drains would have been choked or destroyed by the falling trees, or the operation of grubbing. But in September this work was begun on one side of the main ditch, and was pushed rapidly to completion. Narrow drains or ditches were sunk wherever they were supposed to be necessary, in the bottom of which small bushes were deposited and then covered. Care was taken to lay the bushes all one way-lengthwise. Each one of these underdrains began immediately to perform its office of relieving the ground of a portion of its surplus water, as might be seen by examining the outlet in the main ditch. Some of them, such as had tapped a spring, discharged copious streams.

All who have had any experience in underdraining are aware how quickly it transforms wet land into dry land; and those who have not, can form no idea of it until they witness the result for themselves. It was so with my protegé. He was astonished at the work of his own hands. The drained side of the swamp now dried up very rapidly. The land in some places settled away from the large stumps which yet remained, and was evidently becoming hard and firm. These indications kept him in excellent spirits, to which the manure-like appearance of the rich black soil that had everywhere been turned up as the drains were dug, made a further contribution. No one could walk over the ground on the two sides of the main ditch without instantly discovering the difference between the drained and the undrained. That winter he employed in clearing up the swamp more thoroughly,

being now of opinion that he might be able to plough it in the spring.

When spring came, he did succeed in ploughing nearly all the underdrained half, then limed it, planted corn, and raised the first crop that that swamp had ever produced. The corn was so large as to be an amazement to the neighborhood. It exceeded the yield of the upland on both sides of his line, and settled the question as to the profitableness of reclaiming swamp lands.

ones.

The young owner was so much encouraged by his success that, after getting in his corn, he immediately proceeded to underdrain the remaining half. The following spring it was dry enough to be all ploughed. He then limed it, and at the proper season sowed buckwheat, securing a crop quite as heavy as any of his neighbors. These first crops were regularly succeeded by others, and they were invariably good In time, as the vegetable mould decayed, the soil became loose and of remarkably easy cultivation, while in richness it far exceeded that of the best upland in the neighborhood. It needed no manure. The more it was turned up to the sun, the drier and more friable it became. Fruit trees were planted and flourished, and strawberries were grown in the rich new soil with astonishing success. It seemed to be the very home for cabbages, turnips, and celery; and there is now as little prospect of its relapsing into swamp land as there was, ten years ago, of its graduating into arable land. It could be sold any day for $120 an acre.

So much for its marketable value, but now for the

cost of reclaiming it. This, all told, amounted to $21 an acre, but not including the young owner's time. I make no account of that, because he has his pay in the increased value of the land. The actual money-cost was more than $21 an acre, but the total stands at that figure by deducting sales of wood and faggots.

There are tracts of swamp land which contain three times the quantity of timber that this did, which can be purchased quite as cheaply, and which, from the greater quantity of wood they might yield, could be reclaimed to better profit. There are others, wholly clear of wood and underbrush, which could be reclaimed for even less. It should be the business of the shrewd and enterprising to seek out and appropriate them.

The first cost of this swamp was $20 per acre, the reclaiming of it $21, making a total of $41, or $1066 for the whole. Its value rose in two years to $3120, or very nearly treble the first outlay. Here was a large capital suddenly created out of a small one, not by mere investment of the original sum, but by bringing to its aid the experience of one man and the courageous industry of another. It was the judicious combination of the three upon a specific object, that worked the change. Thus, the man who improves his own land, works with a long lever, and will find that, in reality, but little power is required. The lesson should be as instructive to those who read this, as was the reclaiming of the swamp referred to to the neighborhood wherein it lay. The owner's success was so decided, that it

sent up the price of numerous waste places of similar character, and caused others to be as effectually drained. Exhortation had been lost upon the owners; but when the example was placed before them, imitation came of itself.

The young man whose personal energy converted twenty-six acres of utterly waste land into a productive farm, created for himself, at a single stroke, a capital that set him up for life. He proved conclusively that it is the best lands which come last into cultivation. The single acre of upland in his purchase now contains his house and barns, and from the remaining acres he produces all that his family needs. In ten years from the day that he first struck his spade into the main ditch of an apparently worthless swamp, he will be out of debt, and worth his. thousands.

In the estimation of some, an undertaking of this character will smack of speculation. It is out of the old routine-it is a new way to get a farmand being new, is therefore speculative, and being speculative, is not only foolish, but hazardous. But here the prevailing ingredients are good sense and resolute industry. The speculators hate work-the industrious hate speculation. Timid minds will reject the example just given, not only because constitutionally fearful of a new thing, but because of an equally constitutional incredulity. But the experience of many in this country could be adduced in confirmation of the idea that one of the surest ways to get a farm cheaply, is to purchase and reclaim a swamp. It involves hard work as well as

dirty work, wet feet and muddy clothes, but few undertakings will pay better.

It is known that several counties in New Jersey contain thousands of acres of cranberry lands, which annually produce abundant crops of fruit. In numerous locations the owners of the land receive no part of the crop. The whole region is but thinly settled, and there are but few clearings among the dense pine forests which cover a large portion of the ground. Most of these have been made by pinehawkers and charcoal-burners, who support life under great privations, and who rear families in total ignorance of schools or churches. All round them lay immense cranberry grounds, without a panel of fencing on thousands of acres. From time immemorial these squalid families have gathered the fruit for their own benefit, and disposed of it at the nearest stores. They swarm among the swamps during the picking season, so that the owner gets little or none of the crop. If residing at a distance, as is generally the case, he has no chance whatever. Even when within a few miles of his own swamp, he receives no portion except by sufferance. The cranberry grounds of the region have been so long abandoned to these indiscriminate inroads, that the annual plunder of the crop has grown to be considered a public right. In some places, the owner may receive a barrel or two as a gift, in others he is permitted to send in a few pickers for his own use. But it would be a dangerous experiment for him to undertake suddenly and forcibly to suppress these depredations-a general mutiny would be the result.