162 PLYMOUTH SOCIETY. 



grounds on which premiums have been paid, the supervisor has 

 perceived small squads of the enemy fought there, again show- 

 ing their heads ; and, without early attention, they may soon rise 

 in destructive force. Three years of careful cultivation, in some 

 situations, becomes necessary to subdue effectually the bushes, 

 and it will probably be advisable in future to require this. Paul 

 Hathaway, of Middleborough, the only applicant this year for 

 subduing bushes, has operated on a piece of land, thickly cov- 

 ered with bushes, and the work rendered tedious by numerous 

 rocks. The committee recommend the award of the premium 

 of $10. 



Only two claimants, for the renovation of swamp land, have 

 completed their experiments. Josiah Whitman, of East Bridge- 

 water, has renovated about an acre and a half, which was cov- 

 ered with bushes and brakes, and yielded very little as pastur- 

 age. He ploughed, dug out the roots of bushes, levelled the 

 surface, applied ten cords of compost manure, and seeded with 

 rye, herdsgrass and red-top. The rye gave only a small crop ; 

 in some years it would have entirely failed ; the soil is mani- 

 festly too moist and tenacious for this crop ; with liberal manur- 

 ing, it will produce grass in abundance. We suppose it is a 

 common error, with farmers, to seed too scantily with grass. Mr. 

 W. has certainly avoided this error, and we think has entered 

 on the opposite extreme. One bushel of herdsgrass, two of red- 

 top, and four pounds of clover seed, applied to an acre and sixty- 

 three rods of land, we believe extravagant seeding, and unne- 

 cessarily expensive, if no other evil attends it. But another 

 evil is likely to follow ; when the grass-plants are too numerous, 

 they will grow slender, and often before maturity fall in a mat 

 on the surface, and a rapid process of decay will commence at 

 the roots. The second premium offered for the renovation of 

 swamp land, $10, is awarded to Mr. Whitman. 



William T. Adams, of Bridgewater, has renovated, in a very 

 effectual manner, a swamp remarkable for its roughness. It 

 was indeed a formidable undertaking to subdue the bushes, and 

 remove the rocks. Numbers of our young men would, rather 

 than have engaged in such a work, risked their lives in a Mexi- 

 can war, and vomito climate. Mr. Adams preferred contending 



