SECRETARY'S REPORT. 2U 



never had been ditched. I purchased it in 1840, which year it 

 produced rather less than half a ton, per acre, of poor, short, 

 wiry hay, worth but little more than the cost of cutting and 

 curing. In the autumn of that year, I hired faithful laborers, 

 well skilled in the business, to cut ditches over the whole lot, 

 two rods apart, eight inches wide and three feet deep ; the sods 

 taken out, were laid in piles, to prevent the tide from washing 

 them away. The two following winters, they were taken upon 

 a sled to the cattle-yard, where they remained until the roots 

 of grass contained in them were decayed, so as to break in 

 pieces readily. For manure, and as an absorbent, they are as 

 valuable as the best of meadow muck or peat. 



" I paid for ditching the entire lot, ninety dollars ; more than 

 one hundred cords of sods were dug out and carted away, 

 which I consider worth as much to me, as the sum paid for 

 ditching. They were placed in the barnyard, in a compact 

 form, to insure a proper degree of moisture and cause a speedy 

 decomposition, and afterwards mixed with animal manures. 



" Three years after ditching, the produce was double — full 

 one ton per acre, was cut, of an improved quality, since which 

 it has annually increased. This year the produce, as estimated 

 by good judges, was two tons per acre, including about five 

 tons of second crop, cut from the best part of the marsh. As 

 an evidence of the quantity cut this year, I would state, that 

 the produce has been sold for three hundred dollars in cash, 

 after the owner had used nearl}^ one ton for feed for his cows, 

 the purchaser agreeing to take it at the barn where it is now 

 stored. 



" I consider salt hay, when cut from marshes that have been 

 ditched, where the grass is thick and the yield large, to be 

 worth as much as the average of upland hay ; that cows thrive 

 as well, and give as much milk, as when fed with herds-grass 

 and clover hav. 



" It is my belief, that all marshes can be made more produc- 

 tive by thorough draining, at a very small expense. I intend, 

 next autumn, to cut ditches upon my own marsh, between those 

 heretofore made. My opinion is unchanged, that the sods are 

 worth as much as the expense of ditching, when within one 

 mile of the farm where they are to be used." 



