THE EMIGRANT'S HAND-BOOK. 89 



spring ; the soil, a sandy loam, resting on a stratum of 

 gravel and pebbles cemented together by clay. On 

 many parts of this field springs broke out, which leached 

 over the ground, mostly between the soil and subsoil, and 

 rendered it so wet that in the early part of spring, a little 

 exertion of a man when standing on it would shake the 

 earth for yards around. To reclaim this field, 200 rods 

 of stone under-drain were made, at an expense of about 

 fifty cents per rod. The ditch was cut too wide, conse- 

 quently it cost more to dig and fill it than it otherwise 

 would. In other respects it was made according to the 

 preceding directions. 



In the spring of 1838, the field received one ploughing; 

 four acres were sown with barley, (they should have 

 been planted :) two acres were planted with potatoes, 

 half an acre with corn, and one acre ploughed a second 

 time and planted with rutabaga all without manure. 

 The produce of this first year was about 100 bushels of 

 barley, 600 bushels of potatoes, 20 bushels of corn, and 

 600 bushels of rutabaga. In the spring of 1839 the field 

 was once ploughed, and seven acres sown with Italian 

 spring wheat, and the remaining half acre with Whit- 

 tington wheat. The latter proved a total failure, as it 

 proved to be a variety of winter instead of spring wheat, 

 as was supposed. The Italian grew large, lodged badly, 

 and shrunk ; yielded 15 bushels per acre. In the spring 

 of 1840, the field was covered with wheat straw, and then 

 carefully ploughed and harrowed, and planted with corn, 

 excepting three rows of potatoes around the piece. The 

 corn produced 65 and the potatoes 250 bushels per acre. 

 In the spring of 1841, by the alteration of an adjoining 

 field, one-half an acre was added to this. The field was 

 then ploughed once, and four acres sown with peas, and 

 the other four acres with barley. The peas and barley 



