80 



to cut. I let it go as it was except a narrow strip near 

 the ditch which 1 have ploughed occasionally. I com- 

 menced to reclaim a piece on the other side of the ditch, 

 where my success was so good that it encouraged me to 

 go back and commence again on the piece which I now en- 

 ter for premium. In '83 I dug the ditch as deep as the 

 water and rocks would admit, varying from two to six 

 feet deep and from three and one half to four feet wide. 

 I ploughed it, using a pair of wheels where the oxen could 

 not go in the furrow, and applied a heavy coat of barn 

 manure in the drills. I planted the dryest part with po- 

 tatoes, and the rest with sweet corn, hi November I 

 ploughed it with a side hill plough, with the intention of 

 seeding down, but before I got it level enough the ground 

 froze. In March, '84, I sowed on ten bushels of hen ma- 

 nure just as it came from the roost. When warm weath- 

 er came the weeds and grass came up thick, and grew 

 very fast ; I ploughed it in June. I think the weeds were 

 six inches high ; I turned them under and without any 

 more manure, sowed it to oats and grass seed, with the 

 exception of a few rods where the sod was not rotted 

 enough to level. I planted again with sweet corn. Had 

 a very heavy crop of oats, was obliged to move a part of 

 them to higher ground to dry. In 1885 we estimated the 

 crop of grass on the part that was seeded down at two 

 tons. The few rods that were not seeded down to grass 

 I ploughed and again planted with sweet corn. In 1886 

 the few rods that had been planted with corn were ploughed 

 with side hill plough and sowed to oats and grass seed. 

 I think the grass on the part that was seeded down in 1884 

 was the heaviest crop of grass I ever raised. We estima- 

 ted the hay to weigh three tons and the oats five hundred 

 pounds. 



