THE FAKMEKiS' KEGISTEK. 



593 



My first object was to render this land produc- 

 iive ; but how to do it was the question. I had 

 no works on tiie subject, and all ilic inlormation I 

 oould get was what I could occiieionally ffjean 

 liom the New England Farmer. One thing was 

 evident, that the land must tirst be drained, 'i'he.ie 

 was a gridt mill in the cenirc olthe town, supplied 

 by a stream that run through ilie land. 1 exerted 

 inyseir to get this mill discontinued and it finally 

 was discontinued. This however was insuiticieni 

 10 drain the land. In 1827 I commenced ditching 

 u, and cut my ditches so low that the water would 

 liow back to the head of them ; that is, I com- 

 menced digging at the lowest pan, and dug so low 

 that (he water would follow along after. I take 

 especial care to level and slope down the banks of 

 my ditches, so thai now the grufs grows down to 

 the water's edge. This effected the object so far 

 as draining was concerned, but it did not bring it 

 into English grass. This was the next thing to 

 be eliiected, and to do it I have tried various me- 

 thods. I thought ihat 1 might plant a crop of 

 corn and potatoes, and then lay it down lo grass ; 

 but this did not work well, as most of it was too 

 miry to be ploughed, and the ground even after 

 bearing a crop would not become firm. I tried 

 burning, but this did but little good, except to rid 

 me ol' the bushes. Indeed, I once felt learfui that 

 the fire would communicate to the peat below, and 

 burn up the whole meadow. 



Convenient to this meadow there is a hill com- 

 posed of sandy ioam. I carted on some of this, 

 manured it, and sowed grass seed. This answered 

 the purpose. The ground very soon became firm, 

 (lie grass seed took, and the yield was altogether 

 beyond my expectations. This plan I have pur- 

 sued ever since, and it has now grown into a sys- 

 tem with me. My whole method consists in this. 

 i first ditch and drain the land, cut oH the bushes, 

 and if they are large, pull them up by the roots, 

 and level it down, then spread on about 400 cart- 

 loads of sandy loam upon an acre, and 20 carl 

 loads of compost manure, harrow it well, and 

 (usually in the month of September,) sow half a 

 bushel of herds-grass and a half a bushel of red 

 top, harrow again, and roll it down smooth with a 

 heavy roller. Should the wild grass make its ap- 

 pearance, as it sometimes will after five or six 

 years, I turn it over after taking off the crop, give 

 it a top-dressing of about 20 loads of compost 

 manure to the acre, sow grass seed, harrow aiid 

 roll it down as before. I have one piece which 

 has been reclaimed 12 years, it has not been 

 manured since it was first laid down. The wild 

 grass has not yet made its appearance, but 

 it still continues to bear as great a crop as ever. 



This land has been reclaimed at odd jobs, wiien 

 my men and teams cpa\d not do nther work to 

 advantage — some of it in foul weather, and much 

 ol' it in the winter. Indeed I was obliged lo do 

 much of it in the wimer when the meadows were 

 frozen, on account of the mire. I verily believe 

 that the first two crops have, in every instance, re- 

 paid the whole cost and expense of reclaiming. 



I have now from 20 to 2.5 acres, wliich have thus 

 been reclaimed, (not including some 8 or 10 acres 

 of swail hay, partially reclaimed, as staled in my 

 answer to question 11.) The success that 1 have 

 had may be judged of by the value of the crops 

 produced. Every year since this land has been 

 reclaimed, whether wet or dry, it has produced on 

 Vol. IX.— 58 



an average not less than three tone of English hay 

 to an acre, which brings the highest market price. 

 In 1838, at the request ofMrCoIman, the Agricul- 

 tural Commissioner, I weighed the first cropof hay 

 on one acre of this land, and it weighed 7610 lbs. 

 About three acres of it, during the present season 

 1 have no doubt produced five tons lo the acre. It 

 was mowed twice, and the second crop was so 

 large that it was considerably lodged. One other 

 lact may be stated. A lew years ago I built a 

 barn 30 feet by 40, and some ol' my neighbors 

 laughed at me lor it. and said " it is a good barn, 

 bui what are you going lo fill it with ?" That 

 barn, as Mr. Allen has aeen, together with one 40 

 by SOIeet, which I have since built, as well as my 

 others, are now full, and I shall soon have lo build 

 more, or else stop reclaiming peat meadows. This 

 land during the present season has produced from 

 75 to 80 tons of good English hay, and it certainly 

 alfords no little satisfaction to be able lo obtain 

 such crops (rom land which fifteen years ago pro- 

 duced nothing. 



13. I have planted about 6 acres of corn during 

 the present season. On 3 1-2 acres, the soil being 

 very light, I spread from 20 to 25 loads of comport 

 manure to the acre and harrowed it in. This pro- 

 duced about 30 bushels to the acre. On the two 

 acres, which was better land, I put the same quan- 

 tity of manure per acre, part spread and part in 

 the hill. This produced at least 65 bushels of 

 very handsome corn to the acre. On one half 

 acre I raised 40 bushels of the handsomest corn 

 that I ever saw. It was ihe Brown corn, which is 

 the earliest and beet corn that I have. The seed 

 was not prepared. 



14. I planted between 3 and 4 acres of potatoes 

 in one field. I have others around the cornfields, 

 but how many I am not able to tell. They were 

 all planted in hills and manured in the hill. They 

 were ploughed and hoed twice. I am not able to 

 tell the quantify per acre, but I raispd about 1500 

 bushels in all. The kinds were Ihe Chenango, long 

 red, St. Helena, Rohan, and some white. Tiie 

 long reds and Rohans were the most productive. 



15. The other vegetables that I planted were 

 1-2 an acre ofcarrots, which produced 450 bushels, 

 1-4 ' ' sugar beets, ' • 320 ' 

 1-10 ' ' mangel wurlzel, ' 165 ' 



1 acre of ruta bagas, « 200 ' 



This same acre was planted with ruta bagas last 

 year and produced 1132 bushels, which shows the 

 utility of a rotation of crops, so far as this vegeta- 

 ble is concerned. 



In addition to the above, 1 have of turnips 

 which grew in thexornfields, 225 bushels, and 12 

 cart-loads of pumpkins, besides 22 bushels of 

 onions and other garden vegetables. 



These vegetables ar,e mostly fed out to the cat- 

 de and swine. 



16. I sowed three acres of barley, half an acre 

 ol tea wheat, and one acre of oats in the spring 

 with grass seed. The quantity is not yet ascer- 

 tained, as the grain has not yet been thrashed. 

 One and one-third of an acre of buckwheat, 

 which produced 30 bushels. Two-thirds of an 

 acre of Indian wheal, which produced 21 bushels. 

 I used no lime with any of it, except the tea 

 wheat. , 



17. I have laid down 1 1-2 acres to grass', etftv- 

 ed about the Hist of June without grain. I put 

 half a bushel of herds-grass seed and half a 

 bushel of red lop (c an acre. 



