FARMS. 85 



On leaving the table at tlie festival above spoken of, the 

 company was invited to look at some improvements of land by 

 C. L. Metcalf, a member of tlic Club. The land comprises 

 several acres lying on both sides of a brook, a portion of it 

 having, till lately, been considered " poor old pasture." and the 

 remainder being more or less boggy. The price paid for the 

 tract, about three years ago, was ten dollars an acre. Ditches 

 have been cut around and through a portion of the bog; on the 

 softest parts gravel has been spread, the surface smoothed, and 

 grass seed sowed, with a dressing of two hundred and fifty pounds 

 of Peruvian guano to the acre. The first so prepared has been 

 mowed twice, in 1859 and '60 — though it has had only one appli- 

 cation of guano. The last crop was estimated at three tons to the 

 acre, but may have been somewhat overrated, as it is well 

 known that crops on low land are not as heavy in proportion 

 to their bulk as upland hay ; but the luxuriant growth of the 

 second crop, — which at the time of the visit of the committee 

 promised to be heavy, — indicated that the first crop must have 

 been correspondingly large. No manure has been applied, 

 except one dressing of guano, as above mentioned. On 

 another part of the bog, the surface was taken off in 1859, two 

 inches of coarse sand spread on, and grass seed sown in 

 September, that year. A fair crop of hay, probably a ton to 

 the acre, was taken from the land in 1860. We noticed that the 

 land seemed soft, and that the water in the ditches was in many 

 instances within a foot of the surface. Unless the wat<3r can 

 be kept down so as to afford a greater depth of dry soil, it will 

 hardly be practicable to secure the growth of upland grasses 

 for a long time, or obtain hay of the best quality. 



On a portion of tlie upland, Mr. Metcalf has tried irrigation. 

 By damming a small rivulet, he was enabled to take the water 

 along a hill-side and throw it over considerable land, a part of 

 which was in clover and a part in redtop and Timothy. The 

 effect, he states, was highly advantageous, both on the clover 

 and grass. His practice was to let on the water two days and 

 shut it off two, through the months of April and May — would 

 continue it into June, if the weather should be very dry. Mr. 

 Metcalf is an earnest advocate for irrigation, and has found out, 

 what some are slow to understand, that all irrigated land 

 should be ivell drained, either naturally or by underdraius. 



