MIDDLESEX SOCIETY. 105 



Reclaimed Meadows. 

 William Brown's Statement. 



Gentlemen, — The piece of meadow to which I invite your 

 attention, contains about four acres. It was drained in 1839, 

 by ditching around the whole piece, and one ditch through the 

 centre. I stoned and covered nearly all the ditches, and then 

 ploughed by means of ropes and pulleys, it still being too soft 

 to admit the team upon it. Potatoes were then planted, dug 

 early, and the ground seeded down with herds-grass and red- 

 top. I then applied about ten loads of manure mixed with 

 forty loads of sand. After this I got four crops of hay of about 

 two tons to the acre, and then ploughed and cultivated the 

 same as I do any of my upland. 



I have now about one acre planted with potatoes, which 

 looks well. Before I drained this land I considered it worth 

 very little, if anything; now it is the best land I have. 



Length of covered ditches, 127 rods. Cost of digging, ston- 

 ing and covering, $1 per rod. Length of ditches not covered, 

 145 rods. Cost of digging, twenty-five cents per rod. 



Concord, Aug. 1852. 



Apples and Pears. 



The committee on apples and pears, report that the exhibi- 

 tion of these fruits, in variety, beauty and excellence of the 

 specimens far exceeds that of any previous years in this county. 

 Your committee, though somewhat familiar with exhibitions 

 in this department, indifferent counties in this Commonwealth, 

 have never witnessed any that, in the perfection of the speci- 

 mens, and in the completeness of the varieties, surpassed that 

 made this day. 



The committee have found great difficulty in awarding tiie 

 first premium offered by this society. They have diligently 

 employed all the time allowed them, for the performance of 

 the duty assigned them, in making their award. 



The exhibition of the fruits to-day, from nearly one hun- 

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