238 HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN, AND 



enough to cut off all the springs, conducting all the water 

 through one ditch south. This operation rendered the other 

 four ditches worse than useless. These were filled in the fall 

 of the same year, by means of a good team, with cart wheels, 

 and a plough attached to the off end of the axletree. In the 

 spring of 1846, the bog was ploughed, though yet very miry, 

 and the year following was planted with the rest of the field, 

 producing apparently the heaviest corn, yielding at the rate of 

 about fifty-five bushels per acre. In 1848, the whole was 

 sown with barley and grass seed, and is now a beautiful spot of 

 mowing, without a hillock, bank, or ditch, to hinder the free 

 use of the scythe and horse rake. 



The other experiment was made upon a piece of low ground, 

 one rod wide and about ten long, (near the lot just mentioned) 

 running cornerwise with the lot, commonly saturated with 

 water, and covered with tough bogs. In the autumn of 1847, 

 this hollow was backfurrowed, a ditch dug on one side deep 

 enough to cut off the springs, and rails laid at the bottom cov- 

 ered with board, turf, and earth. This covered drain still op- 

 erates finely, and the hollow is now dry, smooth and produc- 

 tive, having borne the last year corn, and this year oats and 

 clover. 



I am aware that these experiments are on a small scale, but 

 still the principle would apply on larger tracts of land. Per- 

 haps I should state that the outlay in these cases was trifling, 

 as the labor was done with my own hands, (except the team 

 work,) and at a leisure season. 



North Hadley, Dec. 27, 1849. 



George Dickinson'' s Statement. 



I present the following account of a crop of wheat raised by 

 me the past season. 



Amount of land sown, 218 rods. 

 Amount of seed sown, 2| bushels. 

 Amount of crop, 39 bushels. 

 Rate per acre, 28 bushels, 20 quarts. 



