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the ground with grass seed, and at the same time sowed oats, 

 which he cut in August for fodder, and as nearly as he could 

 judge, he had about two tons to the acre. The next season he 

 had a crop of herdsgrass and clover. He mowed the ground 

 twice, and obtained by estimation, four tons to the acre. In 

 September, 1837, he turfed and burnt about one fourth of an 

 acre and sowed winter rye. In Juno the ensuing season, he 

 cut about two rods of the straw for braiding-straw, which 

 proved very good. He reaped the remainder, which yielded 

 five bushels of good rye. In August, 1838, he turfed about 

 one acre, and let the turf lay about a week turned bottom up 

 and then set fire to it as it lay. It burnt very well. He thinks 

 this better than to burn it in heaps, as it leaves the ground more 

 even, and saves the labor of collecting, the turf. The expense 

 of turfing, burning, and seeding this acre, was about 12 dollars, 

 whereas his first experiment cost him more than 50 dollars per 

 acre. In the second year, he gives the ground a top-dressing 

 with compost manure, and continues this yearly. His first 

 movement is to ditch the ground thoroughly, and so to drain 

 that the water in the ditches certainly may not stand within 

 eighteen inches of the surface, and he finds it necessary to cut 

 a ditch near the hard land, the margin of the meadow, so as to 

 intercept the cold springs. He usually plants the banks of the 

 ditches two or three years with potatoes ; and after this part 

 of the ground gets well warmed and rotted, he spreads it on 

 the grass for a top-dressing. 



I inquired the result with some carrots, which by way of ex- 

 periment, he had sowed upon the banks of his ditches. He 

 answers that he obtained thirty bushels on ten rods, and thinks 

 he should have had fifty, had he not been too sparing of his seed. 

 They would have done better in the other parts of the ground, 

 as the banks of the ditches proved too dry for them. He has 

 now obtained a turf-cutter, which is calculated to be used with 

 ox or horse-power. The share is like that of a common plough, 

 excepting that it wings each way eight inches from the centre. 

 It has no mould board. It has a coulter, and this with the 



