61 



roughly drained, and this can only be accomplished by surround- 

 ing the land with marginal drains, of equal depth with the main 

 drain, thereby cutting off the springs and diverting the water 

 thus from the surrounding high lands. If this is done, I feel 

 confident that the crops, whether of corn, or roots, will, after the 

 first year, or after the land shall have been ploughed and been ex- 

 posed one winter to the action of frost, pay good interest on the 

 investment, to say nothing of the happy consciousness of being a 

 public benefiictor ; for if he is such who " makes two blades of 

 grass grow where but one grew before," Avhat should be said of 

 him who covers the meadows with grass where none groAV before ? 



H. L. Stone. 

 Grantville, Nov. 10, 1858. 



REPORT ON OLD PASTURE LANDS. 



The Committee on Improving Pasture Lands, in submitting their 

 report, with the accompanying exact and intelligent letter of Mr. 

 Gray, are happy to say, that they have had an opportunity at last 

 to bring the subject of improving pastures to the notice of the 

 members of the Society. "• Whether," to use the language of Mr. 

 Gray, " the renovating of this pasture will prove a profitable oper- 

 ation, remains to be proved." Yet he can safely sa}', it will pas- 

 ture four cows decidedly now, than it would two before. This 

 fact is worth something, and should Mr. Gray's example be 

 followed generally, a similar result would certainly be productive 

 of much good to the community. To what extent these improve- 

 ments can be made on large farms where capital is not plenty, and 

 unimproved acres are far too numerous, the Committee will not 

 decide, neither has there been a sufficient experience to settle, 

 Avhether the wood lot, or the pasture, is better for the owner in the 

 long run ; but, certainly, on small farms, and where there is pe- 

 cuniary ability, many an unsightly spot, overgrown Avith brush- 

 wood and briars, would be Avell changed into food for cattle. Two 

 results strike the Committee as following the improvements under 

 ^consideration. One is the fact that a larger number of cattle can 

 be fed on the same land ; and the other, that the (pndity of the 

 food will be improved. In our ordinary pastures five or six 

 months of feeding is all that can be profitably obtained, and that, 

 too, with additional feeding from the barn, especially if the milk is 

 sold in the market. Suppose that our pastures should bo made as 

 rich as our mowing lands, should we not be able to extend the 



