G8 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



of the drain ; this ditch'^vas then laid down with stone chips, 

 but they were afterwards mostly taken np and tiles put in 

 their place ; stone will do in hard pan very well. 



After this ditch was complete, the land was bogged, the sand 

 from the main drain spread, and by the aid of scraper and 

 shovel, well covered with loam and sand : a large part was 

 ploughed ; it was then all well dragged, at least two days to 

 the acre, a light coat of compost or fresh manure added ; then 

 stocked, dragged and bushed. We then raked all the light 

 sods and roots with a hand rake and the work was complete. 

 We experienced more than ordinary difficulty on account of 

 having to keep the water at a certain height to convey to 

 another meadow below for irrigation. We ran the under- 

 drain alons; the bank till the fall decreased so as to render it 

 advisable to have recourse to the main drain by another perpen- 

 dicular. We find the best course to pursue is to mark out by 

 an under-drain as much as can be completed in one season, and 

 then commence ag-ain at the main drain. We find where the 

 land is not ploughed it is necessary to cut the bogs very close, 

 or rather to completely skin the land. We find it better to 

 plough ever so slightly, as the sand can be more readily mixed 

 with the soil, and if dragged in the right state the turf will all 

 drag to pieces, and that which will not drag to pieces, ought 

 always to be removed. Bogs will grow in quite a dry soil, if 

 they be well rooted; therefore it is quite important to 

 thoroughly subdue the old sod before you attempt to make a 

 new one. I have numbered the pieces as they were finished. 

 No. 1 contains about three-fourths of an acre, lies between the 

 main drain and a drain that conveys the water along the 

 upland to a meadow below not ploughed ; sanded by spreading 

 the bank of ditch; finished sometime in October, 1851; seeded 

 one-half pound Timothy, one-half pound festuca-pratensis ; the 

 festuca somewhat killed out but came in to redtop and June 

 grass. 



But in 1852, twenty-five large cocks, being light and leafy, 

 would not weigh over ten hundred. In 1853, cut thirty-five 

 hundred, and a large crop of rowen now on the ground. 



No. 2 contains over an acre, lies opposite side of main drain 

 with under-drain along bank; was partially fitted in the fall. 



