The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1890-09-26
A RECLAIMED SWAMP.
How a Valneless an UnslghtIy Piece of
Ground Was Made Both Beautiful and
Profitable.

How a Valueless an | Unslghtly Piece of
Ground Was Made Both Beautiful and
Profitable.
Near my residence, says a correspond
ent of Farm and Home, is about four
acres Of nearly level land, upon which 1
have raised in succession buckwheat,
rorn, potatoes, oats and grass, obtain
ing especially large yields of the latter.
When Twas boy this land was covered
with brush, boys and standing water
the year round. Later on, whom
bought this swamp, all declared that it
was impossible to get fall enough TO
drain it, as springs and water from the
hillsides constantly emptied into it. I
cut the brush and dug bitches around it
and through the middle. then began
to pillow it after turning over a network
OF roots six feet across and buckwheat
was planted on what land was dry
enough. Some of the boys | had to cut
off and burn, as yoke of cattle could
not pull them out, the buckwheat help
ing to pay expenses. Each year l had
a tusslo with the swamp when dry
time came, and put in another crop. MY
first bitches were partly of stone put in
loose and were unsatisfactory, as they
stopped the current and gradually filled
up with earth and muck. My outlet
would draw off the surface water, but
was not deep enough to give me suit
able depth at the upper end and any
perceptible fall.
l soon found my fifty dollars in
bitches was good in dry time, but
lake formed in winter in freshet, and
l was not satisfied and tried again.
This time began to ditch in the high.
way some ten rods below, where there
was enough fall, and cut down six or
seven feet in the highest ground, but to
do this l had to board up the sides to
keep it open long enough to put in my
drain. This was of stone and made by
building a wall on each side about one
foot high with a cap stone over it. l
put ditch of this kind across one end
side as close to the line fence as pos
sible, as this side was next to steep
side-hill full of springs. l also cut
ditch through the middle in the same
way, digging just deep enough to have
the water follow and set back an inch
or two after me nearly all the way
through. In this way as soon as there
was six inches of water in the ditch, l
had fall enough for good current. as l
made the lower end of the sluice much
wider than the upper. | also put in
few cross bitches emptying into this,
covering them all over smoothly. Then
/ met another difficulty; heavy rain
would soon form such volume of water
to flow into this basin, that it could not
filter through the ground, and it be-
came a sheet of wato-
The result was it cut holes through
the surface into the ditch, but the pres
sure was so great that earth and water
went through the ditch as if coming
from a squirt gun. To meet this l
filled up these holes with small stone to
the surface, or stoned up miniature
wells with stone cover. Few would
now suspect to see the field that it was
once swamp and $500 worth of bitches
lay underneath. After some fifteen or
twenty years there is not rcd OF
ground but what a moving machine or
a pillow can be run over. l have taken
every thing Off the land for twenty
years and seldom put any thing back,
and with few exceptions have had good
crops. l consider the money we'll in
vested, aside from the fact that such
stagnant ponds are unhealthy and I'M
attractive.
think l might have used drain tile
in part at much less cost. as the bottom
was so soft in places that l could sink
down by my own weight and l had to
put boards in the bottom to keep the
stone from sinking into the soft clay.
Across the upper end l filled the ditch
above the sluice entirely full of stone to
catch the surface water that came down
from swamp above and prevent it ir-
rigating the surface of my field.