82 ON RECLAIMING WET LANDS. 



methods, by thoroughly ditching and thoroughly gravelling. His is 

 a lot of apparently poor land, formerly allotted as a parsonage, ad- 

 joining the village of South Danvers ; his meadow surrounded by 

 sharp rocky knolls. He has favored us with a carefully executed 

 plan of his very ingenious method of ploughing by means of a running 

 tackle, or snatch block, which may easily be applied in ploughing 

 very soft and wet meadows. We saw a sample of Mr. Osbom's hay 

 from his reclaimed meadow, and pronounce it of the first quality. 



Mr. Richard Dodge, of Wenham, having also given a full, and 

 somewhat detailed statement of his process, his expenses, and the 

 produce of his land for several years, we are satisfied, from a care- 

 ful examination, of the correctness of his statement in all particulars. 

 And we would not omit to mention his worthy example of enterprise, 

 industry and perseverance. 



Respectfully submitted, for the Committee, 



TEMPLE CUTLER, Chairman. 



LEVERETT BRADLET'S STATEMENT. 



To the Committee on Reclaimed Meadows : 



Gentlemen, — I ofier for premium a meadow, containing about 

 30 acres. The soil, as you observed on inspection, is inclining to : 

 peat, and varies from 2 to 10 feet in depth. On some parts of it, \ 

 3 or 4 feet below the surface, logs abound. Previous to the year i; 

 1842, the produce of the open part of it was a coarse meadow grass. | 

 About one third part of it was covered with bushes, and during the i 

 entire year, except perhaps a very short time in summer, water stood 

 upon the whole of it. i 



In the year 1842, 1 commenced my improvements. Between that li 

 year and the year 1846, 1 have dug upwards of 1000 rods of ditches, f 

 My main ditch is about 100 rods in length, bl feet wide at the sur- 

 face, and through its whole length dug to the hard pan at bottom. 

 The other ditches average 22 or 3 feet in width at the surface ; all 

 dug to the pan. The clearings of the ditches furnish the best mate* ij I 

 rial for compost, and without any admixture, make a very good top- \ 

 dressing. About 5 acres of the meadow was ploughed and seeded 

 without any gravel spread upon the surface. The remaining 25 ' 



