154 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



and I feci confident that from this field of about two acres 

 which, for many years back, has been of little or no advantage 

 to me, I shall obtain crops of hay equal both in quantity and 

 quality to those taken from the best piece of land of similar size 

 on my farm. 



In reference to the expense, I will say the ditches are stoned 

 and covered in the same manner as those before mentioned, with 

 the exception of the receiving ditch, which I shall cover at some 

 future time. The ditching was done by my men who work on 

 the farm, whenever they could get time, therefore I am unable 

 to give the exact cost. My opinion is that the expense is about 

 one dollar per rod, the way I managed. 



North Andover, September 28, 1858. 



NOEFOLK. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



In the " Agricultural Journal," published in Edinburgh and 

 in London in 1857, a journal considered of high authority, — we 

 find an elaborate review of Mr. Stephens' book, " The Yester 

 Deep Land Culture, being a detailed account of the method of 

 successful cultivation practised for years by the Marquis of 

 Twecdsdale, at Yester." From this source the committee take 

 leave to extract one or two paragraphs, as germane to the subject 

 in hand. 



" Mr. Stephens informs us that since improvements were 

 begun at Yester, in 1832, he has had many opportunities of 

 witnessing all the different operations put in practice ; and early 

 impressed with their importance as the foundation of a mode of 

 farming so very different from what is in ordinary use, as to 

 merit the appellation of a new system. He viewed them from 

 the first with a high degree of interest. A more distinct and 

 lucid statement — one which conveys more readily to the mind 

 of the reader a clear conception of the whole case, we have 

 seldom happened to peruse, while the scientific bearings of the 

 subject are treated in a manner which leaves little to be desired." 

 The Yester mode of cultivation, as far as it has the character of 

 an original process, may be expressed in a few words. It is a 



