PLYMOUTH SOCIETY. 99 



cultivation of grain crops ; grass seed is now sown on the in- 

 verted sod, by which practice the crops are increased, and the 

 energy of soils retained. 



The tilled fields in this county in very fe^w instances now 

 present the traveller with the disagreeable sight of thousands 

 little mounds of earth, indicative of belief in the operator that 

 the surface soil is not sufficiently warm for the growth of plants, 

 that the store-house of their food must be elevated something 

 nearer to the sun. The practice is very properly growing into 

 favor to cultivate Indian corn on a level surface and sow 

 grass seed at the last hoeing. Proportionate to the prevalence 

 of this practice, we presume, occasions of complaint that the 

 young grass has been winter-killed will be diminished. 



The fields, in several of the towns, are enclosed altogether 

 with rail fences ; many of these are in a broken and falling 

 state. While the traveller is painfully impressed with appear- 

 ances, and looks into the surrounding swamps in search of the 

 materials to repair the almost daily increasing breaks, he per- 

 ceives so great diminution of those materials, he is led to regard 

 the burden on the present generation as great, and feels a pain- 

 ful anxiety for the welfare of the future. Without something 

 of general attention shall be directed to this subject, and some 

 substitute provided for post and rail fence, it is not perceived 

 how many future generations can possibly keep their fields 

 enclosed. Several substitutes may be recommended, some of 

 which it would be wise in many of our farmers immediately 

 to commence. White pines, or any other -trees of quick growth 

 and long life, might be planted in rows ten or twelve feet apart, 

 where fence is wanted, and in fifteen, or at the extent in twenty 

 years, mortices might be made in the trees, and rails inserted, 

 the wounds in the trees would soon heal, and if the rails were 

 of good timber, a fence would be secured, which would last at 

 least half a century. Another and even more enduring substi- 

 tute for post and rail fence, is the live hedge ; this can be pro- 

 duced by planting any of the several kinds of the shrub family, 

 or by planting trees, and, as they grow, trimming them down 

 into the form of shrubbery. The amount of labor required in 

 providing either of the above substitutes, and the distant reward 



