46 Lojig Island Farming. [Jan., 



summer. Last year I made under-drains of about one-third, 

 using large stones for sides, say six inches high, and covered 

 them with flat stones procured at Kinderhook, putting in plenty 

 of small stones to keep the sand from washing in and stopping 

 the water, and then covering the whole with the dirt taken irom 

 the ditch, being sufficiently deep to be out of the way of the 

 plow. I next commenced clearing, by stubbing off the bogs, and 

 burning the surface over every spring; heaping the bogs and 

 roots, and burning on the field. I then commenced plowing, 

 and the first day broke all my farm plows amongst the bog 

 roots; and after plowing the furrows, which it took six men to 

 do, some holding the furrow, which as soon as we let go our hold 

 would turn right back in its old place, and was so tough that had 

 we tied a rope at one end we could no doubt have dragged it ten 

 miles without its breaking, or losing perceptibly any of the soil, 

 so completely was it matted with roots. You may well suppose 

 we were discouraged, and some of the men vented their curses 

 upon the swamp. Not being in much better humor myself, I di- 

 rected the broken tools and maimed teams to be taken home. 

 Not liking the idea of giving up so favorite a project that all my 

 friends had considered a wonderful undertaking, and would never 

 be done, I set to searching the books for information how to go 

 to work, which resulted in beautiful descriptions of the great pro- 

 ductiveness of such land after being cleared; but not one word 

 how it was to be done, save ditching. 1 slept but little that 

 night, and said no more about the swamp for two months. But 

 I had a plow made larger and stronger, and got my men in good 

 humor, and we went at it again with a pair of oxen and a pair 

 of steady farm horses on the lead, two men to drive, one to hold 

 the plow, one bearing on the beam to keep it in, and three trying 

 to keep the furrow from turning back; but it was of no use, it 

 would turn back, and I then had it cut off in pieces, and hauled 

 entirely out of the way, that the next should leave the first furrow 

 to fall flat. This did better, and we got on very well, plowing 

 about one acre per day, occasionally stopping to clear the last 

 furrow. 



I left this to remain during the winter, and in the spring found 

 the frost had pulveri/ied the furrow, so that a good iron-tooth 

 harrow applied at three or four days apart finally got the ground 

 in good order and we sowed oats late in the season, Avhich grew 

 finely but were lighter than our upland oats, producing about the 

 same. After the oats, plowed the stubble and sowed wheat, ten to 

 fifteen wagon loads stable manure with all the bog ashes, and six 

 quarts of timothy seed per acre; wheat grew finely and stood 

 the wintering well and promised to be the best piece of wheat in 

 the county, but the grass seeds came on too rapidly for the wheat 



