EECLAIMED LANDS. 35 



upon it was for the most part removed upon poles, and in some 

 cases it could not be cured upon the ground in consequence of 

 standing water. The hay was of little value except for beddhig, 

 and some of the proprietors preferred to let it stand rather 

 than incur the expense of securing it. , 



The superior court of Middlesex County appointed William 

 F. Ellis and Elias Grout, of Ashland, and David Fisk, of Fram- 

 ingham, commissioners, to make such improvements in Little 

 Cedar Swamp as they deemed for the best interests of the pro- 

 prietors. These gentlemen having made a survey and adopted 

 a plan of thorough drainage, opened al)out five hundred rods of 

 ditch. They constructed a main channel eight feet wide at the 

 top, six feet at the bottom and four feet deep. The other 

 drains are four feet in width, and of depth adapted to grade. 

 They extend the entire length of the meadow, a distance of one 

 mile, and are so constructed that individual proprietors can 

 connect cross ditches with them, and make such improvements 

 upon their own premises as they think for their interest. The 

 total expense of the improvements made by the commissioners 

 was five hundred dollars, which sum was apportioned among 

 the land holders in proportion to the benefit received. The tax 

 upon the acre entered for premium was five dollars. 



In 1864, this acre was burned in connection with a large 

 tract adjoining at an expense of one dollar. A drain, three feet 

 wide, was opened on each side, costing two shillings per rod by 

 contract, but as this drain is equally advantageous to the adjoin- 

 ing land only one-half the expense is charged to this experiment. 

 The piece was harrowed both ways June 3d, 1865, employing 

 men and oxen one half-day. It was burned a second time June 

 6th and 7th, requiring the attention of one man about half the 

 time. It was harrowed again June 10th. June 13th, it was. 

 sowed with three and one-half bushels of oats and seven quarts 

 of herdsgrass seed. It was then harrowed and bushed. The 

 oats were cut for fodder August 8th. There were four loads, 

 estimated at twelve hundred pounds each. 



The meadow is now so hard that a loaded cart can be driven 

 over any part of it. All stumps, roots and fragments of wood, 

 having been removed for fuel at a good profit, the surface is 

 perfectly smooth and as well adapted to the use of the mower 

 and horse-rake as a western prairie. 



