ON RECLAIMED MEADOWS. / t 



the soil, which is alluvial from one to two feet deep, and made 

 a bargain to lease it for twenty years. During the winter of 

 1S43 I cut otr most of the alders, and in 1844 cut the remain- 

 der. A part of them were cut in the usual way of cutting al- 

 ders for fuel ; a part were taken out by one man taking hold of 

 the clump anc". pulling from the man with an axe on the oppo- 

 site side, while he goes round and cuts the large roots, when 

 they will very readily come out whole. I think this far the 

 cheapest and easiest way of getting tliem oat. I should think 

 I cut on the piece more than fifty loads for three cattle. A 

 part of these I sold for from two dollars to two dollars and fif- 

 ty cents a load — I might say their average value would be two 

 dollars and twenty-five cents. In 184.5 I commenced getting 

 out the roots, first with a bush puller and then with a plough, 

 which I think much the best instrument. 1 should think we 

 spent about six days with three men and two yoke of oxen, 

 clearing about an acre from roots and ploughing it. The roots 

 we piled up and covered with clam shells and burnt them into 

 lime with the roots, and then laid them out in hills, and planted 

 potatoes on them, which went over about lialf an acre. The 

 other was manured with one load of manure from the barn and 

 two cords rock-weed mixed with stutf thrown out of the ditch- 

 es. Of the three kinds of dressing used, I consider the con- 

 tents of the root and shell heap the best. The potatoes grew 

 finely, and gave promise of a good crop had it not been for the 

 blight, which rendered them almost worthless. In 1846 I 

 cleared the remainder of roots, and ploughed the Avhole, sow- 

 ing that part planted with potatoes with oats, and the new 

 piece I planted with potatoes, using about one and a half cords 

 manure. The oats grew very rank, so as to lodge, producing 

 a great quantity of straw, I should think more than two and a 

 half tons, with very little grain, and the potatoes a middling 

 crop. It was my intention to have ploughed and sowed it af- 

 ter the crop came ofi', but on account of heavy rains in fall and 

 spring, I was not able to do it until late in May 1847. The 

 produce of this year was a great crop of weeds with the young 

 grass, which I nearly gave away for taking ofi". In 1848 I cut 

 five and a half tons of first quality market hay when it was 



