114 IMFHOVING WASTE AND PASTITHE LANi>. 



being covered -witli blueberry, wortleberrj, lambkill and brakes, 

 ■with no small quantity of stones. We commenced in September, 

 1849, to cut bushes, which were burned on the ground ; directly- 

 after began a ditch, which we dug 190 feetlcng, 4 feet wide, and 

 3 2-3 feet deep. This part of the lot being low, what we took 

 from the ditch was loam and vegetable mud, and I think was worth 

 twice the expense of throwing out. We then dug a trench 5 feet 

 wide, where we afterwards set a wall, which I think paid the ex- 

 pense of piling up. We then dug the stones that could be easily 

 removed, and filled the ditch three feet high, which took over 17 

 cords. 



The amount of labor expended in removing stones and filling the 

 ditch, was three days' work for two men and one yoke of oxen, 

 amounting to $4.50 (I then hired cheap by the month). We then 

 ploughed it ; and the amount of labor expended, together with 

 turning over turfs and digging stones, was $10.50. In May, 1850, 

 we began digging and hauling rocks to the trench we had dug for 

 the wall ; then ploughed and harrowed it, except one-fourth of an 

 acre which was covered with rocks, roots and water, it being a kind 

 of basin. We then planted it with corn and potatoes, hoed the 

 corn twice and the potatoes once. The potatoes grew finely, but in 

 the fall were an entire failure by the rot. The corn was very good; 

 harvested in September. We then dug a ditch south of what I 

 called the basin, running from west to east, 150 feet long, 4 feet 

 wide, and 3 1-2 feet deep ; also two other ditches, running north 

 from the one last mentioned, 4 feet wide, 3 1-2 feet deep, and 45 

 feet long, and one at the end of the two, which carried it through 

 the field. We also dug one from the first to the second, uniting 

 them all together, and making in the whole 36 rods. 



The committee will see two advantages from these ditches ; one 

 to drain the land and save the loam, and the other to receive the 

 stones. In May, 1851, we ploughed twice and harrowed it, car- 

 ried on a little manure, and carried off all the loose roots and sods. 

 We planted it with corn and potatoes, hoed twice, and had an 

 excellent crop. In 1852, sowed it with barley and grass seed. 

 The barley produced 30 bushels to the acre, leaving a large crop 

 of rowen on the land. 



I think the crops of corn, potatoes and barley, have well paid 

 the expense of labor in improving the land. We have since taken 



