paid the whole expense of the improvement. These drains are entirely out of sight; 

 but I would advise, whenever they are made, that their distances and direction should 

 be accurately laid down in a plan of the farm, that they may easily be found in case 

 of interruption. 



In England the improvement is not considered as complete, until, after the land is 

 drained, the whole field is by a gradual process, loosened with a subsoil plough to 

 the depth of sixteen inches. The land is first ploughed to the depth of six inches 

 and a crop of oats is taken; it is then ploughed again and subsoiled, if I may use 

 the expression, to the very top of the drain, care being taken not to bring much of 

 the subsoil to the surface at a time, but the top and the lower soil are intermixed by 

 a gradual process of cultivation. Other crops are then taken from this land, which 

 is cultivated and manured in the usual manner; and the products are enormously in- 

 creased by this process. I shall give more full details in my third Report of the 

 Agriculture of Massachusetts, now in the press. II. C. 



(Note D. — p. 20.) Redemption of Peat Meadows. 



Some most beautiful examples of the success of redeeming lands by draining, es- 

 pecially bog meadow, are to be found in Saugus, Lynn, Lexington, Framingham, 

 Groton, and other towns in this State. In these cases, lands which were of little 

 value, are now brought into most productive fields, yielding five or six hundred bush- 

 els of potatoes and three to four tons of hay per acre besides other crops. These 

 however, are in general open drains. We have a very large amount of peat land 

 in the State, which is capable of being thus redeemed and made some of the most pro- 

 ductive in the State. By the estimation of the learned Geological Surveyor, there are 

 more than SO,O0O acres or 125 square miles. One of the most remarkable examples 

 of this sort of improvement may be found detailed in the Appendix to the Third 

 Report of the Agriculture of Massachusetts. This was made by Mr. Timothy H. 

 Brown, of Saugus, and deserves particular attention. An account of it is given 

 likewise, in the Reports of the Essex Agricultural Society for 1838 — 9. 



There seems to me no reason why the introduction of the Deanston System of im- 

 provement, thorough draining and subsoil ploughing, may not be introduced among us 

 in particular localities, to as great advantage as has been done in Scotland. H. C. 



(Note E. — p. 23.) Irrigation. 



A very skilful enterprise of this same kind, on a smaller scale, has been undertaken 

 in Medway, which promises the best results. Here a considerable stream has been 

 dammed and carried in a canal round the whole field of several acres, so as to be 

 allowed to (low upon them over the bank at the pleasure of the owner. Two other 

 examples of irrigation are to be seen, one in the the upper part of Dedham and one 

 in Chelmsford, which, though on a small scale, have been eminently successful. Our 

 improvements are very humble compared with those referred to by Mr. Webster; 

 but they are creditable and encouraging. The struggling steps of infancy must be 

 taken before we can move with the firm gait of manhood. The enriching qualities of 

 water are far from being properly appreciated. In such circumstances as described, 

 it is by no means a simple substance ; and it effects an essential purpose in holding 

 in solution the nutriment of the plant with which it mixes in its passage over the 

 soil and percolations into it. H. C. 



