Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1878-11-07
JAMES HENRY HAMMOND. !

lOASolS Hei0 ie'"S", 9uS S"o- P'
entered and theirrich deposits brought
out, and all the resources of the
plantation, in this line, carefully hus
banded. But aftess'two years of
York the results were not encour-
aging. On these light soils, and un
der the arid heats of Summer, these.
coarse manures, applied in ysoh largel
quantities, did not bring cgspensatins,
returns. The mari had Been OF de
cided service, and to continue its
benefits Mr.. Hammond CONCLUDED to
adopt more moderate systeh Of
manuring, with biennial rests, when
the land would produce good crop Of
vegetable matter to he turned under.
IzdHsswaHrmore easily sa@pted to this
view, perhaps, because he had lately
discovered facts which led to the
formation Of new and still more i'm
portant projects. Digging in the
swamps :or muck to add to manure
heaps, he had been astonished at the
surprising richness of the soil. These
swamps are inland marshes where
nature for ages has accumulated
vegetable NATTER layer upon layer,
until it lies in great masses six, eight,
ten, and sometimes fifteen feet in
depth. The underground was a
tangled mass Of vine, bramble
and cane, and towering high above,
the gum and bay and immense pop
| lars. Instead of the laborious opera
ton of transporting the swamp to the
highlands, clearly it were better, if
! practicable, to drain and clear
and make far more productive the
swamps themselves. This MIR. Ham,
mond determined to do. 1t was a
project in planting Of no ordinary
magnitude and risk. Little had been
done in this way in the South. What
few precedents there were proved
failure only. In the latter part Of
1916 the work was begun. The first
crops were wretched, but, believing
the fault to lie in defective drainage,
the bitches were dug deeper, the
drainage was improved, and the work
pushed forward. By 1850 there was
ample evidence of great success.
No sooner was he satisfied of this than
Mr.. Hamm7n prepared 10 extant
his operations. The swamps hereto
fore worked upon. varied in extent
from 80 TO 200 acres but within a
few miles was Il great swamp OF more
than thousand acres, where the
foot Of man had never penetrated.
The land was considered valueless,
much Of it was bought at so cts per
acre, while some was vacant and had
only to be entered under the laws OF
the State. Ground was broken early
in 1851. Eere new difficulties were
encountered and Of greater magni-
tude. But the bitches were deepened
and multiplied and the clearings sx-
tended until in 1851 out of this
tangled wilderness, this pestilential
mora,s, where no ear Of grain OIL
blade of useful grass had ever grown,
was wrought plantation, which in
that year produced five and thirty
thousand bushels of corn. Thus in
ten years had fifteen hundred acres
of laa+e than worthless bug been
brought under the plough and into a
high state of culture. Nor w,re the
highlands neglected. out under the
iudicious system already described
they continued to grow remunerativ>
crops and gradually increased in pro
ductivenes'.
And it should not be supposed tha
| this work was done mainly through th'
agency of others, as was ito mucl
the custom with large planters in th'
} South. Mr.. Hammond wroughthim
} self. Mounting his horse every morn
: ing, often at dawn, it was his han,
| which made the surveys and laid OIL
} the parallels for the ditches-his ey
e which supervised every importan