42 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



• PLYMOUTH. 



State?nent of Josiah L. Bassett. 



I have two and one half acres of land, most of which, in July 

 1854, was so low and wet that it was almost worthless. I com- 

 menced ditching it in August following, and drained off the 

 water. I can give an accurate statement of the method and 

 expense of reclaiming only one acre and thirty-two rods. The 

 mud on that part is from two to five feet deep. Most of it was 

 covered with swamp whortleberry bushes, which had been mown 

 once in about three years. In June last it was dug over with bog 

 hoes, made sharp as an axe. It took twenty-six days' work, at 

 $1.25 per day, to dig it over and clear it of stumps. In August 

 I hauled off the stumps, and piled up the turf and burnt it. The 

 ashes were spread on the ground. That is all the manure I 

 have used on the acre and thirty-two rods, which, I think, is 

 equal to any thing else to make grass for two years. The stumps 

 paid for hauling oif. It took thirty days to burij the turf, level 

 the ground, spread the ashes and work them in, which was done 

 with a horse and cultivator, and hand rakes. The burning and 

 finishing was light work, and I call it $1 per day, which makes 

 $62.50. I charge nothing for ditching, as^the mud more than 

 pays that expense. The rest of the land I ploughed, excepting 

 about sixty rods, which was used as the other, and was done the 

 year before. There was less depth of mud where I ploughed, 

 and but few bushes, and there being but little to burn I hauled on 

 seventy loads of compost manure from the yard, which, I think, 

 was not more than equal to the ashes on the other part. I think 

 the land I ploughed, reckoning the expense of the manure at 

 fifty cents a load, would not vary much from the other in expense 

 as finished. The grass seed was sown the 31st day of August, 

 timothy and redtop. I have prepared about five acres before, 

 in different ways, and am not in favor of hauling on gravel and 

 other worthless stuff from highland, but had rather ditch and 

 drain thoroughly. 



