ON RECLAIMED MEADOWS. 65 



logs with which many meadows are incumbered, the 

 fuel will more than pay the expense ; in draining the 

 meadow the mud will more than pay the expense of 

 ditching, to be carted into the hog pen, cow yard, 

 or compost heap, then to be applied to upland, as it 

 makes a valuable manure. Two crops will usually 

 more than pay the expense of cultivating them, and 

 then the land, instead of being comparatively worth- 

 less, in most cases will be worth at least one hundred 

 dollars per acre. 



In regard to the best manner of managing meadow 

 land, different persons have different opinions ; as it 

 is natural for a person to be partial to his own way if 

 he has tolerable success. Grain or roots may be 

 cultivated profitably on meadows that can be well 

 drained. But there are meadows that cannot be 

 drained so much as would be desirable, or that are 

 occasionally overflowed ; such are more suitable for 

 grass. There are meadows within the knowledge of 

 the committee, that have produced good crops of 

 English hay without any other dressing than sand ; 

 others have used gravel with equal success. Good 

 crops of corn and potatoes have also been raised 

 without manure, sand or gravel being put in the hill. 

 How much better to cultivate land when suitable 

 dressing can be procured from the gravel knoll or 

 sand bank, than to neglect such land, and haul ma- 

 nure some miles after paying an extravagant price 

 for it, to be applied to upland, and perhaps not raise 

 an equal crop. Although good crops have been 

 raised without manure as above stated, yet it is 

 thought that a little compost manure may be profita- 

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