WASTE LANDS. 43 



IMPROVEMENT OF WASTE LANDS. 



ESSEX. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



Li the opinion of the committee, the premiums offered for 

 the improvement of pasture and waste land, stand in impor- 

 tance at the head of all the premiums offered by this society. 

 The pastures in Essex County have by neglect become about 

 one-quarter waste land, and something should be done to stimu- 

 late their owners to see to it that they do not become almost or 

 entirely valueless. Li riding over the county, it may be noticed 

 that many pastures are gradually becoming covered with 

 juniper, savin, birches, and other bushes and trees. It is to be 

 regretted that a line of distinction could not be drawn between 

 the pasture and forest ; whereas now it is with difficulty that 

 they can be distinguished. The stony parts of pasture land may 

 advantageously be covered with a growth of pines or locusts ; 

 but lands adapted to pasturage, and appropriated for that use, 

 should be kept free of bushes and moss. By ploughing and 

 improving such land, we have better cows, and fatter cattle ; 

 mor(J milk, and stronger oxen. 



The experiments entered for premium this year, seem to be 

 rather in the renovating of waste land to a state of cultivation, 

 than in the improvement of run-out pastures, so as to make 

 them more productive and valuable for summer feed. The 

 statements of the claimants are so full, that they tell their own 

 story. 



M. G. J. Emery, Chairman. 



Statement of Jesse Smith. 



I offer for inspection and premium two acres of land, which 

 was originally of little or no value, it being covered with blue- 

 berry and whortleberry bushes, lambkill and brakes, with no 

 small quantity of stones. We commenced in September, 1849, 

 to cut bushes, which were burned on the ground, and directly 

 after began a ditch, which we dug one hundred and ninety feet 



