150 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



mowing' machine. There was not a hassock on it, and when I 

 got down fairly into the meadow, the Timothy was so high that I 

 got oflF the machine and cut a bunch of the grass, and found it 

 was over four feet high ; the red-top was a foot and a half, and 

 meadow grass on the bottom. The heads of the herds-grass 

 measured fi'om six to eight inches in length. Instead of hay 

 which was formerly worth ten dollars a ton, I cut five tons at 

 three cuttings, the third year, which was worth sixteen dollars a 

 ton. Then fed it, and the grass was six inches high in the fall. 



Now you can figure and see the advantage of draining that 

 meadow. It cost me $50 to drain and reclaim it completely, and 

 I cut by estimation, five tons from the acre, woi'th $16 a ton. 



Question. How far apart were your drains ? 



Gov. Brown. I put the drains only twenty feet apart, and four 

 feet deep. On one portion of it, on the easterly side, where the 

 drains had little or no eifect, the hassocks remained until last year, 

 just as on the original meadow. 



As was said yesterday, in the lecture on grass, drainage is the 

 foundation of all progress in farming, — that is, where the land 

 needs it. All lands do not need it, or, if they do, it is better to 

 take lands that have a great surplus of water, than to take those 

 that are comparatively dry. My advice would be to any young 

 man who was entering upon farming, to commence draining at 

 once. Any man can tell whether his land needs draining or not, 

 because, where, there is too much water, he will find grasses that 

 he will never see on lands where the water is drained ofi". 



The Chairman. Perhaps I ought not to interrupt this discussion, 

 but some explanations are desired from Prof. Fernald on the sub- 

 ject of last evening's lecture. 



Mr. C. Chamberlain. I will ask Prof Fernald, if, in account- 

 ing for the thermal influence of trees, — which point appeared in 

 the discussion in the forenoon of yesterday, and again in the 

 evening, — there is not another element that he might then have 

 overlooked ? 



Prof. Fernald. Yesterday the fact was stated that on the west- 

 ern side of a forest, when the wind in the winter is prevailing from 

 the west, the temperature is lower than in the central part of the 

 forest, or on the eastern side. The question that arose at 

 that time was in relation to the cause of this diflerence of 

 temperature. It was stated that there are two causes to which 

 this diflerence might be attributed ; one is the direct influence of 



