MIDDLESEX SOCIETY. 17 



and I often obtain two tons of good hay from the same at the 

 first cutting. When the land is well dressed with compost, it 

 will yield at least one ton per acre of rowen-hay, making three 

 tons per acre. But such crops are not usually obtained with- 

 out a new dressing every second year. Manure is essential 

 here as well as on highlands ; but I think one load of manure 

 here will do me twice as much service as a load on high and 

 dry land. I have treated the five acres which you viewed in 

 the mode above stated; and, for my land, this is the best mode 

 that I have seen ; for the highland earth carted on will prove 

 useful for all time to come. The land now bears any kind of 

 team well, and it may be easily turned over with a plough 

 where the wild grass shows itself too conspicuously. 



The second lot which you viewed is a swamp that bore lofty 

 pines, maples and yellow birch. I cleared it of the remains of 

 its timber and wood three years ago, cut the bushes as close as 

 possible, and let the fire run through it in August, 1846. In Sep- 

 tember, I sowed herd's-grass and red-top, and went over the 

 ground with a common harrow. The peat muck here is ten 

 feet deep and quite rich. I ditched the four acres partially, and 

 trusted to the ashes to give me grass. The large stumps were 

 not taken out, and they now occupy one fifteenth or twentieth 

 of the surface. Last year, I had a pretty good swarth of Eng- 

 lish grass. Last winter, I carted on fifteen loads of gravel per 

 acre, and spread it. In March, I sowed clover. The land 

 yielded twice as much this season as at first. The product was 

 one ton per acre by estimation, and the feed that is now on it is 

 valuable. The grass was not mowed till August. The swamp 

 brake, a species of fern, grew here to the height of six feet. It 

 was feared that this would yield reluctantly to the valuable 

 grasses ; but it did not prove troublesome. In June, the com- 

 mon hoe was applied, and we have now no fears of the brakes. 

 People who were well acquainted with this old swamp thought 

 it could not be drained ; but we found that one ditch of fifty 

 rods, and another of thirty, carry ofi'most of the surplus water. 

 These four acres have not cost much in reclaiming. The ma- 

 ples only throw up but a few shoots, and they are soon put an 

 end to by beating them off from the stumps. 

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