104 



Tiew is extensive and beautiful. The ascent from the plain to 

 the mansion is by a somewhat "winding way, of easy grade, 

 while the descent upon the opposite side towards the Lynn and 

 Marblehead road, in the bend in Forest river, is abrupt and 

 wooded. *► 



But the farm. At the time of the August visit of the Com- 

 mittee, our attention was first called to the underdrained field 

 in front of the farm-house, a full account of which was given 

 by the owner in the Society's Transactions in 1859. One acre 

 and one-eighth at this time was in mangel wurzel, and the 

 balance (four and three-eighths acres) in English grass, the 

 second crop being perhaps half grown. The whole field was 

 underdrained by the present owner in 1857, before which time 

 *' it was good for nothing." It was of this field that a former 

 occupant and lessee speaks in his statement, made thirty-two 

 years ago, when he says — " There is of wet meadow land not 

 more than five acres, which is never tilled, but drained, and 

 yields good crops of stock hay." At the time of the Commit- 

 tee's recent visit (in November), the crops had been harvested. 

 Upon the acre and one-eighth in mangel wurzel the crop 

 measured sixteen hundred bushels, or sixteen hundred bushels 

 to the acre ! The two crops of English grass upon the four 

 acres and thirty-three rods measures twenty-seven tons. It is 

 proper to state the method by which the quantity was ascer- 

 tained. The hay was upon the scaffold and occucupied the 

 space from the scaffold floor to the great beams, a height of 

 eight feet. One of the bands was measured, and seven hun- 

 dred cubic feet were estimated to weisrh a ton. Bv this method 

 (one usually adopted and considered reliable where weighing 

 cannot be had) the first and second crops upon this piece of 

 land are found to amount to the astonishing quantity already 

 mentioned — twenty-seven tons, or six and four-tenths tons to 

 the acre. As Dr. Loring's method of draining, together with 

 his discription of the land before draining, were minutely des- 

 cribed by him in the Society's Transactions for 1859, already 

 referred to, it is quite unnecessary to repeat any part of his 



