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for the compost heap. Some years since, I occasionally sold 

 to my neighbors, a few rods of my peat land, annually, to be 

 cut out for fuel at $3 per rod square, being at the rate of $480 

 per acre, but finding this sum to be less than its value for culti- 

 vation, especially when laid to grass, 1 have declined making 

 further sales at that price. I have raised upon my reclaimed 

 meadows, 75 bushels corn, 500 bushels potatoes, and from 4 to 

 5 tons of the best hay at the first and second cutting, to the 

 acre, at a less expense of labor and manure than would be re- 

 quired to produce half this crop upon my uplands. 



" To render these lands productive, they should be thoroughly 

 drained, by cutting a ditch around the margin of the meadow, 

 so as to cut off the springs and receive the water that is con- 

 tinually flowing in from the surrounding uplands. If the mead- 

 ow be wide, a ditch through the centre may be necessary, but 

 this will be of no use without the border ditches. This being 

 thoroughly done and the surplus water all drawn off, the next 

 step is to exterminate the wild grasses and herbage of every kind 

 that grow upon the surface. To effect this, the method hereto- 

 fore, and now by some pursued, is to cover with sand or gravel 

 from three to six inches deep, top-dress with manure, sow the 

 grass seed, and rake or bush it over. This, for the first year or 

 two, will give a good crop of hay. But after this, I have inva- 

 riably found that the more hardy and coarse kinds of wild grass 

 would work their way through the sand and gravel, and com- 

 pletely supplant the cultivated grasses, when the whole must 

 have another covering and another top-dressing, or be aban- 

 doned as worthless. If to be planted with corn or any of the 

 root crops, my course has been to turn over the turf or sward, 

 with a plough having a wrought-iron share and coulter, both 

 ground to a sharp edge, in the driest season, say in the month 

 of September, roll down as hard as possible, carry on the fol- 

 lowing winter a sufficient top-dressing of com})ost, about 20 

 cart-loads to the acre, and in the spring spread the same, and 

 plant with corn or roots, without disturbing the sod. When 

 the corn or root crop is taken off, the surface is made smooth 



