196 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



in previous years, the grass-seed had been sown upon the old 

 sod, much grass was destroyed in consequence of the in- 

 creasing spongy condition of the old sod, and its separation 

 from the moist lower soil-mass caused by shrinkage. The 

 loss from this cause proved, for obvious reasons, more disas- 

 trous than in preceding years. Lands which had been 

 ploughed and thoroughly worked before seeding or planting 

 suffered much less. Somewhat over one hundred tons of 

 good English hay have been raised during the past year. 



The principal crops besides grass have been oats, rye, 

 corn, and onions. Of the latter, seventeen hundred bushels 

 were raised : one acre produced about five hundred bushels ; 

 while much of the seed failed. The corn-crop amounted to 

 four hundred bushels. 



But little progress has been made in draining. More new 

 lands, however, have been ploughed than in any one previous 

 year since the reclamation of the marshes. Dr. S. Henry 

 has ploughed about twenty-five acres ; Mr. J. S. Ford, for 

 himself and others, about thirty acres ; and Mr. J. H. Bourne, 

 a similar number. The early frost checked the progress. 

 Holbrook's swivel-plough was used for ploughing, and Ran- 

 dall's* harrow for harrowing, followed with the drag. 



A considerable portion of the old land has been sown to 

 grass, and the balance reserved for corn and onions. The 

 newly broken soil will be sown to rye and oats. 



No permanent material changes in the ownership of the 

 marshes have taken place. A lot of twenty-seven acres has 

 been purchased by an outside party for raising vegetables for 

 the market. 



We believe the community never had more confidence in 

 the richness and the fertility of the soil than they have 

 to-day. The proprietors, as a rule, have never had more 

 faith in the results of the enterprise, as far as remunerative 

 crops are concerned, than now. Evidently, nothing but a 

 favorable final decision in the courts is needed to secure 

 outside capital for more general and rapid development of 

 the agricultural resources of the reclaimed sea-marshes at 

 Marshfield, Plymouth County, Mass. 



C. A. GOESSMANN. 



This Report was accepted. 



