103 



been cut, it was covered with a thick growth of grass, and 

 presented a splendid appearance. 



After it was abandoned as a brick yard, for which it was 

 formerly used, up to 1865 we know nothing of the condition of 

 the land. In 1865, one of our number helped harvest what it 

 produced, which, he thought, was about one ton of pretty good 

 swale hay. In 1868, Mr. Cummings, having obtained permis- 

 sion of the overseers, underdrained it by laying twelve hundred 

 and sixty-eight feet of tile, with a fall of fifteen inches per one 

 hundred feet, and twenty-one and five-elevenths rods of covered 

 stone drain. Adjoining it, on the north, is a small piece of 

 meadow, with numerous springs, and through which, also, flows 

 a large quantity of water from beyond the railroad. On the 

 line between this meadow and the land under consideration, 

 Mr. Cummings dug a trench, four feet deep, the entire length 

 of the meadow. In the bottom of the trench he laid a covered 

 stone drain, and filled the remainder of the trench to the 

 surface of the ground with small stones, and upon these he 

 built a substantial stone wall. From the drain under the wall 

 a 3-inch tile drain is laid entirely across the land to a brook on 

 the southerly side, and thus a great amount of water is carried 

 directly to the brook which otherwise would run over and soak 

 into the land. 



The position of this drain, as well as all the others, the 

 peculiarity in the position of which was made in order to tap 

 certain springs, and which Mr. Cummings says he should never 

 again pay any attention to, may be seen in the accompanying- 

 plan. In 1868 and 1869 the land was planted to potatoes, and 

 a medium quantity of barnyard manure was used. The result 

 was a heavy crop, the exact amount of which is forgotten. In 

 1870, it was seeded to grass with oals. The oats yielded well. 



In 1871, a large amount of both first and second crop was 

 taken from the land, which was thought by good judges to be 

 in the aggregate twelve tons. In 1872, the produce of the land 

 was estimated by a member of your Committee, who in 1865 

 helped harvest it, to be eight tons of first crop and four of 

 rowen. 



