IMPROVEMENT OF PASTURES. 151 



the bushes. Those bushes are full of materials which the 

 grass-seed wants ; and sheep will eat them, and void them, and 

 leave them there in a condition for plants to feed upon. They 

 leave a great amount of potash, and that they get from the 

 bushes. I could not put sheep on this pasture I have spoken 

 of ; and so I tried another plan. A person owed me some 

 money, and told me if I would take some pigs that he had, 

 at three dollars apiece, he would settle the amount. I had 

 all the pigs I wanted, with meal and pork at the prices they 

 were. But I did not want to lose the money ; and, rather than 

 lose it in a bad debt, I thought I would take the pigs, and 

 lose it in feeding them, if I could only get the manure out of 

 them, and have them do some business on that pasture. I 

 put them in pens ten feet square, tliree in a pen, and set them 

 at work cultivating that ground. I fed them on corn and 

 shorts ; and, after they had worked over the whole field, I 

 sowed clover and grass seed, and scratched it in with a rake. 

 I put in all the grass-seeds I could think of, and got a tolera- 

 bly good catch. So far as it has gone, the pasture has been 

 improved. The next question is, whether I have got paid 

 for doing it, taking into consideration the cost of the pigs, 

 the expense of feeding them, and my time. I reckon I have ; 

 for j-ou know that farmers have a good deal of time that they 

 had better spend in such work than loafing around the black- 

 smith-shoj) or the country store. I found that was a success, 

 anyway, as far as it went, and it was the only way I could 

 manage this pasture. I do not plough my pastures : I can- 

 not do it. 



I bought a place out in Needham ; and, when I bought it, 

 I could scarcely keep two cows, to say nothing about horses. 

 If I kept a horse, I had to buy hay and grain for him. I have 

 had the place about nine years ; and now I keep ten cows, 

 two yearlings, and a horse. There was one piece of land that 

 I think anybody would have said was worn out. There was 

 nothing on it but moss, hardback, and a few stunted pines. 

 I went to work and ploughed a part of it up, manured it well, 

 and put in fodder-corn. With all due deference to Dr. Lor- 

 ing, I must say that that corn was a success ; and my cows 

 said it was, and they gave plenty of milk. The fall follow- 

 ing I sowed winter rye, and in the spring I had a good catch 

 of that. Remember, that, before I put in my rye, I put in 



