IMPROVINa WET MEADOWS AND SWAMP LANDS. 109 



which it was tlirown out daily from the cow-house, and was made 

 up at least three parts in four of salt hay or thatch, with which the 

 cattle were littered. It was planted with potatoes in the spring, 

 m the following manner : 



The manure is first spread on the surface of the meadow in beds 

 about four feet wide, leaving a space between them about one and 

 <i half feet in Avidth. The seed potatoes are then laid upon the beds 

 within 12 or 15 inches of each other. I have used small potatoes 

 for seed, or such as were considerably below the medium size, for a 

 number of years past, — and uniformly with good success, — always 

 excepting those years when the crop has failed by reason of the 

 rot. The 1 1-2 foot space between the beds is then dug about the 

 depth of one spit of a sub-soil spade ; and the sods and mud taken 

 from it are thrown upon the beds. If this is properly done the 

 whole surface of the bed is well covered and sufficiently deep for all 

 practical purposes. Each man as he digs his trench, covers the 

 half of the bed on either side of him which is nearest, the next man 

 doing the same, and so on. When the potatoes make their appear- 

 ance, (as they certainly will, — no matter how tough the sod may 

 be which covers them,) they must be earthed up, as it is termed. 

 No matter how well the work has been done, the sods and mud after 

 exposure to the sun and air for a little time will shrink and shrivel, 

 so that the wild grass and weeds easily find egress in many parts 

 of the bed. This wild grass must be pulled up and the intertices 

 filled with mud from the bottom of the trenches. The potatoes 

 planted in this mode are always vigorous in their youth, and grow 

 so rapidly that in a few days after being thus " earthed up," their 

 leaves completely shade the entire beds. They thus almost or alto- 

 gether destroy all the meadow grasses in a single season. 



When the potatoes are dug, the vines and the covering sods are 

 thrown back into the trenches. The surface, for the time being, is 

 thus left smooth and level, although as the vines decay and the 

 earth settles and becomes compact, the lines of the trenches are 

 always marked by a slight depression. Grass seed is then sown, at 

 the rate of one peck of herds-grass and half a bushel of red-top to 

 the acre. The grass seed was sown on this piece of meadow during 

 the month of September. Early in the Spring, clover seed at the 

 rate of eight or ten lbs. per acre was sprinkled over it. 



