158 WORCESTER SOCIETY. 



draftsman to take a survey of each of my home lots by point 

 and compass, and had a plan of them drawn on a map, solely 

 for my own agricultural accommodation. 



The road through the farm runs nearly an east and west 

 course, and the buildings stand a few degrees higher than the 

 extreme east or west terminus of the road. The descent from 

 south to north was found to be eight inches to every sixteen 

 feet south of the road, and twelve inches to the rod north of 

 the road. 



The length of the farm, north and south, was found to be 

 150 rods, and as the road runs east and west, its length is 110 

 rods, so it will be noticed that this road runs nearly central- 

 wise of the farm, dividing it north and south in nearly equal 

 portions, and it will be observed that the descent north of the 

 road is one-third greater than it is on the south side. 



The committee will see that I have been obliged to go into 

 detail as to situation and location of the farm, in order to show 

 why I take this method to reform the different lots. This lot, 

 as above described in part, was, until August last, situated 

 directly south of my barn, one corner of the lot coming within 

 four rods of it, and at that time it was one of the most un- 

 sightly lots on the farm. It had always been used, or at least 

 for a hundred years, as a pasture, and its principal products 

 had been white birch, hardback, and brakes to fill up the inter- 

 mediate spaces, and all attempts had proved failures to kill out 

 the brush with the scythe, or plough, on account of the rocks. 

 The soil had always been considered poor. For about four 

 inches of the surface the soil was black, with a yellow, gravelly 

 subsoil, quite unlike that of the surrounding fields, whose sub- 

 soil is yellow loam, bearing on a chalky subsoil. Immediately 

 above this lot the land is swampy, and the consequence was 

 that water from above has been constantly leaking down 

 through this pasture. In winter it would flow over on to the 

 surface, freeze and kill out the grass, and until June would be 

 so wet as to prevent cattle from passing over it. 



At the time I commenced operations, in 1840, the committee 

 on carrots were here to view a crop which had been entered 

 for premium, and they appraised its value for agricultural pur- 

 poses at $17 per acre. 



My plan was to underdrain this, as well as some of my ad- 



