CROPS AND PROFITS 



any such purpose, were buried in drains, which 

 diverted the standing moisture from one or two 

 sedgy basins on the hill, and discharged the 

 flow upon the crown of a gravelly slope. 

 There, I have now the pleasure of seeing a 

 most luxuriant growth of white clover and 

 red top, fertilized wholly by the flow of water 

 which was only harmful in its old locality. 

 I next ordered, in the leisurely time of later 

 autumn, the grubbing up of the patches of 

 myrtles and briers, root and branch ; these with 

 the mossy turf that cumbered them, after thor- 

 ough drying, were set on fire, and burned slum- 

 berously, with a little careful watching and 

 tending, for weeks together. I was thus in 

 possession of a comparatively smooth surface, 

 not so far disintegrated as to be subject to 

 damaging washes of storm, besides having a 

 large stock of fertilizing material in the shape 

 of ashes. 



In the following spring, these were carefully 

 spread; a generous supply of hay-seed sown, 

 and still further, an ample dressing of phos- 

 phatic guano. The hillside was then thor- 

 oughly combed with a fine-toothed Scotch har- 

 row, and the result has been a compact lively 

 sod, and a richer bite for the cattle. 



Again, upon one or two salient points of the 



131 



