86 



ploughing $1.50, seed and planting $1,25. I pulled it in Au- 

 gust and bound it up in small bundles, and shocked it, to re- 

 main in the field about two weeks. Cost of harvesting $4. 



IMPROVING PASTURE AND WASTE LANDS. 



The Committee on Waste Lands report : 



There was but one entry, that of William Foster of North 

 Andover. The Committee examined the land on the 28th of 

 July and found it very uneven both as regards quality and dry- 

 ness, as about a quarter of it consisted of a gravel knoll and 

 the remainder wet land, requiring drainage, which was as Mr. 

 Foster stated, covered with alders, birches and brakes, when he 

 commenced reclaiming it. There was not a great crop of grass 

 on the land at the time we saw it, and we should not have es- 

 timated it as high as Mr. Foster has, but it was quite green 

 then and might have grown considerably afterwards. Mr. 

 Foster stated to the Committee that the grass was very much 

 winter killed, which accounted for its backwardness and thin- 

 ness. But we think if he had manured higher, his grass would 

 have got a better start in the autumn and would not have been 

 so liable to have died out, and his crop might have been double. 

 In answer to a remark of this kind, Mr. Foster stated he was 

 aware he had not manured it enough, bnt he had used all the 

 available manure he had. Mr. Foster in his statement accom- 

 panying this report, makes a nett profit of $173.50 on the pro- 

 ceeds of the five crops. We think he has been more fortunate 

 than most farmers in his help, or his profits would have been 

 less. For instance, for the labor of harvesting the crop of 

 1861 he has charged but eight dollars, yet Mr. Foster stated 

 to the Committee that this was the actual cost. It would seem 



