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experimenting with fertilizers and crops. He advocated 

 the ploughing in of green crops for manure, in renovating 

 land. One of the best is rye, as it grows fast. Red 

 clover is perhaps the best, and turnips are good. Herds 

 grass on reclaimed swamp land should not be cut below 

 the first joint, if so, it will die. He thought the best land 

 in Essex County and in the State was in the swamps, 

 bogs, and marshes, which are full of decayed vegetable 

 matter. Mr. Poor gave his experience in reclaiming 

 twenty-five acres of swamp, underdrained with eight 

 miles of stone and tiles, now yielding two crops of hay 

 of two tons to the acre. 



S. H. Boutvvell of Andover, gave his experience in re- 

 claiming six or eight acres of stony pasture land. Such 

 work done at odd times pays : it would not pay to hire 

 money to do it. 



Hon. Warren Brown of Hampton Falls, N. H., believed 

 in keeping sheep to eat down small bushes, and that dy- 

 namite was safer and better than powder for clearing 

 land of stumps and rocks. His experience in that line 

 was interesting. 



W. H. Clark of Methuen, stated that he run in debt 

 for a forty acre farm ; now owns it all. Mostly reclaimed 

 land. Says sand or coal ash put on swamp land makes 

 all crops stand up. 



John H. George for #30 cleared a quarter acre of oak 

 stumps with dynamite. C. W. Mann of Methuen and 

 Sheriff Herrickall had had experience in improving waste 

 land, and spoke on the subject. 



In the afternoon, George M. Whittaker, of the New 

 England Farmer, spoke on "Little Neglects,'' an address 

 full of good advice, contrasting the well kept farm house 

 and farm and its influence upon the town and county, 

 with the loosely kept one, in such a vivid and truthful 

 manner that the contrasts came home to every mind. He 

 spoke of a Stockbridge man that main' years ago, set out 

 four elms in front of his house, in less than a day's work, 

 which added #1000 to the value of his farm when he sold 



