106 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



A crop of two tons per acre, on one and one-half acres for five 

 years, would be fifteen tons in all, which at twentj-- 

 five dollars per ton amounts to, . . . . . $375 00 



Leaving a profit of ....... 226 00 



Work on the large piece was commenced in 1870, and has 

 been continued to the present time as opportunity offered. 

 The deep, wet footing, the almost impervious bramble 

 thickets, and the size and toughness of the stumps and buried 

 logs made the task as difficult as could be found anywhere. 

 Ditches were to be dug, bushes and brambles to be cut out 

 and destroyed, hassocks levelled, stumps and tree- trunks to 

 be uncovered, cut to pieces, raised and hauled off, and the 

 piece converted from a worthless jungle to a productive field. 

 This has taken time and money, and is not yet completed — the 

 four and one-half acres being in all stages, from work just 

 begun on one side to the growing crops on the other. Much 

 of the wood and roots had to be burned with the brush, but a 

 fifood deal has been saved jjnd sold or used. 



On the side of the piece first cleared, gravel from the bank 

 near by was carted on to the depth of three or four inches, 

 over the space of about one acre, a small quantity of fish- 

 compost spread and harrowed in, and grass-seed sown. Mr. 

 Dane states the produce of this acre to have fully equalled for 

 the past five years what it was when the Committee saw it, 

 and estimated it to be two and one-half tons of hay, some of 

 the stalks being over five feet in height. Grass-seed has 

 been sown on other parts of the piece, which have been 

 drained, cleared, and levelled, but not gravelled or manured, 

 but the crop is sickly and of small value. Corn and vegetables 

 nave also been cultivated, but without much success. The 

 soil of such a place is too sour and cold to grow crops without 

 the application of some amendment. 



Mr. Dane gives his outlay and returns on this four and 

 one-half acres as follows : — 



Labor of ditching, getting off wood and stumps, grub- 

 bing up and gravelling, harrowing, and seeding, . . $230 00 



Cost of seed, 9 00 



Compost, and labor of applying, 8 50 



Cutting and harvesting hay, 75 00 



Total, $322 50 



