FARMS. 85 



process is continued till about two weeks before the grass is fit 

 to be cut, — varying, of course, according to the weather, — 

 when it is shut off entirely and the land allowed to dry. In a 

 week or ten days after the grass has been cut the water is again 

 turned on, in the same manner as before, and continued 

 through the season. Sand is occasionally thrown into the 

 ditches and allowed to wash over the ground. Late in the fall 

 the land is manured with a compost of sand mixed with barn- 

 yard manure. The sand having been carted into the yard early 

 in the spring, a dozen head of cattle are kept upon it at night, 

 through the season ; and when wanted for use, it is worked 

 over and carted upon the land. The whole land receives a 

 dressing of this manure once in two or three years. Some of 

 the driest parts of the field have been occasionally ploughed 

 and planted. Then the land has been kept as dry as possible, 

 and no water is turned upon it until it is laid down to grass 

 again. 



" This is the course now pursued by Mr. Gay ; and the same 

 has been practiced on his land for the last twenty-five years. 

 His plans, however, have not yet been fully carried out, and 

 his crops, undoubtedly, would be greatly benefited by under- 

 draining still more of the land. The quantity of hay, as esti- 

 mated by Mr. Gay, — and I think he under-estimates it, — is one 

 ton to the acre, upon an average. The quality varies from the 

 best English to common fresh hay of about two-thirds the same 

 value. 



" But this is not the whole benefit received from this irriga- 

 tion. The soil having been allowed to dry thoroughly at the 

 time of haying, when the water is again turned upon it, the 

 grass springs up quickly and is very tender and sweet ; furnish- 

 ing till late in the season a great quantity of the best aftermath 

 or fall feed. And this, coming at a time when pastures are 

 apt to be dry, is an item of no small importance upon a dairy 

 farm. 



" Whether this plan of Mr. Gay's is the best that could be 

 adopted, or whether his theory in relation to it is correct, 

 (attributing the chief part of the benefit received to the matter 

 washed upon the soil, rather than to the water itself,) may be 

 a matter of doubt. But one thing is certain he gets a very 



