J5y>c RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Bringing Swamp Land to Fertility 
A Garden from the Wilderness 
T he record crop of potatoes, that is the largest 
crop grown in Westcliester Co., New York, was 
produced hy Mrs. Win. West, of Mountain Brook 
Farm, and the story of this enterprise Is ipiite re- 
inarkahle. Mrs. West says that when this farm was 
purchased there was notliing left of it except some 
wa.slied out hillsides well plastered with rocks and 
a worthle.ss 40-acre acre tract of low land. This was 
‘■water .soaked hummock” covered with brush and a 
thick tangle of marsh grass. A shallow brook wan¬ 
dered through this low tract, which was Hooded for 
weeks in the Spring, while during the dry season 
animals mired in it. Probably no living thing could 
get across it in comfort except a crow Hying over, 
and ])robal)ly most crows would he so disappointed 
in a view from the air that they would fly around it. 
For two generations this farm had been running 
down. When Mrs. West took it there were only two 
fields left which could be tilled. The.se were so bad 
that even when treated with lime, cover crops and 
commercial fertilizer, only five to seven bushels of 
com and 15 to 20 bushels of potatoes per acre could 
be grown. Today, after thorough work, these old 
'fields have taken on new life and have come back. 
The rocks have been blasted out and nianure was 
used to put new life into the soil. Then there was 
a thorough course in plowing under green crops, deej) 
plowing and regular cultivation. These with thor¬ 
ough sjira.ving have either forced or enabled this 
land to produce melons weighing 5 to 12 Ihs. each 
and of delicious flavor. The worthless swamp, 
shunned by all higher animals, and producing noth¬ 
ing but a crop of bullfrogs and mo.sriuitoes, has been 
reclaimed and is now producing onions, celery and 
similar crop.s. It was on this swamp that the record 
crop of 290 bushels of Irish Cobbler potatoes per 
acre were produced. It has been a big .iob and an 
expimsive one. The methods can 
hardly be recommended to farmers 
with a limited capital or exi»erieuce. 
It shows what can be done on an old 
farm through the investment of capital 
with the .same sjurit that would be em¬ 
ployed in developing any other large 
miter] »rise. 
Mi-s. West says that the success of 
the jilan lies in the fact that the .job 
was taken seriou.sly. State engineers 
and gardening exiau-ts were employed 
in much the .same way that a big manu¬ 
facturing or commercial enteriiri.se 
would secure expert advice. Among 
other j)i'eparatiou.s, trips wen* made to 
other jiarts of the country wh^'re 
swamp or muck soils had been re¬ 
claimed, in an effort to learn just how 
the woi’k should be done. Expt'rt en¬ 
gineers looked over the job. but most of them seemed 
to consider it a hopeless proiiosition. Finally Chas. 
W. Leavitt hit u])on the i>Ian of digging a deep 
channel through the course of the brook, so deep 
(hat every low sjiot could finally be drained into it 
and so broad that the flood water in all seasons 
would be carried away. This channel was cut <*ight 
feet below (he old stream and two lateral ditches 
four feet wide and deeji were cut until the swamp 
was (piartered with waterways. This dried it out 
enough to permit a clean-up. A farm tractor with 
wheel ba.ses 24 inches wide was purcha.s(><l and the 
ground i»low(*d with a breaking i>low 14 inclu'S deep. 
In ma.v cases this rijiped uj) submerged trees and 
great poles, tearing them out of the 
soft ground. The hummocks were* 
chopped off at their necks, cleared 
away and stacked at the edges of tin* 
swam]). The pictures will show .some- 
Ihing of how this work progres.sed. 
4’he soil was found to he a mixture 
of muck and sand in .some jilaces and 
muck 14 feet deep in others. It was 
all given the same treatment, deei* 
plowing, working with a double cut- 
awa.v harrow and then with a spike- 
tooth and drag. The land was then 
treat(‘d with burned lime at the rate 
of one (on to the acre. The cost of this 
reclamation reached .$200 per acre and 
(wo full seasons were requireil before 
commercial gardening really liegan. 
The first planting failed and it seemed 
evident that commercial fertilizers 
aloiu* on that soil would not bring it 
laick. The use of manure greatly im¬ 
proved the soil coudition. probably 
What Thi’n t<tarted With 
(hrough the introduction of the needed bacteria. 
The first year's croi)i)ing demon.strated that the 
soil needed further drainage. The experts advised 
four-inch (ile. Mrs. West says that the best price 
she could get for this tile laid down was 10 cents 
jier foot for three-inch and 2.‘> cents per foot for four- 
inch tile. She tested out the job wilh home labor 
and found they could do it well. She said she tried 
dynamite and abandoned it. The charge threw u]* 
the earth, only to fall back again nearly to where it 
came from. Most of i( had to be shoveU'd out any- 
wa.v. Stone drains were tric'd, Imt they were not 
satisfactory. She (inall.v bought thrc'e-inch tile and 
advertised for an experienced tile digger. He came 
719 
hard labor, and so in many of the .swam|>s and i>ond 
hole.s, seemingly a nuisancje to (he ordinary observer, 
nature has tucked away her treasures and there 
they remain until .some one comes with the vision 
iind determination needwl to make them n.seful. Thi.s 
is a job recpiiring capital and great patience*. It i.s 
an investment the .same as would be made in any 
other large bu.slne.ss. but when it is properly made* 
the rc'turns are sure. Some lu'ople grow iiessimlstic 
over the future food suiijily of this nation, .saying that 
1 hint food has been exhausted. It is largc'ly a cpies- 
(ion of water, both taking from the soil and adding 
it. There are millions of acres of swamp land which 
may be made through skillful drainage to come back 
into marvelous fertili.v. There are millions more of 
light land which will al.so come back if they can 
ab.sorh the water which now flows idly through them 
in brooks and strc'ams. Drainage and irrigation! 
