MIDDLESEX SOCIETY. 15 



June, 1836, I sowed it with barley and grass seed, after having 

 dug over about one half of the piece, by way of experiment, 

 with manure forks, to the depth of about eight inches, mixing 

 the mud and gravel together. The result of this experiment 

 was a tremendous growth of barley straw, so great that it 

 lodged, and did not fill near as well as the other part that was 

 not mixed, mud and gravel together. That part filled well, and 

 there was a good crop, but the amount I cannot tell, as it was 

 put on the mow and thrashed with other barley. The grass 

 consisted of 1 peck of herds-grass and half a bushel of red-top 

 seed, as is my rule, per acre. The crop of hay, this year, was 3 

 tons per acre. The whole amount of manure that has ever been 

 put upon the two pieces, is 13 loads, viz : 1 load of litter when 

 planted with potatoes, and about half a pint of ashes to each 

 hill. In the spring of 1837, I put on 3 cart-loads of compost ; 

 in the spring of 1838, 6 cart-loads. The loads did not contain 

 more than 25 bushels each. The difference in the growth of 

 grass on the two pieces experimented on, is greater now than it 

 ever has been before. The mud in this part of the m.eadow 

 varies in depth from 2 to 4 feet, and is fine, black, and crum- 

 bly. The sub-soil is a fine, white sand, mixed with a very 

 little clay, but not enough to make it stick together when dry. 

 In my opinion, the great secret of reclaiming bog meadows, 

 is in thoroughly draining; if that is not done, it will be but a 

 short time before the poor and sour kinds of grass will take the 

 place of the better. This I have found, universally, to be the 

 case when it was not thoroughly drained ; and, to prevent their 

 intruding, I deem it necessary to dig a ditch all round the piece 

 to be reclaimed, at the very outer edge of the meadow, to the 

 depth of about 3 feet, and of sufficient width to work in easy; 

 then stone it up to within 12 or 15 inches of the top, making 

 what is usually called a blind ditch. This method of draining, 

 (with a main centre ditch to be kept open,) \v\\\ usually drain 

 any meadow, when the hard land that surrounds it is alluvial, 

 and the sub-soil a fine, white sand. In such cases, the level of 

 the water is nearly parallel with the surface of the ground ; but, 

 when the meadow is surrounded by, or the water comes from, 

 a ledgy hill, and the sub-soil is a mixture of coarse gravel, clay, 



