HKJIL FAEMING. .'1)7 



soil is better for general crops than any other, the circumstai 

 being the same. 



In several of our Massachusetts towns, the heaviest corn 

 crops, and those which have taken the premium, have been on 



reclaimed meadow land; but, whilst many now admit the 

 benefits of under-draining, few arc aware how best to go to 

 work, or are willing to pay others for the information, where 

 meadows are surrounded by upland, and there is sufficient fall 

 to carry oil" the water. 



It seems a simple matter to arrange the drains for the best 

 effects ; and yet such is not the case. I have never seen more 

 than half a dozen well-drained fields. 



In draining it is not enough to know that land is wet, or 

 how to build the drain, or from which side of the field the 

 water comes. The efficiency of drains depends quite as much 

 upon the nature of the subsoil as the right location and con- 

 struction; and a wise farmer would never hesitate to pay an 

 agricultural engineer liberally for his services in pointing out 

 the best localities and kinds. 



My time is drawing to a close ; and I have hardly mentioned 

 one of the various improvements agriculture owes to the efforts 

 of men of learning and book farmers. Had I time I could 

 show you how, by a proper attention paid to the manure heap 

 and the sewage of the house, the resources of the farmer might 

 be more than doubled ; how the innutritious portions of indi- 

 vidual and animal food, by a wise provision of Nature, are ena- 

 bled, by judicious application, to produce the food necessary to 

 support that creature's life ; how the manure crop is quite as 

 valuable and important as the hay crop, and ought to be as 

 carefully saved and garnered. 



Perhaps you ezpect one who proclaims at start his adher- 

 ence to books and theories to urge you to have scientific an- 

 alyses made of your fields, which, followed carefully, would in 

 the end be sure to fill your barns, or to buy and apply BpeciaJ 

 manures, &c. 



No; Buch is not my intention. I would urge upon each of 

 you to carefully improve what you have got to the utmost be- 

 fore you begin to buy more. 



Remember that peat and clay will render the most barren 