These are the things so greatl.v needed in Eastern 
agriculture. Mrs. West has met success in her eu- 
terju'ise. Lc^t us call attention again to the fact tliat 
this land did not respond jiroperly until a cpiantitv 
of manure was applic'd. Home years ago we said 
that many a farm .should receive the degree of Doc¬ 
tor of I.aw.s, L. 1,. D., which means lime, legume's 
and drainage. We shall probably be obliged to add 
an M to that, as in many ca.ses the soil will not fully 
rc'spond until the bacterial life in manure is intro- 
duc*ed. 
What Came Out of the Swamp 
and superiidended (he job and it was done with the 
rcjgnlar Iielj) for a little le.ss than six cents a foot, 
which included handling, digging, laying and cover¬ 
ing up. A tile laying machine was tried, but the job 
was too small to make it practical. When this job 
was finally done the old swam]) had been tunu'd 
from a pest and nnlsance into a small gold mine. 
For ages nature Imd been ]>iling up plant food in 
that swam]). It is remarkable how nature goes into 
strange, inacce.ssible places to locate her treasures. 
The gold is tucked away in places where men must 
light and die to obtain it. The niti-ate is saved on 
the hot. dry deserls of Houth America. The ])otash 
is buried in the earth when* it must be dug out by 
Port of ail Onion Crop on this Swamp 
The Coming Grain Crop 
It. W. M. JAIiDINE, of the Kan.sas Agricultural 
College, says: 
Indications are that there will be at least 7,000,000 
acres of first-class wheat ready to harvest between .Tune 
15 and .Inly 15. During the .same period we will have 
(!.500,000 to 7.000,000 acres of corn that ought to be 
cultivated at lejuSt once; from .1.500,000 to 4,000.000 
acres of sorghums to cultivate, and almost one million 
acres of Alfalfa to cut and stock. 
Kansas will be the fir.st State to have a large amount 
of wheat to put on the market. It will be essential that 
we get this crop harvested as quickly as 
Iio.ssible, for wheat will be needevl worse 
at that time than at any other period in 
the year. 
Farmers of Kansas are faced with the 
biggest job they have ever known, a job 
they are going to he unable to handle un¬ 
less the city folks turn out in large num¬ 
bers to help harvest the.se crop.s. At 
least .50 ])er cent of the man po|)ulation 
of our cities is farm experienced. It is 
from this group the farmertt should be 
reinforced, because there will be no time 
to fuss with inex])eri('nc('d hel]). 
Men who have had experience hut are 
out of practice will not be able to do a 
hard day’s work “right off the bat,” but 
they will have good, judgment—they will 
know how to run a hinder, a mowing ma¬ 
chine, or how to drive a header box and 
to be generally all-around, handy men. 
The que.stion is, are the city men will¬ 
ing to turn out'? This work will mean 
that they will have to sacrifice some of 
their own vvork. We ought to know right 
away how many are willing to take hold. 
In former yi'ars workers from the 
Eastern State.s liave gone West to fol¬ 
low the harvest u]) from Oklahoma to Dakota. This 
.vear the.v are all iiei'ded at home ami very few will 
go West. The Kausa.s i)aiK‘rs are ho])iiig. This i.s 
the way one of them puts it straight to the town 
men: 
If you’re able to work, and it is p(j.ssible for you to 
leave your usual avocation for a few montlis, get in 
touch with the nearest agricultural bureau and connect 
with a farm. You’re only one man—but every little bit 
helps. Persuade every friend you h.ave to do the same 
thing. You won’t have any trouble in landing—any 
farmer will be glad to have you. 
If you can't go yourself, send men. FinJj idle men 
and send them. If you have young sons, send them, 
(live your chauffeur six months’ leave on half pay, if 
he’ll try it. and drive .vour car yourself. If you livu* in 
a small town, corral the citizens thereof into a big pub¬ 
lic meeting and declare one public holiday 
a week ; then everybody go out and helj) 
the farmers on that day. In the old times, 
when a man wanted to build a house, he 
called on all his neighbors—they all came 
and hel])ed him, ended the day with a bar¬ 
becue, and he had his house. Something 
like that might help out. 
Machine Transplanters 
fSome wcek^i ago a reader asked about 
the machine for transplanting <*abbage, 
tomato, strawberry and other i)Iaiit.s. We 
had many rer)Iies from practical farmers. 
The following gives a fair statement of 
the case. In these* machines two boys or 
light men ride behind and fei'd the plants 
In the machine.] 
I II.WE owned anil o]»erated several 
(lifTereut makes of these, and .some 
.seasons have been without. For sev¬ 
eral years have been without, ami set 
my ])Iants hy hand. I.ast .H])ring 1 saw 
one olTered at a ])ui)lic aucliou which 
was in good sha])e. u.sed si'veral yi'ars 
for .setting tobacco iilants. and the fer¬ 
tilizer !ittachment out of order. I hi.l 
on this and got it for $10. so I exi>ect (o 
