TRANSACTIONS. 105 



miles distant. The soil of the farm is variously constituted ; 

 most of the cultivated fields are clayey loam ; a small part a 

 sandy loam. The farm, at the time I came in. possession, 

 had been under a lease during the seven previous years, and 

 (as might be expected,) all that was done upon it was done 

 with a view to present profit. Fences neglected, bushes and 

 briars permitted to grow by the walls and where else they 

 would, and the same fields cultivated for years in succession, 

 thereby diminishing the hay crop, both in quantity and 

 quality. 



My first object and efibrt was to increase the hay crop, 

 which was done by seeding to grass the fields then plowed, 

 plowing and seeding the other fields long in grass and yield- 

 ing little, eradicating the bushes on the mow lands and be- 

 side the fences, ditching and top-dressing low lands, making 

 them much more productive, and the hay of better quality. 



In order to make the quantity of manure needed, from 

 my own resources, I have found it necessary to use a large 

 per cent, of muck ; and have opened ditches for this pur- 

 pose, of various dimensions, some of which were four feet 

 wide by from two to six feet deep; these have been 

 filled with stone to near the surface, then covered with turf 

 and mud or other matters, and sown with grass seed. In 

 one instance a ditch was dug ten feet wide, and some ten 

 rods in length, for a cart- way and filled with stone. The stone 

 were brought from the fields adjacent, some were blasted, 

 others dug from the fields. Old walls removed, and unsight- 

 ly heaps, long a nuisance, all thus congregated, probably to 

 be seen no more. 



Some fields have been cleaned of stone, by removing them 

 to the base of a hill-side and erecting a heavy upright front wall, 

 removing the soil from the rear and filling with stone ; then- 

 replacing the soil, making a level surface for cultivation. A 

 large amount of stone has been removed to low, wet ground 

 in an adjoining pasture, the stone covered slightly with soil 

 and gravel, and sown down to grass. The removal of stone 



