked whether he 
was High or Low Church. “That” said 
he, “ depends upon the state of the Tide.” 
When the day breaks what becomes of 
the fragments? Dissolved in light, of course. 
RECLAIMING SALT MARSHES. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
I have an undertaking of this kind 1 in pros¬ 
pect, and should like to draw a little upon 
the wisdom of any of your readers who have 
done this kind of work or seen it done. 
First, I wish to know about the embank¬ 
ment to shut off the sea water, how strong it 
must be, and of what material made. 
Second, about the culvert and tide gate. 
W T hat is the best mode of constructing 
them ? 
Thirdly, about the ditching. How many 
to the acre, and how wide and deep should 
they be ? 
Fourthly, in breaking up the black marsh 
turf, which is some six or eight inches 
thick, is shallow, or deep plowing better? 
Fifth, can upland grasses be sown upon 
the turf without plowing, with success ? 
Sixth, What is the best crop for the first 
planting upon such land ? 
Seventh, What have been the results of 
reclaiming salt marshes ? Do they bring 
satisfactory crops, and does grass hold its 
vigor as long as in reclaimed fresh water 
swamps ? 
I have found it difficult to glean much upon 
these topics from the reports of our Agricul¬ 
tural Societies, or from our journals. I shall 
be glad to hear upon these topics from any 
of the readers of the Agriculturist who have 
had experience in the matter.— Inquirer. 
DRAINING AND RECLAIMING SWAMPS. 
The following interesting and instructive 
account of the manner of reclaiming a 
swamp was furnished to the New-York 
State Agricultural Society by Mr. William 
A. Johnson : 
I have on my farm about eighteen acres 
of flat, low land, being a sort of a basin for 
the deposit of the water running from a 
large tract of surrounding lands. The soil is 
a kind of vegetable mold interspersed with 
clay, with a clay sub-soil. Ten years ago I 
purchased the farm on which I now reside. 
At that time this piece was overgrown with 
small trees, bushes, willows, bog-grass, &c., 
presenting a most unsightly appearance, and 
was considered almost a nuisance ; in fact, 
it was known and pointed out as the sivamp. 
The spring after I came in possession of it, 
I cut down all the trees and bushes, burned 
them, together with a large quantity of old 
logs, tree tops, &c., then dug an open ditch 
two and a half feet deep through the lowest 
part of it, which carried off a considerable 
portion of the surface water, and was really 
a great improvement, but was not what the 
land required, (nor what I intended to do as 
soon as more pressing improvements were 
disposed of,) it being a rough uneven piece, 
full of holes, with a close tenacious sub¬ 
soil, the water standing in the low places a 
considerable portion of the year, and of 
course too wet to be tilled with any success. 
Last Spring I commenced the work of 
under-draining it in earnest, by cutting a 
ditch along the east and lowest side of the 
lot for a main drain, thirty inches deep, to 
be laid with six inch tile. I then commenced 
