RECLAIMED MEADOWS. 35 



appoarancG, (as they certainly will — no matter how tough the 

 sod may bo wliich covers them,) they must be earthed up, as it 

 is termed. No matter how well the work has been done, the 

 sods and mud, after exposure to the sun and air for a little time, 

 will shrink and shrivel, so that the wild grass and weeds easily 

 find egress in many parts of the bed. This wild grass -must be 

 ptilled up and the interstices filled with mud from the bottom' of 

 the trenches. The potatoes planted in this mode are always 

 vigorous in their youth, and grow so rapidly that, in a few days 

 after being thus " earthed up," their leaves completely shade 

 the entire beds. They thus almost or altogether destroy all the 

 meadow grasses in a single season. 



When the potatoes are dug, the vines and the covering sods 

 are thrown back into the trenches. The surface, for the time 

 being, is .thus left smooth and level, although, as the vines decay 

 and the earth settles-and becomes compact, the lines of the 

 trenches are always marked by a slight depression. Grass seed 

 is then sown, at the rate of one peck of herds-grass and hal? a 

 bushel of redtop to the acre. The grass seed was sown on this 

 piece of meadow during the month of September. Early in 

 the spring, clover seed, at the rate of eight or ten lbs. per 

 acre, was sprinkled over it. 



In May three cwt. of Peruvian guano, and three cwt. of De 

 Burg's super-phosphate of lime, were sprinkled over it. The 

 ditches which are around it were dug many years ago, but I 

 have estimated them, at their full cost. 



So much for the course of management, and now for the re- 

 sults. 



I 



Two and two-thirds acres meadow in account: — 



Dr. 



1854 — To Draining, ..... 



Manure and hauling. 

 Seed potatoes, .... 



Grass seed, ..... 

 175 days^ labor, .... 



$290 00 



