344 BARNSTABLE SOCIETY. 



Ohed Brooks, Jr^s. Statement. 



In all the towns in this county there may be seen tracts of 

 land lying unfenced and unimproved, the surface of which is 

 being blown off by the winds, and which are becoming barren, 

 sandy, and unsightly. 



Having had some experience in reclaiming such waste lands, 

 I am under the impression that the farming community are not 

 generally aware of the facility with which they can be ren- 

 dered not only pleasant to the eye, but profitable to the culti- 

 vator. 



It is well known that the soil of the Cape, even that which 

 has the appearance of great sterility, is peculiarly adapted to the 

 growth of Indian corn. With a slight dressing, by proper cul- 

 tivation, it can be made to produce a good crop of corn the first 

 year ; and by laying down to grass in the fall, may be brought 

 into good pastures. Moreover, by setting upon the borders of 

 the enclosure the abele, or silver leaf — a tree exactly adapted to 

 such loose and sandy soils, and not liable to be eaten by cattle, 

 — they may be made to improve the appearance of any village, 

 and give an air of thrift and beauty to the waste places of the 

 Cape. Among the articles for manuring such lands, I have 

 derived great advantage from pond mud, carted directly from the 

 bed ; but my success with a particular field of this description, 

 which I have cultivated entirety without manure, induces me to 

 offer you my mode of management. 



The field I allude to is situated in a central part of the town 

 of Harwich, and bounded on one side by the county road, on 

 the other side by a pond, and contains eleven and one-half 

 acres. I purchased it three years ago, giving eighty dollars for 

 the lot. It was then, and had been for several years a common. 

 It had been worn out by the skimiing process, and some por- 

 tions of it had already began to blow, and to assume the appear- 

 ance of beach sand. It had often been offered for sale, at a price 

 considerably less than that which I paid for it, but it was con- 

 sidered hardly worth the fencing. 



In the spring of 1847, I fenced it with post and rail fence, 

 at a cost of seventy dollars, using cedar posts and chestnut 



