The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-10-15
Project of Drainage d
Live Subject
IT'S UP TO CONGRESS
4 Matter i'm Which Eastern North
Carolina L. Inte~e~tel-talls Tor
Federal Assistance a. Much
a. Irrigation nf Western
Arid Lands.

promises to come prominently before
Congress this winter. The promoters
OF the reclamation movement, who Sc
cured a favorable report on their bill
before the House at the last session
Of Congress. have issued a call for 2
meeting 70 be held IN Baltimore NO.
vember 25th. when the subject VIII b-
discussed in all its phases and ! leg
~islative formulated. This
meeting VIII he known as the aa1aa!
/ Congress Of the National Drainage As
ISOLATION. Many prominent members
OF Congress viii be present, and the
States will be represented by dele
gates selected by the various Gov
errors.
h matter Of the drainage ~ these
swamp lands is one OF great IMPORT
ance 70 North Carolina. An inyesti-
CATION of the reclamation Of these
overfIowed lands has just been com
pleted by the Agricultural Depart
ment. Experts went 70 North caro-
lima, where they made a study OF he
Dismal swamp and other oyerflowed
lands, and their report shows that
there are 4.130 square miles of lane
in the State that can be reclaimed
and made fertile for the cultivation
South Carolina alone of all the
States east of the Mississippi river,
possess a greater area of swamp lands
than doss North Carolina
Swamp Land Very FERTILE.
The report on the Investigation just
made by the Agricultural Department
gives evidence of the fact that the
great area of swamp lands in North
Carolina can be made very produc-
tive. The report says:
The swamps of the Iazoo Delta.
Mississippi, and those Of the eastern
part of North Carolina, are more fer
tile and are susceptible of producing
a field crop worth much more per
acre than the lands in Indiana or
Illinois, yet practically all the swamps
in the latter States have been drained
under the provisions of wise and
benefcent State drainage laws, while
little or nothing has been done to
drain the lands of North Carolina and
Mississippi.
The first settlers of this country re-
cognized at an early date that some
legal method was necessary to secure
a full cooperation of all the parties
benefited in retaining the swamp
lands, but they were without prece-
dent and experience in matters of this
kind"
Representative Small, of the First
North Carolina District, has been one
of those most active in the eurtherance
of this movement for the reclamation
of swamp and overlooked lands Last
winter he was successful in having
provision made in the general bill for
the drainage Of the great Dismal
DIV AMP, WHICH loIlIlS a. DIlL 81 MS
district. The measure failed to pass.
but it is certain that its friends viii
make a persistent 6gnt in its behalf
this winter.
Great Extent of Swamp Lands.
Not all swamp land is suited for
agriculture, those il North Carolina
and other Southern States being the
exception. 1t is estimate that in the
eastern portion of the United States
there are 1900 600 acres that can
be reclaimed and made fit for cult
walton by the building of simple en-
cheering structures. 1t is Stimate
that % per cent of the total Of his
land IS held in private ownership.
Were it possible to collect them into
one body it would make an empire as
large as England, Ireland, Scotland
and Wales. If placed in the eastern
part of our country it would cover
the six New England States, New
York, and the northern half OF New
Jersey 1T would make a strip 133
rifles wide, reaching from New York
to Chicago.
1t is not denied that the drainage Of
these overflowed lands is just as much
a governmental function as that of
irrigating arid lands, for which mil
lions are being spent in the Western
States
1t is estimated that if the 7~7.000.0OO
acres Of swamp lands in the eastern
section of the country were drained
and subdivided into fo~rty-acre farms,
they would afford homes for 10000
600 farmers, independent of the urban
population which would inevitably fol-
low. The crop values of the now
worthless lands, at SIS per acre, would
mean an addition Of $1,000 00, 900
annually.
Produce abundant Crops.
swamp lands, when drained, are OK
tremely fertile, requiring but little
commercial fertilizer, and yield abund-
ant crops. They are adapted to the
growth of q wide range of products
and in most are convenient
to good markets. While an income
Of SIS to 500 per acre in the grain
producing States Of the Middle West is
considered profitable, much OF the
swamp lands in the East and South
would, ii cultivated in cabbage.
onions. celery. tomatoes. and Other
vegetable, yield a net income of
more than 500 per acre.
In addition TO the immediate oene-
fits that accrue from the increased
productiyeness of these lands
greater and more lasting beno6+ W1oufd
follow their reclamation. The taxable
alu of the Commonwealth would he
permanently increased. the healthfuI-
ness OF the community would be i'm
proved, mosquitoes and malaria would
be ban1shed, and the construction OF
good roads made possible. Factories.
churches n schools would open Id.
ana instead Of active young farmers
O "hISHiSSIppl NdtleN ef11gTat-|
ing to Canada to seek cheap lands
they could find better homes within
our own borders.
Holl md, two-fftns Of which liee be
low tte level OF the sea. has been re-
claimed by diking and draining. and
now supports a population Of 40 per
square mile. Her soil is no better
than the marshes of this ountr and
ner climate not so good as that of the
southern States, yet we have within
our border an undeveloped empire ter
times her area.
Bonapartc Hits the south.
A liberal policy ooking to the
progress of the Southern States mas
A"" a~ot~"~ @lOv- +roro 2 Ro~--
Welt cabinet officer. Attorney General
Bonaparte. for a second time, give an
opinion which distinctly d-iscourages
the effort of Southern States indiyidu-
ally TO promote desirable immigration
The Louisiana opinion, by winch
Mr. Bonaparte holds that a State can
assure employment to an immj-
grant is all the more severe. Upon his
South Carolina opinion that passage
money might be advanced to an i'm
migrant to Educe him TO come. much