34 



also have been made, to take off the -water from portions of the 

 field where it might otherwise remain too long. 



" The ditches in the spring arc kept fall of water, but no care 

 is taken to ])longh the land till about the first of May. Breaks 

 arc then made in the ditci\cs, and the water is distributed over 

 the land for three or four days and then removed. After an in- 

 terval of a few days, it is turned upon the land again. This pro- 

 cess is continued till about two weeks before the grass is fit to be 

 cut, — varying, of course, according to the weather, — when it is 

 shut off entirely and the land allowed to dry. In a week or ten 

 days after the grass has been cut, the water is again turned on, 

 in the same manner as before, and continued through the season. 

 Sand is occasionally thrown into the ditches and allowed to wash 

 over the ground. Late in the fall the land is manured with a 

 compost of sand mixed with barnyard manure. The sand having 

 been carted into the yard early in the spring, a dozen head of cat- 

 tle are kept upon it at night, through the season ; and when want- 

 ed for use, it is worked over and carted upon the land. The 

 whole land receives a dressing of this manure once in two or three 

 years. Some of the driest parts of the field have been occasion- 

 ally ploughed and planted. Then the land has been kept as dry 

 as possible, and no water is turned upon it until it is laid down to 

 grass again. 



" This is the course now pursued by Mr. Gay ; and the same 

 has been practised on his land for the last twenty-five years. His 

 plans, however, have not yet been fully carried out, and his crops, 

 undoubtedly, would be greatly benefited by underdraining still 

 more of the land. The quantity of hay, as estimated by Mr. 

 Gay, — and I think he under-estimates it, — is one ton to the acre, 

 upon an average. The quality varies from the best English to 

 common fresh hay of about two thirds the same value. 



" But this is not the whole benefit received from this irrigation. 

 The soil having been allowed to dry thoroughly at the time of 

 haying, when the water is again turned upon it, the grass springs 

 up quickly and is very tender and sweet ; furnishing till late in 

 the season a great quantity of the best aftermath, or fill feed. 

 And this, coming at a time when pastures are apt to be dry, is an 

 item of no small importance upon a dairy farm. 



"• Whether this plan of Mr. Gay's is the best that could be 

 adopted, or whether his theory in relation to it is correct, (attrib- 

 lUing the chief part of the benefit received to the matter washed 

 upon the soil, rather than to the water itself,) may be a matter of 

 doubt. But one thing is certain, he gets a very fair quantity of 

 hay, and a great quantity of after-feed, at very much less cost 

 than most other farmers. 



" Yours, respectfully, Lucius Clapp." 



