ON :\IF,VDOW AND SWAMP LANDS. 75 



ting on some ashes or compost manure, sow in August 

 or September herds-grass and red-top seed, one bushel 

 of the latter, and sixteen quarts of the former, to the 

 acre. After cutting the gi'ass the second year, I found 

 that the crravel and o;rass roots had so hardened the sur- 

 face that I could haul a ton of hay without scarcely in- 

 denting the surface. An acre of this meadow could now 

 be plowed in a day with four oxen without difficulty, by 

 using a pair of wheels and letting the off oxen walk out 

 of the furrow, thus saving a very large amount of the 

 expense required to turn it by hand. 



Other advantages are to be derived from this method 

 of spreading on gravel, besides the facility it gives of 

 readily plowing deep at little expense, and exposing to 

 atmospheric influence the inert peat below. Coarse 

 gravel, to the amount of one hundred or one hundred 

 and fifty ox-cart loads to the acre, I consider worth more 

 to the land than the same amount of stable manure 

 would be without it, inasmuch as the gravel has a ten- 

 dency to warm and give firmness to the meadow, caus- 

 ing the roots of plants to take stronger hold than they 

 ever can in mere peat ; and what is, perhaps, of still 

 greater consequence, the stones impart an alkali which 

 neutralizes the acid of the peat, and renders the meadow 

 highly productive. 



Peat meadows treated in this manner, after the coat 

 of gravel shall have been plowed down ten or twelve 

 inches and the peat become exposed to the ameliorating 

 influences of the atmosphere, will, I have no doubt, pro- 

 duce as large crops of potatoes, oats, hay, and I may add, 

 Indian corn, as any lands in New England. Th3 quan- 

 tity which I have reclaimed is about five acres. The 

 depth of peat in the meadow is from two to ten feet. 

 The peat mud obtained from the ditches, for compost 

 manure, more than paid the expense of draining, and 

 the first crop of hay or potatoes paid all other expenses. 

 The first two crops paid the expense of reclaiming the 

 swamp. Respectfully yours, 



JOSlAIi NEW HALL. 



Lynnfield, Nov. 10, 1813. 



