Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1868-06-13

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dowu sOsrd ess9nfry. their ta-ez'SSsa-
eSien;. cs~' 0frrcl@imiHs- lrC-isci-ve-
hess. etc. and knowing thsi voG
have instituted \ serles Of cxi'erl-
men.s With this kind of land | be-
al vou as a favor and for the general
interest of the Territory To- give the
public the benefit of your expert
men,s and information IN relation
thereto through the coumns of the
Olympia Transcript
The above is the only opology |
offer for the following essay, on a
subject which, tor many ofyour read
ers, needs no opology:
About four years ago, while on an
excursion down-SounG, my mind
was forceably i'm pressed with the
extent. native verdure and beauty of
the tide prairies, which environ al
most ever bay and borders every
stream emptying into "that wonder
ful wilderness Of water" as San
Francisco editor recently called our
beautiful inland sea. The fact that
no attempt had ever been made to
reclaim these lands seemed the more
strange, as they always lay immcdi.
ately on the Sound, or the mouths Of
rivers, while settlements were formed
fifty and sixty miles from ship navi-
CATION, and some hcwn out of dense
forests oftimber. Knowing that in
some European counties, aud cspc-
cially in Holland, this class of lands
had been reclaimed at an immense
cost, some of the dykes being thirty
and even sixty feet high, and were
more productive than any other, l
became satisfied that our tide prairics,
which never overflow more than n
few feet at most, would pay well for
the outlay necessary to bring them
into high state of cultivation. Ac-
cordingly, I resolved on the expert
ment, and settled on n piece
of tide land at the mouth Of the Sno-
homish river. But never having
seen or read of a dyke in my life, I
deemed it prudent to experiment
with few acres only, at first, and
employed man to dyke in three
acres. According to the best infor-
nation I could obtain, tho tides
never flowed these lands deeper than
eighteen inches. Tho dyke was
built p fcot high, and 4 feet on the
base. 1t was complete in the Spring
of 1864, but not in time TO plant a
crop that Spring, The following
Winters tides came through the
earth wall about as freely os if it had
been constructed of loose bricks.
This was owing to the dyke having
been thrown up without being
packed, the subsoil being clay dried
in chunks as it left the spade.
In the Spring of 1865, l employed
two men to widen the dyke and
pack the earth, rs it was thrown up.
This season I planted some vcgcta-
bles. but as the ground had been sat.
uratcd with salt or brackish water all
Winter and Spring, the harvest was
anything but satisfactory.
In the Spring of 1866, / hal one
acre spaded two feet deep, the top
soil turned in the bottom, aud fruit
trees planted; a variety of vegrta-
bles were also grown-cabbage with
moderate success, turnirs excellent,
potatoes poor, peas grew and hore
sssoni-lingiy well. tomatoes grrw
we.l and surprised every one who
saw them by rsF~nins well. ssrswler-
rie- seemed delighted ritt TIE ~o7.
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