RAISING THE VALUE OF LOW LANDS. 
raised this year on black muck land without ferti¬ 
lizers. One neighbor raised 175 baskets of corn per 
acre, ■which was about four times as much as was 
raised on upland. Another had over 60 bushels of 
oats per acre. Oats grown on my land, which is as 
good upland as there is anywhere, were not worth 
thrashing, and I made hay of them. On the same 
land in a good season, I have raised 72 bushels per acre. 
A neighbor has about six acres of marsh land. An 
open ditch was made through it in 1870, which has 
been deepened twice and extended. The soil is a 
black muck or vegetable mold from one foot to ten 
feet or more in depth. There are numerous partly 
decayed logs, two feet or more beneath the surface, 
and extensive deposits of shells under the muck. The 
present owner bought the land about eight years ago. 
Previous to his purchase, the low land had been used 
only for mowing and pasture. lie put it under culti¬ 
vation. His main crops have been onions, cabbages, 
celery, potatoes and fodder corn. He finds that it pays 
to use fertilizers, and he buys considerable amounts 
every year of stable manure, hen manure, ashes and 
chemical fertilizers, including lime and plaster. In 
reply to my questions, he said, “ I get best results 
from the hen manure and ashes in about equal parts, 
mixed ns I spread them on the ground. After that, 
come chemical fertilizers and stable manure. I have 
had great benefit from the use of lime, and I shall, in 
future, use more of it to sweeten the soil.” 
These low lands have shown such a marked super¬ 
iority over the uplands during the past dry season, 
that there will, no doubt, be a general movement 
among farmers to bring them all under cultivation. 
In the township whe^e I reside, there are, at a rough 
calculation, about 3,000 acres of these low lands, of 
which, probably, two-thirds have been improved to 
some extent, although it is not probable that over 200 
acres have been brought under regular cultivation. face watered soils. 
If the dry seasons continue, the near future will see irrigation—being e^ 
a great advance in this direction. f. iiodgman. food and develop 
Southern Michigan. , shown in the pictv 
put in on top of these tiles and the plants are set in it. 
We shall tell all about growing lettuce and other 
glasshouse vegetables in later articles. Then, in¬ 
stead of sprinkling the surface of this soil, water is 
run into the tiles until they are full. This water 
rises through the soil by capillary attraction and sup¬ 
plies the plants with all they need without any of the 
drawbacks of surface watering. 
Some of the advantages of the new system may be 
briefly stated as follows : 1. It is cheaper—less water 
and labor are required. One person may thoroughly 
water a space 20 x 100 feet in half an hour. Expert 
labor is not needed with the tile. 2. The soil is kept 
in better condition. It will not become water-logged 
IIOW DRAINAGE HAS SWEETENED THE SWAMP. 
When I was a boy, more than 30 years ago, I often 
heard my father say that, some day, our swamps and 
marshes would be the most valuable land we had. 
He was not a farmer, and the good farmers in the 
vicinity laughed at the idea. Some of the marshes 
were fed by springs, but a majority of the low lands 
in the vicinity of my home, were kept wet by surface 
water only. Farmers generally considered them all 
worthless for cultivation. About 25 years ago, the 
movement began for draining them ; but at that time, 
all that was expected was to make grazing lands of 
them. Almost the only exception was in the vicinity 
of Kalamazoo, where the thrifty Hollanders, remem- 
A TIGHT BOTTOM FOR IRRIGATING TILES. Fig. 273. 
PREPARING FOR SUBIRRIGATION IN GREENHOUSE. Fw. 275 
bering their old country experience, utilized the marsh 
lands for celery, and truck farming and gardening. 
Soon after the work of draining was commenced, it 
was found that with the removal of the water, the 
vegetation died out and was succeeded by vegetation 
of a different character from any known to grow 
there before. People who believed in the transmuta¬ 
tion of wheat into chess had, on our low lands, equally 
positive and certain evidence to prove 
that willows turn to wild sunflowers, 
and marsh hay to smartweeds, and the 
like, and all of these to June grass, 
which generally came in and occupied 
the soil as soon as it was dry and com- ■4-J w.- ' 1 
Yanous crops were tried on these 
crops were 
swamp lands with varying success, de¬ 
pending on the season and the character 
of the soil. There seems to be as great 
a variety in the soil of the low lands 
as of the high lands. The chief crops 
first tried were buckwheat, oats, corn, 
and potatoes ; but, after various trials, 
it was generally believed that the most 
profitable use for the land was for 
pasture. 
