120 SAGADAHOC COUNTY SOCIETY. 



Beets. Thomas Pennell of Brunswick, 139 bushels sugar beets, 

 on one-eighth acre. 



Solon White, 91 bushels Mangolds on 26 square rods. 



Lewis Simpson, 700 bushels Mangolds on seven-eighths of an 

 acre. 



Turnips. William E. Haley, 83 bushels on 30 square rods. 



Carrots. I. M. Sandford of Bowdoinham, 67 bushels carrots on 

 one-eighth of an acre. 



Underdraining. 



Underdrainmg seems to be practiced to some extent, in this county, 

 as several premiums were awarded ; one to S. F. Dike, who states 

 that he is fully convinced of its great advantage in cold wet lands. 

 He has greatly improved his apple trees by draining the soil. 



N. Perkins of Topsham, made 840 feet drain, but only 1\ to 8 

 feet deep — {Z\ to 4 is much better ordinarily.) 



Solon White of Bowdoinham, in a statement regarding his farm 



operations, says : 



" Experience has taught me to cultivate no more land than can 

 be properly dressed, and never to work it until it is sufficiently 

 dry. These two points are established in my own mind, but to 

 accomplish the last, has been a difficult thing for me until of late. 

 A portion of the soil on my farm has always been troublesome to 

 cultivate, in consequence of its being very wet and springy, seldom 

 obtaining a good crop on such land, and the grass is always of 

 inferior quality. I have one small field of three acres, the most of 

 which is of this kind of soil, which has been so wet that I finally 

 abandoned the idea of cultivating it, and turned it out to pasture. 

 Last summer I dug an underdrain through it for the purpose of 

 draining my orchard ; finding it had so good an effect on the land, 

 I continued^ my work until I drained the wliole field ; plowed and 

 planted two acres of what had always been the wettest, with corn, 

 and raised 18V bushels of ears. This is land that no one ever ])re- 

 tended to put corn on before. The effects of underdraining on tliis 

 piece has been such as not only to encourage me to continue drain- 

 ing, but has created such an interest in the neighborhood, that 

 several of my neighbors have already commenced draining their 

 farms." 



The drains reported, are mostly of stone, consequently requiring 



a very large excavation of earth and involve great expense. These 



