PEAT-MEADOWS. 



PEAT-MEADOWS. 



179 



Other methods are adopted to convert peat-meadows 

 into English grass beside the one described in a late 

 number of our paper. Mr. Fay, of Marlborough — we 

 have not now his Christian name — has converted one 

 of his peat-meadows into mowing at very little expense. 

 When on a committee last fall to view the farms 

 offered for premium by the Middlesex society, we 

 visited Mr. Fay's farm. He merely turned over the 

 turf on tlie surface, and in a few days set fire to it. All 

 the surface turf was turned to ashes without any 

 piling up of the sods, and the ashes were of course 

 ready spread. Nothing more was done than to rake in 

 the seed. The grass looked finely when we saw it, 

 and he may get three or four crops of hay without any 

 manure. 



The whole labor of turning over these sods may 

 sometimes be performed by a man in ten days. The 

 first crop of hay, therefore, one ton and a half, was more 

 than equal to the whole expense of preparing the land! 



Another mode of preparing these lands for grass is to 

 turn the sods over either with bog-hoes, or with a 

 plough, then cover them with loam carted on from the 

 sides of the meadow, and put compost manure on the 

 surface. This method has been practised in the town 

 of Lexington and the adjoining towns. 



A third mode is to cart on gravel, sand, ior loam, 

 sufficient to cover up the wild growth, then apply the 

 compost. Gravel, or loam, is much better than sand, 

 as this last lies too compact and heavy when put on a 

 low meadow. Care should be taken in either case not 

 to cart on too much. It is not prudent to carry on 

 enough to cover completely all the old matter. We 

 should always calculate on ploughing these meadows 

 as soon as they become hard enough, and if five or six 

 inches of gravel covers the rich peat, the plough will 

 hardly reach it and bring it to the surface. 



