WASTE LANDS. 187 



but little feed, and that of poor quality. Mr. Kimball is accus- 

 tomed to use about one ton of plaster to the acre, which is 

 entirely different from the common practice. Your committee, 

 therefore, would recommend it as a subject worthy of consid- 

 eration. 



Mr. Kimball's experiment was highly satisfactory to the com- 

 mittee. He has truly made the desert or the waste uncultivated 

 land, to bud and blossom like the rose. He has, however, been 

 favored with a good soil that never has been cultivated, (except 

 part of it that was once ploughed for rye,) which will produce 

 much more with the same manure than land that has long been 

 under cultivation. His good crop and superior quality of pota- 

 toes may be attributed, in part at least, to its being new land, 

 or land that has not been cultivated, as such land is mucli better 

 adapted to the growth of potatoes, and they will be of far better 

 quality, and much less liable to disease than when grown upon 

 old land. Also the use of plaster, and salt hay, would be likely 

 to have a favorable influence on the amount, the quality, and 

 soundness of the crop. 



The committee were also pleased to see a son of Mr. Kimball 

 at work in the field, who, they were informed, intends to be a 

 farmer, who will, they trust, carry his father's experiments to a 

 greater state of perfection. It is certainly pleasant in tins day 

 of feverish excitement, when so many of our young men are 

 leaving the homes of their fathers, and going to our cities, or to 

 the far "West, to see one who is willing to engage in that impor- 

 tant business, the cultivation of the soil. 



Joseph How, Chairman. 



Statement of Hiram P. Goodhue. 



The improved waste land I offer for your inspection, contain- 

 ing two and a half acres, was purchased in 1847, at |20 per 

 acre. It is somewhat rocky and is mostly covered with ravine 

 moss and bushes. In the spring of 1852, I cleared the bushes, 

 ploughed it and manured two acres, set it out with trees, and 

 planted corn and potatoes, and so continued to plant it for four 

 years, and then sowed it down to grass, sowing the seed between 

 the corn rows, and hoeing it about the first of July. The seed 



