428 NORFOLK SOCIETY. 



William Davis's Statement. 



The piece of land on which my rye was raised the present 

 season (1852), was originally a low, hassocky meadow, on the 

 side of a small brook, and which was reclaimed in the follow- 

 ing manner: I began on one side by digging a trench, from 

 four to six feet wide, and from two and a half to three feet 

 deep, to the hard pan, throwing the mud all on one side, then 

 filling the trench with gravel as high as the original surface of 

 the meadow, then digging another trench and throwing the 

 mud on top of the gravel, and so on until we had gone over 

 the whole piece, thus raising the land from two and a half to 

 three feet. As the work was done at odd jobs, we were a 

 year or more before it was finished. In the spring of 1850 the 

 ground was levelled, manured well, and planted with various 

 kinds of vegetables, such as potatoes, corn, beans, beets, car- 

 rots, &c., which all grew remarkably well. In the summer of 

 1851 the land was summer-tilled, and early in August there 

 were put on it about eight cords of compost manure, con- 

 sisting of about one-third horse and cow manure, one-third 

 meadow mud, and one-third old sumac from the tanner's, 

 which had been well incorporated together in the barn cellar. 

 The land was ploughed and sowed with one and a half bush- 

 els of rye ; it was harvested and threshed out, and the most of 

 it sold by weight of 112 lbs. to the bag of two bushels, and 

 there were 48 bushels on one acre and five rods, — at the rate 

 of 46 1 bushels to the acre. The straw has not yet been 

 weighed, but will be soon, and an account furnished. 



The ground on wdiich the above crop was raised was sur- 

 veyed by me, and found to be one acre and five rods. 



Charles Breck. 

 Milton, Sept. 28, 1852. 



Please add to the statement of Mr. "William Davis's crop of 

 rye, the following account: The straw has all been weighed, 

 and found to be 6,950 lbs. from the acre and five rods, which 

 was sold for 75 cents per hundred, equal to $52 12|. The 

 rye, 48 bushels, was sold for 95 cents, equal to $45 60. After 

 the rye was taken off, the ground was ploughed, and without 

 any additional manure was sown with grass seed and English 



