NORFOLK SOCIETY. 445 



making and applying manures " in the best manner and with 

 the greatest economy." 



The committee, in consideration of the care and atention 

 required to keep and render a correct account of the incidental 

 expenses, and for the judicious course of management in re- 

 claiming this portion of his farm, award to Mr. Weld the first 

 premium of $15. 



For the committee, 



Cheever Newhall, Chairman. 

 Dorchester, Nov. 30, 1852. 



Aaron D. WekVs Statement, 



That part of my farm which your committee were requested 

 particularly to examine, was originally divided into three lots, 

 badly walled, and containing about four, seven, and nine acres 

 each. The two smaller lots had been partially cultivated, and 

 latterly used entirely for pasturing. The nine acre lot was 

 rough, stony and unsightly, every part of it. Upon two acres 

 of it stones had been carted for a long term of years, and left 

 as tipped from the carts, and had grown up to alder bushes 

 and wild roses, — full of springs, with a hard clay subsoil, so 

 that there was no real value to it. The remaining seven acres 

 were dry, worn-out pasture land, with a reddish subsoil. I 

 commenced reclaiming this lot September, 1850, by removing 

 the old division walls, and divided the land into two parcels, 

 laid and reset 116 rods of wall permanently and well, for which 

 I paid from 75 cents to $1 33 per rod, amounting to $128 54, 

 which is not included in my estimate. 



Drains were dug, three feet deep and three wide, with a free 

 passage for water on the bottom, filled up with stone to the 

 surface ; this was upon that part containing about two acres. 

 "What stones were not placed in the ditches were placed in 

 one large mound, and must contain from six to ten hundred 

 loads, or more. A small portion of the lowest part was cover- 

 ed with soil from the ditches and loam from the old walls 

 sufhciently deep to prevent their interference with any ordi- 

 nary ploughing hereafter. 



This lot was planted with corn in the spring of 1851, and I 



