SOLON ROBINSON, 1850 421 



nishing, $200,000 have been expended. In this case, as in 

 all others, improvement has increased the price of all the 

 surrounding land, to double or treble the former prices. 

 Mr. B. has lately bought an old field, which, according to 

 the old order of Yankee farming, has lain untouched by 

 the plow for a quarter of a century. He paid $150 an 

 acre; but it is doubtful whether the owner ever made 

 interest on a fourth of that sum from its poor pasturage. 

 Through the lot runs a small stream, and of course a row 

 of alders along its bank. The first step was to clear off 

 all the brush and roots, and dig a draining ditch, take out 

 a bed of muck, about three feet deep, and cover over the 

 surface of the whole field, until it was as black as char- 

 coal, to lay and freeze and thaw till spring, then receive 

 a good coat of ashes, and be plowed under. Another por- 

 tion formed a great compost heap with stable manure, 

 and occasionally the carcass of a dead horse, or other 

 domestic animal, which many farmers throw away, 

 worthless. In the effort to plow deep, he discovered a 

 valuable bed of stone. Another field, lying in the same 

 condition of eternal pasture, he bought for $60 dollars an 

 acre, and has purchased a few acres of swamp near it, to 

 get muck for manure. Another small lot he is under- 

 draining. He is doing these things not so much with a 

 view to profit, as to gratify his taste for making improve- 

 ment, and also to show his neighbors that there is no 

 need of their old barren fields, lying almost worthless all 

 over the country, for they can be easily renovated and 

 made as fertile as the virgin lands of the west. He has 

 made a small trial of guano, which, if it succeeds well, 

 will enable him to renovate the old fields very cheaply. I 

 hope his success may be commensurate with his public 

 spirit and desire to create a disposition among the people 

 to improve their land, by a better and more enlightened 

 system of agriculture. 



It is a pity the same spirit is not more universal. Not- 

 withstanding the great improvements that have taken 

 place in this state, within a few years, there is room for 

 greater ones. Solon Robinson. 



