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gravelled upon the surface before seeding, and some plowed and 

 seeded without gravelling. The result has so far been highly sat- 

 isfactory to him. 



Horatio Stockbridge, although in feeble health and single- 

 handed the past season, has found time to dig four hundred yards 

 of drain, and has made great progress in subduing land which 

 will soon produce good crops of hay, where nothing of value grew 

 before. 



Peter Adams has caught the spirit of improvement which is 

 manifesting itself in this vicinity. Mr. A. owns an excellent 

 farm, but it is susceptible of great improvements, much of it being 

 Avet. Upon this he has commenced by digging a ditch about 550 

 yards in length, 3 feet wide by 3 feet deep, which will soon be 

 completed by laying the drain with stone, Mr. A. finding plenty 

 upon the land. This will drain a large tract of valuable land 

 which before produced but little of value. There is no portion of 

 this land reclaimed at the present time, but upon soil hke this his 

 ultimate success cannot be doubted. 



Near the centre of the town there is a tract of about forty 

 acres, mostly of low, wet meadow land. This land has six owners, 

 by whose united efforts it has been drained, and about twenty 

 acres reclaimed and seeded to grass. Great praise is due to these 

 persevering men for their successful efforts in reclaiming this un- 

 productive and unhealthy tract of land. The number of drains 

 required to drain this tract is large, from its being very level, but 

 the work has been nearly completed, and there is probably not two 

 acres that cannot be plowed. This is probably the richest deposit 

 of the elements of vegetation to be found in town, and will, when 

 all is subdued, be a treasure to the owners. 



There have been great improvements made upon five acres of 

 land, it being about equally divided between swale, mud and peat 

 soil, by Albert Ballou, he having recently purchased the farm, and 

 commenced operations by draining. The peat bottom being too 

 soft to plow, was grubbed over. The sods were taken from the 

 land before seeding, leaving the surface too level for successful 

 cvdtivation. This can be remedied by carting sand or other earth 

 upon the centre of the beds, giving them a gentle slope to the 

 drains. 



There is probably no farm in the vicinity that has been improved 

 in all its different departments so much as that owned by Walter 

 H. Fisher. He commenced ditching and subduing his wet land 

 some years since, and has continued the process until the present 

 time, with highly satisfactory results. His farm is entirely en- 

 closed and subdivided by stone walls which are entirely free from 

 bushes and head lands. His cultivated fields are free from sur- 

 face stones, they having been used in filling drains, or laid into 



