WORCESTER SOCIETY. 159 



joining lots. This lot was about thirty-three rods in length 

 north and south, and thirteen east and west, with one of these 

 old walls, similar to the one which I have already described, 

 on each side the whole length, making sixty-six rods. I cut a 

 ditch close by the side of the wall, on the west side, three and 

 a half feet deep and three and a half wide, and on the east 

 side three and a half by four, and on this side the old wall was 

 tumbled into the ditch, and small flat stones were placed care- 

 fully on the top, old straw and brakes were thrown in over 

 these, which filled the ditch within six inches of the surface, 

 and the soil, so far as needed, was brought over the trench 

 with a light cast iron ox shovel, and this is used for a road in 

 carting to lots above. The ditch on the other side of the lot 

 was filled, first by laying stones at the sides ten inches high, 

 and covering with flat stones, and then all the small stones 

 from the old wall were thrown in, the ditch filled to within eight 

 inches of the top, the surface stones levelled, poor hay and 

 straw thrown on, and the soil brought back as before. The 

 remainder of the subsoil was carted and used for grading up 

 the low places within the ditches. The next thing to be done 

 was to cut a drain centre-wise the whole length of the lot, 

 three and a half feet wide by three deep; this was stoned up 

 twelve inches at the sides and covered with flat stones, all of 

 which were taken from the surface between the two first drains, 

 and filled with small stones even with the surface soil, and left 

 open to catch the surface water in winter. The brush and 

 brake roots were broken off" by the plow, and piled in heaps to 

 burn. This left the surface soil comparatively smooth, with 

 the top soil covered with small stones. It will be perceived 

 that these three drains lengthwise were six and a half rods 

 from each other. Drains were now cut anglewise between 

 these drains, so that the water was principally emptied into 

 the outside drains. These were cut once in six rods and two 

 and a half by three feet, and filled with stones to within eight 

 inches of the top, and covered as the others, and the surplus 

 subsoil used for grading the low places. 



The next object which I wished to accomplish was to sink 

 the larger rocks. This was done by digging a hole on, the 

 lower side of the stone, usually twice as deep and large as the 

 stone, and drop the stone in, then fill up the vacancy to within 



