15 



throws out the seed in a regular shower. Mr. A. informed us 

 that he himself sowed all the grain and grass seed that was sowed 

 on his farm last spring, amounting to twenty acres or more, with 

 this machine. It sows much more rapidly than a man can sow by 

 hand, and judging from the appearance of the grain we saw stand- 

 ing and from the appearance of the oat and barley stubble, where 

 the crops had been cut, sows more evenly than is ordinarily sown 

 by hand. It sows a breadth of two rods of wheat at once, and of 

 grass-seed it sows one rod. 



In our report of 1860, we spoke of some improvements by 

 draining and irriiration made bv E. L. Metcalf, of Franklin. Ilav- 

 ing been informed that Mr. M. was extending his operations, the 

 Chairman of the Committee and the Secretary of the Society 

 made another visit to Mr. M.'s farm in July, when they saw the 

 drained land spoken of in the former report, with the grass crop 

 of the season standing. No manure had been applied to any por- 

 tion of it since the visit of the Committee in 1860. The crop, 

 principally herds-grass and red-top, was a beautiful one — equal 

 to two and a half tons or more to the acre, and so clean that not 

 a weed, or any plant not purposely propagated, could be seen. 

 The irrigated portion had been somewhat neglected, but still pre- 

 sented evidence of having derived important benefit from water ; 

 and Mr. Metcalf is so well satisfied of the great advantages of 

 irrigation, that he has taken measures to introduce the system on 

 a larger scale than is generally seen in this part of the country. 

 He has dug a channel (it might almost be called a canal) five- 

 eighths of a mile in extent, by which he will be able to turn the 

 water of a brook over more than forty acres of dry land. A 

 considerable portion of this land has heretofore been of a rough 

 character, and at the time of our visit it Avas undergoing a smooth- 

 ing process preparatory to being set to grass and irrigated. It is 

 Mr. M.'s intention to "let the water on several acres of this land 

 in 1862, and in two or three years the whole tract will form the 

 most interesting example of a watered meadow to be found, per- 

 haps, in the State. 



We may remark here, that Mr. M. was first struck with the 

 advantages of irrigation by noticing the fertilizing effect of water 

 from certain springs, particularly that from a fine spring on land 

 which he now owns. It is on a hill-side, so far from the base that 

 the water can be turned over several acres. He bought the land 

 comprising the spring at ten dollars an acre. The soil is of 

 rather a gravelly character, and would not be very productive 

 under ordinary management. With a trifling outlay, the water 

 from this spring produces grass which is equivalent to a net income 

 of more than ten dollars a year. There are probably thousands 



