On Salt Marsh. ^53 



came to maturity, and were of excellent quality. In the 

 spring of 1815, we ploughed about ten acres, which was 

 planted with Indian corn ; about the same number of 

 acres were also planted with corn in the sod, without 

 ploughing : they both succeeded well, no difference in 

 the yield, which averaged about forty bushels to the 

 acre; but our superintendant believing that ploughing 

 was necessary to bring the marsh into fresh meadow, 

 ploughed in the autumn, near two hundred acres more, 

 which was exposed to the winter's frost : we had also 

 sown some grass seed the same season, on the sod ; it 

 took but partially. In the month of May, 1816, we 

 planted Indian corn on about one hundred and fifty acres 

 of the ploughed ground ; the frost and worm, with an 

 adverse season, destroyed nearly the whole crop : we ga- 

 thered less corn that year, than was produced the prece- 

 ding year from live acres ; about forty acres were sown 

 with oats, they grew well and gave a great yield ; it was 

 evident that oats were the best thing we could put into 

 the ground, for a first crop : it was now discovered that 

 much of the timothy, sown the preceding spring, had 

 taken root, which circumstance, together with the discou- 

 raging appearance of the corn, induced the decision to 

 sow grass seed throughout, which was accordingly done 

 that season, in the months of September, October, and 

 the beginning of November : that part which was sown 

 before the first of November did remarkably well, pro- 

 ducing, the last harvest, on some lots, full two tons of 

 timothy hay per acre, and, on the average, more than a 

 ton ; the late sown did not take or do so well, but we 

 made full three hundred tons of timothy hay, from this 



