94 CORRESPONDENCE. 



root out the vines very soon ; all they want is the 

 ground moist and loose. 



Yours respectfully, 

 Decemher ISiL 1855. Thos. Hall. 



LETTER X. 



Dear Sir : — In the fall of 1852 I bought a piece of 

 low springy land adjoining a salt meadow, then well 

 covered with the rush grass. I put on from the ad- 

 joining embankment about one foot of sand ; in taking 

 which I w^idened my cranberry ground about two 

 rods. I set out my vines the same fall in sods eighteen 

 inches apart. 



When spring came I found my sods or vines all 

 thrown out of the ground by the frost, and appearing as 

 though they had never been planted. I then again 

 replanted the vines hill by hill. The second year the 

 rush made its appearance again on that part of the 

 ground filled in, and has increased to this time, threat- 

 ening destruction to everything that comes in its way. 

 I consider this piece of ground a failure, except the 

 strip two rods wide adjoining the embankment or 

 upland. 



My first mistake was, selecting a cold, springy piece 



