136 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



Letter of Mr. E. W. Robinson to the Supervising' Comrniltee. 



Gentlemen, — I have had considerable experience in reclaim- 

 ing low lands, where rush and wild grasses were the principal 

 growth, and my usual practice has been as follows : If the slope 

 of the land was only moderate, I ploughed it by back furrows, 

 into beds varying in width from two to five rods, so as to make 

 a good ditch where the dead furrows came together. I then 

 rolled down the furrows, spread the manure, and harrowed the 

 ground thoroughly. After this preparation, I sowed about 

 half a bushel of Timothy seed with an equal quantity of redtop, 

 and covered it by using a bush or brush harrow. I then 

 picked off the stones and rolled the ground again. When this 

 was done in September, I could reasonably expect a good crop 

 of grass the next summer. 



Wliere the slope of the land is such as to allow the water to 

 pass off freely, I have usually dug a trench two or more feet 

 deep, laid a drain eight or twelve inches wide, and covered it, 

 partly with small stones, and partly with loam above tliem. I 

 prefer this sort of ditch wherever it will answer the purpose. 

 The cost of one will depend very much on the nature of the 

 soil through which it is to run. In some cases it may be made 

 by using a common plough, attached to the hind part of a cart, 

 so as to let one wheel run in the ditch. 



My land has a clay, gravel or hard-pan subsoil. Water 

 remains on its surface quite late in the spring. I have been 

 accustomed to plough greensward in August or the latter part 

 of July, with a Michigan double plough, which I consider the 

 best plough for such use. I then spread manure and sow 

 turnip seed, or harrow the ground, and suffer it to lie until the 

 next spring, when it is ploughed crosswise, and prepared for 

 planting. In breaking up land I plough nine inches in depth. 

 For ploughing crosswise, I use the Connecticut River Valley 

 plough — formerly sold by Prouty & Mears, or the sod plough, 

 (letter B,) sold by Nourse, Mason & Co. I prefer for all 

 kinds of ploughing in my land, a large sized plough. It stirs 

 the ground much more thoroughly, and to a greater depth. 



In preparing ground for any early crop, I like the practice of 

 ploughing in coarse, green manure, in the fall. Land prepared 

 in this way will become dry much earlier in the spring, and 



