PASTURE AND WASTE LANDS. Ill 



• IMPROVING PASTURE AND AVASTE LANDS. 



ESSEX. 



Statement of Jonas Holt. 



The piece of land which I present for premium contains 

 about three acres within its walls ; about one acre and three- 

 fourths was ploughed in 1813, not having had much done to it 

 since, it was almost covered with brakes and bushes. 



The other acre and one-fourth was partly run and partly 

 swale land, the run and swale were both very wet, the part that 

 had been ploughed was partly a gravelly soil and partly a stiff 

 loam resting upon a hard pan. My first object was to get rid of 

 the water ; for this purpose I cut a ditch through the centre of 

 the run twenty-one rods, three feet wide, and two feet six inches 

 deep ; there was so much water at the time that it was very 

 slow digging. This ditch cost me forty cents per rod. In the 

 bottom of this ditch I laid a good stone drain, and then filled 

 the ditch with small stones. I then dug five short ditches on 

 the sides of this main ditch to drain the land on the east and 

 west sides, running nearly at right angles with and emptying into 

 the main ditch. In these short ditches I laid stone drains and 

 covered them deep enough to plough over ; the result was, the 

 land is all dry enough to plough ; the short drains however were 

 not dug until after the land was ploughed. As this piece of 

 land was considered of little value, I determined to try what 

 deep ploughing and thorough cultivation would do ; the land 

 was not considered worth more than twenty dollars per acre 

 when I commenced on it, and now I think it is worth sixty or 

 seventy dollars per acre, and will pay the interest on it, and 

 more too. 



A statement of the cost and the amount of crop, with its 

 value, is herewith annexed. 



1858. 



Nov. Twenty-one rods of ditch at forty cents per rod, 88 40 



To laying drain and filling the same, . . 5 00 

 To ploughing, one day, with eight oxen and 



four hands, 12 00 



Use of plough, ...... To 



$26 15 



