36 



largely on the care taken to ascertain the most advantageoiis rela- 

 tive proportion of both mentioned classes of grasses under existing 

 local circumstances. To secure the highest attainable yield re- 

 quires careful local observations. Receipts for mixtures of grass 

 seeds which have proved advantageous in one locality cannot 

 always be relied on as best in any other place. For this reason, 

 instead of discussing the merits of any of the many mixtures rec- 

 ommended by seed dealers and others, I refer to the mixture used 

 in my own case at Amherst, which is stated on a subsequent page. 



Course adopted in reclaiming an Old Meadow. 



The area engaged in the experiment amounted to from nine to 

 ten acres, running from south to north along the western slope of 

 a natural grove. The main part of the land is fairly on a level, 

 slanting slightly towards the north and rising somewhat from the 

 centre of the field towards the grove ; this part is somewhat springy. 

 The southern end of the land is exposed to an occasional overflow 

 of water from adjoining hillsides. The outlet for the water, com- 

 ing from both sources, had evidently been gradually obstructed 

 by soil washed down from elevations along the north end of the 

 field. As a natural consequence, a large part of the ground had 

 been changed into an unsightly swamp. The entire area was 

 covered with a worthless growth peculiar to exhausted dry lands 

 and wet meadows, the latter in particular. The surface soil con- 

 sisted of a sandy loam, from two to three feet in thickness, which 

 was here and there underlaid by either a thin layer of hardened 

 clay or a coarse, gravelly material. The general character of the 

 surface soil, as well as the apparent chances of regulatiug its state 

 of moisture, promised to make the field, under proper management, 

 in an exceptional degree fit for a permanent meadow. 



After lowering the outlet for the water through the adjoining 

 lands at the northern termination of the field, it was decided to 

 run, from ten to twelve feet apart, two parallel ditches from north 

 to south, through the lowest part of the land. The ditching began 

 in the month of August. One ditch from three and one-half to 

 four feet below the surface of the ground was to serve as a main 

 ditch for drain tiles six inches in diameter, to prevent an accumula- 

 tion and subsequent stagnation of water in the upper soil. The 

 other was an open ditch, on an average from one foot to eighteen 

 inches deep, to assist in a speedy discharge of surface water, due 

 to heavy rains or the melting of the snow and ice on adjoining 

 hillsides in the spring. In both instances the necessary fall was 

 secured to dispose of the surplus water. One surface ditch sufficed 

 for the whole area, while branch tile drains were built to all places 



