66 ON RECLAIMED MEADOWS. 



bly applied. Notwithstanding all that has been said, 

 there are those that are so opposed to the new meth- 

 od of farming, as they call it, or so tenacious of the 

 honor of their venerable fathers, that they will not 

 turn to the right hand nor to the left, from the path 

 in which they trod. But I would ask whether farm- 

 ers ought not to keep pace with the improvements of 

 the day, and if they would be as good husbands as 

 those that have passed off the stage before them, 

 whether they ought not to improve just so far as the 

 light of science developes itself? 



Again, some say that they cannot afford to make 

 improvements, but it will do for Mr. A. or B., that has 

 money. In conversation with an individual that had 

 been improving a part of a small meadow, he said, 

 if I could afford to hire help, I would reclaim the re- 

 mainder of it. While in conversation, he acknowl- 

 edged that one crop of hay had actually paid all the 

 expense of cultivation. Now if a man under these 

 circumstances cannot afford to hire help, I know not 

 who can. 



It is not the intention to convey the idea that all 

 meadows in all seasons will produce four and a half 

 tons of hay or four hundred bushels of potatoes to the 

 acre, for it cannot be expected. But it is the inten- 

 tion to convey the idea that meadow land will pro- 

 duce more net profit than any other ; as it requires 

 less manure, and is less liable to be affected with 

 drought, or wet, if it is properly drained. 

 For the Committee. 



JOSEPH HOW, Chairman, 



Dec. 31, 1839. 



