364 



little of it is suitable for fuel. Much of this land is now under 

 very high improvement, though some of the proprietors with an 

 incredulity and obstinacy peculiar to some men, and evidently 

 in a degree constitutional, will not seethe improvements, though 

 their own land in its original swampy and tangled condition, 

 presents a strong contrast with the improved meadows of their 

 neighbors. There are none so blind as those who will not see. 

 Much land remains to have its face washed and its hair combed. 

 These meadows are easily drained ; the level of the meadow 

 being 115 feet above the Nashua river, and there being an out- 

 let at each end. 



When these lands become perfectly subdued and cnriclied, 

 lying as they do open to full view with the beautiful village of 

 Groton upon their margin, with the wide horizon and the dis- 

 tant mountains bounding the prospect, it will not be easy 

 to find a more charming landscape. 



7. Another farmer in Groton, Rufus Morrs, whose farming is 

 excellent, has effected great improvements in the reclamation 

 of peat meadows. His premises indicate indefatigable indus- 

 try directed by great skill and judgment. 



He disapproves, he says, from long experience, the applica- 

 tion of gravel to these lands. He " bogs " the meadow with 

 a hoe, that is, turns over all the sods ; carries on a compost of 

 loam and manure mixed, plants potatoes, or lays it down with 

 oats to be cut green, or sows it in the fall without any grain. 

 He has sometimes taken up a piece in the autumn ; repeatedly 

 harrowed it until it was reduced to a fine state ; manured it ; 

 then sowed grass seed at the rate of half a bushel of herdsgrass 

 and a quantity of red-top, but no clover, and the next season 

 has taken a large burden of grass from this land. 



8. I have found nowhere on a small scale, more skilful im- 

 provements executed tlian on the farm of Mark Fay, inMarlboro'. 

 He made various attempts of which he gives the subjoined ac- 

 count. From 1829 until 1836, he states that he tried various 

 ways, until he adopted the plan of turfing, and burning the 

 turf in heaps and spreading the ashes. He then in June seeded 