In Kalamazoo County, most of the 
ditching has been done under the State 
drainage laws, and a large portion of it 
was done from 15 to 20 years ago. Since 
then, the ditches have been deepened 
and extended, and the soil has gradually 
settled and compacted together until, 
in some cases, teams can now travel in 
safety over firm ground where, before drainage, a 
muskrat was about the only animal that could travel 
over it without miring. The soil consists generally 
of a top soil composed almost entirely of decayed or 
decaying vegetable matter. More or less sand and 
loam has been washed into it from the uplands. This 
surface muck is from a very few inches to 50 feet or 
more in depth. Sometimes this rests directly on a sand 
bottom, showing that it occupies the bed of an ancient 
lake, and sometimes upon an impervious clay subsoil. 
Not infrequently sound timber is found lying two or 
more feet below the surface of the muck. Shells and 
beds of marl sometimes underlie the muck. 
Within the past 10 years, more of the swamp lands 
in this vicinity have been cultivated than ever before, 
and truck farms and gardens are starting in every 
direction. It looks very much as though this line of 
business would be overdone. Some of the muck lands 
have been found very favorable for mint growing, and 
immense crops have been raised. Such lands, in 1894, 
yielded from 30 to 75 pounds of peppermint oil per 
acre. It was an exceptionally good season. Some of 
them are ideal celery lands, but there is a big differ¬ 
ence in them. Generally, they require fertilizers of 
some kind to supply missing elements ; not always. 
As fine celery as was ever grown, was raised this year 
within a few miles of my place on a reclaimed tama¬ 
rack swamp, without the use of any fertilizers what¬ 
ever. The past two seasons have been extremely dry. 
Crops on uplands have been either partial or complete 
failures. At the same time, immense crops have been 
raised on the low lands. The biggest crops of corn, 
oats and potatoes seen in this yicinity for years, wgre 
WHAT SAY? 
Facts About Keiffer. —Will R. N.-Y. 
readers give their personal knowledge 
of the Keiffer pear, as to the extent of 
country over which it does well ? I 
understand that it does not come to 
perfection in the Eastern, and also in 
some of the Western and Northwestern 
States 
that the season is too short for 
them to mature properly. My idea is 
to get a true expression from growers 
in the different States where they are 
a success. If the soil and climate suit¬ 
able to their profitable fruitage extend 
over a large territory, we would better 
go slow as to planting so many trees, for the 
business may be overdone. In this and adjoining 
counties of Maryland, they grow to perfection, 
and the fruit colors beautifully without a spot as a 
rule. This year the trees were overloaded, and they 
spotted to some extent. Our canners in Baltimore 
used a great many this year, also many shipped West 
and some to England. A buyer here says that our 
Keiffers are far superior to those grown in New 
Jersey. The price was low this year—from 18 to 25 
cents per five-eighth basket. Some shipped in barrels 
and did better. The Koonce pear is now boomed by 
the nurserymen who know anything about it—^lso 
the Triumph peach. I am testing them. The nur¬ 
seryman fills his pockets with our cash, for the exorb¬ 
itant prices charged for these new fruits, while we 
growers wait for years to realize whether they are of 
any value or not. Shall we fill our land with fruit 
trees, and run the risk of over-production, or keep on 
growing grain at no profit ? Corn is selling here at 
28 cents per bushel of 56 pounds. w. h. s. 
Kent County, Md. 
For Buttermakers to Remedy. —A movement is 
on foot to remedy the present method of testing and 
weighing butter, that is made and sold to agents of 
New York commission houses, as “ iron-bound pack¬ 
ages,” made in the western part of New York State 
and Pennsylvania. A large proportion of this butter 
is sold to representatives of these houses on each 
Monday, or butter day, at Jamestown, N. Y., always 
with the proviso, “ quality and weights guaranteed ”; 
that means just what suits them on arrival at New 
York, and the condition and tone of the market at 
SUBIRRIGATED AND SURFACE-WATERED LETTUCE. Fig. 274. 
SUBIRRIGATION IN THE GREENHOUSE. 
