58 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



FARM IMPROVEMENTS. 



ESSEX. 



From the Report of the Committee on Wet Meadow and 

 Swamp Lands. 



The Committee on " Improving Wet Meadow and Swamp 

 Lands" met at the farm of S. B. Bodwell, North Andover, 

 September 21, to view a piece of reclaimed swamp land, 

 offered by him for premium. This piece, of two acres, was 

 covered five years ago with a thick growth of alders and 

 underbrush, and upon part of it the water stood throughout 

 the whole of every year. It was of little value, not over 

 $30 an acre, and yielded no income. 



In the spring of 1869, as Mr. Bodwell states, he mowed, 

 cut and burned the bushes, put in one main ditch, and broke 

 up with four yoke of oxen. 



In 1870, he harrowed four or five times in course of the 

 summer, and fall-ploughed with two yoke of oxen, took up 

 stones and stumps, and put in remainder of drains. 



In 1871, he ploughed and harrowed and planted potatoes 

 and cabbages, manured in the hills. The crop paid expenses 

 of the year's work. In the fall he ploughed and sowed with 

 timothy and redtop. 



In 1872, he cut three tons of hay to the acre, in two cut- 

 tings. In the fall he top-dressed with four cords of stable- 

 manure to the acre. 



In 1873, he sowed red clover in the spring, and cut fully 

 three tons of hay per acre, mostly herdsgrass, for first crop, 

 and one ton per acre for second crop. 



In 1874, he cut three tons of hay per acre for first crop. 

 At the time of the Committee's visit, about half an acre had 

 been cut the second time, from which twenty good-sized cocks 

 of hay had been put in. On the balance of the piece the 



