79 



thousand bushels of oats. The above crops grew upon land which 

 had never before been ploughed. The acre of grass above men- 

 tioned has never been broken by a plougli. 



The extent of ditches cut upon his place exceeds four niiles. 



He has this year fifteen acres in oats ; three in corn ; three or four 

 in potatoes. 



VI. The next account I shall give is of an experiment now in 

 progress, which for various reasons will be found interesting. It 

 shows in a striking view what may be accomplished by enterprise 

 and perseverance. I shall give the account in the words of the indi- 

 vidual, whose letter is before me. 



" The land in question a year ago last August (that is 183G) was 

 grown over to blueberry, alder and briar bushes, and some young 

 maples ; a growth of maple having been cut from it four or five years 

 ago. 



I mowed these bushes a year ago last August : cost of 

 labor, 12 00 



The quantity of deep meadow is about six acres. One 

 and a half or two acres on the edges of this meadow pro- 

 duced a small quantity of poor hay. 



Expense of digging a new ditch and cleaning out other 

 old ones, 30 00 



Paid for labor on the meadow, 300 00 



For tools, $12 ; for board, $150, 162 GO 



Expenses, $504 00 



The quantity of wood got out of this swamp, as nearly as I can 

 estimate it, is about two hundred cords. The stumps and trees were 

 from one foot above to two or three feet below the surface. The 

 trees or logs were from ten to sixty feet in length. They appeared 

 to have been blown down, and the meadow to have been formed 

 over them. The wood is mostly stumps ; the sap being gone, and 

 the heart left perfectly sound. I dug three large stumps, one on top 

 of the other, like tea cups the bottom side up ; and under these was 

 the heart of a pine tree, which had been burnt some time or another. 



