The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1877-01-17
from the Boston Journal
ETRRY DAY THOUGHTS ABoUoT EVERY
DAY WORK.
BY a Young Farmer.

i, is a fitting introduction to what l wish
to cay upon this matter ard another. The
author is o we'll known practical engineer.
l may coll upon him not only for the facts
and figures which he offers, but also for
other figures upon another improvement;
Dear Sir: l nave often read your com
munications in The Boston Journal, and
think they cannot iall to do good In many
places. As the common-sense Individual
l take you to be, | wish to call your atten-
lion to the lands that have been aud may
be reclaimed from the sea in our Common
wealth. | sllude to the soil that is now
salt-msrsh qbd may be converted into rich
loan to some that has been salt-marsh,
and already Is land as good as any prairie
land l ever knew IN my four or five years
experience at farming In Iowa.
Here is land that needs no immediate
thought about any manure stable, fertil-
izers, chemicals. fish guano and all the rest
are things that may come into usetScre by
and BY, not now. 1t will not be necessary
to point out the advantage of this to you.
TINS land need never be affected by Il
drouth, for only arrest or diminish the &C
ton of the sluice or sluices that drain this
land, and q turn of the hand will do that,
and the water is compelled to accumulate
inside the dyke ard feed the soil with mois-
turs. Free manure and free irrigation are
surely tempting advantages. Now add an
entire absence of rocks, stumps, etc, sell
IL or 10 feet deep, richer the further you
dig down Ca manure heap, in fact, under
lying the whole territory big enough TO last
hundreds Of years., proximity to railroads
and 10 seash0re, AMI you have a picture OF
Vbat q reclaimed Massachusetts salt-marsh
is or may become.
l speak in this matter from experience,
and propose - continue TO speak until the
10000 uCres of salt marsh in Ma.sachu-
tttts tnGt arc now idle and vagabond shsll
ne made 70 contribute 10 the welfare of the
community, as these lands do in almost ev-
cry country in the world. Without dwell
ing upon examples outside the state, in the
British Provinces, California, New jersey,
Delaware, etc, in Holland, England, North
Coast Of Germany, France, etc, ETC., |
will speak only Of what has taken place
under my W eyes, and partly done with
my hands in Massachusetts,. In ~ the
maj lrlty in interest in Green Harbor marsh
in Marshield dyked out there 400 acres
OF land, SO that now the land is feet more
or less, above the surface Of the water in
the creeks and ditches One acre of this
land yielded last year 81 bushels of rye and
y tons Of rye straw. Mode OF culture
Pow and SOW and harvest; no manure.
Another acre yielded over three tons of red
top hay e. the acre. Mode of culture the
ZANE. Pumpkins forty-tbrec to the vine,
the vine and leaves breast high. And SO
on. Experience in Nova Scotia shows that
these lands, devoted 70 grass, will yield
heavy crops Of hay for 100 years without
being MANFRED. ct the end of that time
the manure they need IS found by digging
bitches or pits in them, and scattering the
deep sCil from these pits or bitches over the
surface of the land.
As long as such soil is lying dormant in
Massachusetts, 1t does seem to me to be
working at a needless disadvantage for the
farmers of Massachusetts to be spreading
e~cvcnty-five cents worth of manure on q
gravel tank 50 that they may skin off fifty
or twenty-five cents worth of crop. We
read that when the Pilgrims landed a friend
ly indian showed them how 20 plant corn,
and how to manure each hill Of corn with
four alewiges. That tells the whole story
of massachusetts, soil and its fertility, and,
of course, IL is easier for q soil to grow less
than IL is to grow more fertile than it was
~ q State Of manure Compare this anec-
dote with III. Western practice OF planting
"acd corn,' ~ 1t 10 called, the first crop OF
corn from a newly plowel prairie, planted
in the reverse side of the sod with q hatch
CT and a boot heel.
l could give You more facts and figures,
costs, etc references to farmers and 9th
ere. in relation to the subject Of this letter.
and shall be glad to DO go on request, give
them to you personally or by letter. There
is plenty of such land In Massachusetts I'M
reclaimed, as stated about 100, 900 acres, ali
ready for the plow enough for several men
of sense. The harvest is plenteous, as so
often; the laborers are as yet few.
Yours, with respect, G. II.
If my correspondent had read all the
communication which | have sent to the
columns of Tile Journal, he would know
that | have not been ignorant of the i'm
portance Of this great improvement, nor
silent upon the subject. In 1871 one or
two articles in THE Journal, in which | en-
deavored 10 set forth the possibility and de-
siratility of DIV king these marshes and 9TH
er similar ones, and ether articles which /
furnished To- a paper then published in
Plymouth, were not without Influence, as
l have reason to believe, upon the ''major-
lty IN interest" in these very mta1ows to
the action which Trey took in 1872. AL
though had not, and never had, any pc.
cuniAry interest in the reclamation of these
luuhoi yCJ L uISCI ~ upOu lnOSe VINO were
Interested, because | believed it would add
much to the agricultural value of that sec
ton. | have visited these marshes once
since, and while / was pleased at the i'm
provement in some parts Of them, l was
disappointed at the result as a whole. Not
enough had been done for the effectual
draining of the lower parts, and those which
did not lie adjacent to the creeks and
bitches. The owners had not awaited them
selves OF the opportunity TO "plow, SOW
and harvest as they might have done
where it was drained, Some mistakes had
been made, easier seen than foreseen, per
haps notably the failure to provide for the
retention of n large body of waite, during
spring ireshcis and the allowing it to br
discharged ia a large volume, which would
have fore enough to wash out of the river
below the dyke the sand bars which accu.
mulate there during winter storms. These
bars may ia time, unless removed in this
way or Ivy the more expensive mode Of
dredging, act asa dam to hold IN the fresh
water, aud thus bring what was a salt marsh
before the dyking into a fresh marsh,
thus defeating the object Of the dyke, at
well as ininring the river as a harbingcr and
fishing sta ion.
What | thought it then needed In addition
TO the dyke was the deepening and widen
ing of the channel of the river, that il
might more thoroughly drain the land, and
the creating Of a system of side bitches,
which would drain the parts remote from
the crecke; then tho making a larger sluice-
way, which would in a few hours empty
the river and bitches, and even the mead.
ows themselves, when the water had been
held back until the dyke was bank full up.
on the inside Then ''plow. SOW and haI-
vest" and you may boast, not of the pro-
ducts of single acres, but of the product Of
q thousand acres.
While aware of the importance of re-
claiming these $50 900 acres of salt marsh,
there is another improvement which | con,
9ldGr OF lar greAter imnOItanCn 10 the farm.