ESSEX AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 87 



Stephen Osborn^s Statement. 



The lot of land, to which I ask the attention of the Commit- 

 tee, contains about five acres, of which about an acre and a 

 quarter is meadow. In 1844, I cut off the bushes and small 

 trees. This was done at the time of the summer solstice, — the 

 latter part of June, — from which time the roots began to decay, 

 and, with some few exceptions, they never again sent forth 

 their sprouts. I selected this period of the year for the purpose, 

 by the advice of an intelligent and observing farmer, now re- 

 moved to Worcester county, who had cut bushes from his own 

 land, at a similar time, and with the same success. 



In 1845, I opened the main ditch through the centre of the 

 lot, and commenced ploughing. Although the season was very 

 dry, the meadow was too wet and soft to allow cattle to travel 

 over it, and I was obliged to resort to an expedient, which I 

 will attempt to describe, with the aid of a rough sketch, on pa- 

 per, which I send with this statement. I attached a block, with 

 a single pulley, to the trees on the upland, near the edge of the 

 meadow, through which one end of a rope communicated with 

 a light plough, on the opposite side of the low ground, while 

 the other was attached to the draft chain of a pair of cattle, 

 who were driven on the upland, a course at right angles with 

 that of the furrows. After the first five or six furrows, the 

 block was placed the proper distance from the tree to make a 

 second series of furrows, the block being secured, in its new po- 

 sition, by a strong bar, set in the ground. The block was thus 

 removed its proper distance, for each successive series of fur- 

 rows, until the land was ploughed, the plough being each time 

 drawn, by hand, back to the opposite side of the meadow. I 

 may here remark, that the land may be back-furrowed into 

 beds, by securing the block on the opposite side, and ploughing 

 in that direction. During the ploughing, the land was so wet 

 that the water followed the plough in the furrow. As to the 

 comparative cost of this method of ploughing, the committee 

 will be able to judge from the fact, that the work was done in 

 three days and a half, with one pair of cattle, two men, and a 



