74 Oi\ IRRIGATION. 



BEiXJAMIiV POORE'S STATEMENT. 



Hon. D. p. King, Chairman Committee on Agricultural Im- 

 plements. 



Sir — I present for your inspection and for premium, if 

 you think it deserving, one Hassock Cutter. The shape 

 is the letter V, if I may so describe it, made from two 

 pieces of cast steel, three feet long, three and a half in- 

 ches wide, one half inch thick, ground to an edge on the 

 inside of the V. A substantial bar of iron is raised over 

 it and secured to it, as also handles like those of a plough. 

 The V, as I term it, is drawn by a chain from this bar 

 of iron and the top passes each side of the hassock, and 

 of course cuts it off smoothly, roots and all. It is no 

 labor to hold it — one yoke of oxen and two boys will 

 cut more per day, with ease to the cattle and boys, than 

 twenty men, and perform the work better than any one 

 could do it in the usual way. It was originally invented 

 by a Mr. I. Hill, of Billerica, who did not connect the 

 cutters or shears, so that a strip in consequence, was 

 left uncut. By connecting them, the ground is now cut 

 entirely smooth. 



Respectfully your obedient servant, 



BENJ. POORE. 



Indian Hill Farm, near Newburyport, Sept. 1844. 



ON IRRKiATION. 



The Committee on Irrigation would submit the follow- 

 ing remarks on the subject of their commission, not hav- 

 ing received any invitations to view. In the absence of 

 all claims, the Committee on irrigation are obliged to 

 work without stock — to make bricks without straw.* 



Although a premium has been offered by the Society 

 for some dozen of years, of twenty or thirty dollars for 

 the best experiments in improving lands by means of ir- 

 rigation, yet but few persons have come forward to claim 

 it, unless the reclaiming wet meadows should come with- 



* A rule, of the Society requires a report, whether claims are entered or not, 

 and having heen on the Committee three or four years, we see no other way of 

 getting off, than by offering a report. 



