370 



100 bushels ruta baga at 30 cts. . 

 1800 to 2000 lbs. hay, 



50 dozens of cabbages at 50 cts. 

 2000 lbs, squashes, 

 Value of fuel taken off, at least 



Balance in favor of the improvement the first year, $76 28 



The prices of the produce are estimated at a high rate ; but 

 they were the current prices at the time. The improved value 

 of the land is not rated; but it would be fair to place it at 100 

 dollars per acre. 



11. An improvement of a similar kind by William Gifford of 

 West Falmouth, Plymouth county, is equally remarkable. 

 This was a low piece of sunken peat bog, which he began to 

 drain by ditching it, making his ditches 4 feet wide at top, 

 three feet at bottom and two deep, thus laying the ground 

 into beds or plats 20 feet in width. The contents of the 

 ditches were carefully spread upon the land. In the ensuing 

 winter, while the ground was frozen, the whole surface was 

 covered to the thickness of half an inch with fine mould. 

 This ground was sewed with wheat and grass seed early in the 

 spring when the frost was out not more than three inches, and 

 a dressing of about six tons of horse manure applied to the 

 acre, and the whole carefully harrowed. The wheat and 

 grass grew finely. He obtained about six bushels of excellent 

 wheat to the acre, and his stubble crop of clover and herds- 

 grass afterwards amounted to two tons to the acre. The land 

 now for two years has continued to maintain its condition. He 

 applies annually a dressing of horse manure about the same as 

 when he sowed it the first time. It has become so hard he 

 can now drive a ton weight upon any part of it, though when 

 he began he could thrust a pole into the ground ten feet with- 

 out difficulty, and it was difficult to walk over it without 

 sinking. By actual measurement it has yielded three tons of 



