ESSEX SOCIETY. 29 



ing a light dressing of compost manure, and sowed grass seed 

 about the last of May : this exceeded my most sanguine expec- 

 tations, both in the quantity and quaUty of the hay to the present 

 time. The next year, I ploughed half an acre of the hardest 

 part, by attaching a plough to a pair of wheels, so that the oxen 

 might walk on the sward. This I planted with potatoes : and, 

 after they were dug, the ground was levelled and prepared for 

 grass, which was sown on the snow in March. The piece of 

 land to which I would ask your attention contains one acre. 

 In the winter of 1 839, I cleared the wood and bushes, and have 

 since kept the sprouts down by mowing. In August, 1843, I 

 hired it, dug over and laid level, (the stumps and hassocks thrown 

 back) for twenty dollars. Such of the roots and hassocks as 

 became dry, I burned ; the others were carted home for fuel, 

 when the meadow became frozen. The fuel paid for this part 

 of the labor. I then covered it with a loamy gravel one inch, 

 which took one hundred and fifty loads ; which took five days' 

 labor of two men and two yokes of oxen. The work was done in 

 winter, when there was two feet of snow on the ground, — too deep 

 for other labor. I then applied a light dressing of manure, and 

 sowed the grass-seed April 15. The crop was cut, the first year, 

 about the last of August, and yielded one and a half tons, worth 

 ^15 per ton ; the second year, three tons of prime quality, worth 

 ,f 20 per ton : the present season, two and a half tons, worth 

 ^15 per ton. The expenses, as near as I can estimate, are as 

 follows : 



Turning, $20 00 



Gravelling, 10 00 



Manure, . 10 00 



Grass-seed — one peck herds, one bushel red top, 1 50 



Crops — First year, 1^ tons, at $15, 



Second " 3 " 20, . 



Third " 2J " 15, . 



Deduct for cutting and making, $2 per ton, 



.$106 00 



