RECLAIMED MEADOWS. 143 



water to drain off, and the convenience of passing with the 

 team from one lot to the other. I estimate the expense, per 

 acre, in preparing the land in this manner, at $25. 



The annual yield of hay, per acre, has not been less than 

 two tons. I give it a light top-dressing every year ; and whether 

 the season is wet or dry, hot or cold, I have about the same 

 yield. I consider it the most profitable land for grass I have 

 on the farm. 



Marlborough, September 1, 1858. 



NORFOLK. 



Statement of Henry L. Stone. 

 Three years ago I commenced improving a meadow of six 

 acres, mostly a peaty bog, covered a large portion of the year 

 with water, and producing a few brakes, cranberries and coarse 

 grass. About half an acre of it had been dug over for peat 

 two spits deep. I first dug a drain sufliciently deep, from the 

 centre, to take off the water, two and a half feet below the 

 lower portion of it. Then put in cross drains, from one and a 

 half to two feet below the surface and leading into the first or 

 main drain, and fifty feet apart. I used the six inch horseshoe 

 tile double, for the main drain, thus C, and single three inch 

 for the cross drains, laying the single tile on a board when the 

 ground was soft, thus n , -which have, so far, answered the 

 purpose. I then proceeded to pare the turf or top sod, which 

 I used to fill up the peat- pits to the extent of one-fourth of aa 

 acre, the balance I have burnt on the ground, with good results 

 to succeeding crops. I have thus reclaimed about four acres, 

 at an expense of 1513, or about $123 per acre. A portion of 

 this outlay for the main drain being for the benefit of the 

 whole, should bo charged to the remaining two acres ; so that 

 I think the whole may be reclaimed for a sum not exceeding 

 $100 per acre. I have planted on that part reclaimed, potatoes, 

 corn, turnips, carrots, mangold wurzel, parsnips, squashes, and 

 pumpkins. These crops have, in no case, paid any thing more 

 than the cost of cultivation the first season. The second and 

 third seasons they have proved profitable, yielding, with but 



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