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pense of the proprietors such principal ditches through the 

 meadows as would enable the individual owners to drain their 

 meadows so as to be able to introduce the cultivated grasses in 

 all, and perhaps plough a large part of it." The commission- 

 ers having examined the meadows, decided under commission 

 to put in a self-acting gate, which would allow the water ac- 

 cumulating in these meadows to run off during the recession of 

 the tide, and which would prevent the reflux at the approach 

 of high water. They also decided to straighten, widen and 

 ^deepen the outlets of Fresh Pond and Spy Pond, and to open 

 ditches into those parts of the meadows remote from these out- 

 lets, so that each proprietor would have the means of draining 

 his own land without trespassing upon his neighbor. These 

 principal water-courses were made under the immediate super- 

 intendence of one of the commissioners, who is a farmer and 

 lives near the meadows. Some of the principal proprietors fol- 

 lowed out the subject pretty thoroughly, by cutting off the 

 springs upon the margin, and opening such cross ditches as were 

 necessary to produce the desired result. This was done the 

 same season that the principal ditches were excavated under 

 the commissioners. Should this experiment succeed according 

 to its early promise, it will be one of the finest improvements 

 ever attempted in this part of the country ; and convert, under 

 the skilful cultivators who reside near it, the whole of this 

 hitherto unsightly region into productive gardens and verdant 

 and waving meadows. 



3. The most remarkable improvements in the county have 

 consisted in the redemption of peat bogs and their conversion from 

 sunken quagmires into most productive arable and grass lands. 

 Such improvements are to be found all over the county, and are 

 to be seen to great advantage in Lexington, Groton, Framing- 

 ham, Concord, and many other towns. Large tracts of peat bog 

 yet remain in the county to be redeemed. The general method 

 has been to open sufficient drains for the removal of the water 

 entirely, or else to reduce it so that it may not at any time stand 

 higher in the ditches than within eighteen inches of the surface. 



