26 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



mode of improving them is to thoroughly drain, then plough, 

 seed down with a top-dressing of compost, in which is a great 

 preponderance of loam, sand, or even gravel. Then top dress 

 once in tlirce or four years. Herds-grass, redtop and clover, 

 are the seeds used. There are more than three hundred acres 

 of this kind of land improved. Grass has always been taken 

 from this land, but of poor quality." 



In Norfolk County, an intelligent and practical farmer 



writes : " English hay is extensively cultivated, and considered 



the most profitable crop raised. As the soil is well adapted 

 to it, and much of the land in a good state of cultivation, the 

 average yield is probably one ton and a half to the acre. 

 Within the last ten or fifteen years, much time and attention 

 have been given to draining and improving meadow and waste 

 land ; much of which was almost worthless, but now produces 

 a very valuable crop, and probably the increase is one-half" 



Such is the weight of the testimony, in many parts of the 

 State ; and what gives credit to it, is the fact, that writers in 

 the same localities, as in adjoining towns, without any concur- 

 rence or connection, in many cases, singularly confirm the judg- 

 ment of ea^h other ; in other localities the evidence would lead 

 to a different conclusion as to an increase in the yield. 



A distinguished practical farmer, writing from Worcester 

 County, says : — " The average yield, per acre, is one and a half 

 tons. The increase, for the last ten or fifteen years is not 

 much. There has been some improvement in cultivation, but 

 the deterioration of the land has probably kept pace with the 

 improvements, and the hay crop is the same as ten years ago." 



In Essex County, one fully competent to judge, says : — " The 

 average yield, per acre, of English hay, varies much with the 

 season. In a good year, about a ton to the acre. In some 

 years not over half that. One or two opinions place it as high 

 as a ton and a quarter in a good year. Perhaps the eight hun- 

 dred acres may be set down as producing one thousand tons. 

 This is the principal article marketed. It is the object to 

 keep as much land as possible in rnowing. 



" The increase of hay, by reclaiming meadow lands, has been 

 very considerable in the time of the present generation, — say 

 twenty to thirty years. In this time, it may be estimated at 



