188 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



would permit. I bring the whole matter on the surface in 

 August without cutting, because the loam, &c., carted on, kills 

 out the wild growth more effectually at that season, and when 

 the tops are completely buried the old plants die much sooner 

 than if cut with a scythe. I hauled on fifteen ox-cart loads of 

 compost manure per acre, and sowed one peck per acre of 

 Herds-grass and two pecks of redtop. Late in the fall I sowed 

 four quarts of northern clover, not expecting it to vegetate 

 before spring. Since the first sowing I have put on another 

 dressing of compost, equal to the first, and my crops continue 

 good. I have mown this for the last three summers. 



" The old pine swamp with peat bottom, was cleared in a 

 different manner." The brush were cut, dried and burned, and 

 the pine stumps dug out. " This I find to be the only sure 

 mode of reclaiming this swamp. I have now about four acres 

 thoroughly subdued in this way. The cost of subduing in this 

 thorough manner, and sowing down, including draining, is full 

 fifty dollars per acre." 



The reclaimed land of the brothers, Messrs. John and Curtis 

 Chamberlain, was very similar to the " old pine swamp" of Mr. 

 Buckminster, and the course pursued by them was substantially 

 the same as that pursued by him. The large pine stumps on 

 the land of Mr. John Chamberlain were converted into charcoal, 

 and the other combustible materials burned on the ground, 

 together with the combustible portion of the surface of the 

 swamp, the alkaline properties of the residuum undoubtedly 

 having a powerful effect in neutralizing the acidity of -the peat 

 bottom and rendering it very productive. The particular lot 

 entered by Mr. John Chamberlain, for premium, was covered 

 with a most prolific crop of corn, potatoes, &c., beautifully con- 

 trasting with the luisightly, unr(^laimed, and wholly unproduc- 

 tive adjoining land. The grounds of Mr. Curtis' Chamberlain 

 presented a beautiful appearance, several acres being covered 

 with a thick vegetable carpet. He has, as your committee 

 learned, been a recipient of the society's bounty for his judicious 

 management. 



The ground belonging to one of your committee, and offered 

 for a premium, was neither " an old pine swamp, nor cranberry 

 meadow," but what is known in common parlance, as a bog 

 meadow, having a small brook, running over it in zigzag water- 



