52 MIDDLESEX SOCIETY. 



the low places, and made the surface as level as I could. I then 

 cai'ted on loam and gravel, and spread on my compost as be- 

 fore, seeded down in the spring with oats and hay-seed, and it 

 did well, much better than that the season before, and at a much 

 less cost. 



The meadow contains about sixteen acres, an acre of which 

 is planted with potatoes ; the rest is in grass, from which, I think, 

 I have taken, the present season, four tons of hay and rowen 

 per acre. The cost of improving this meadow, after it was 

 drained, was not far from forty-five dollars per acre. It 

 is nine years since I began these improvements, and the first 

 lots that I reclaimed have been every year improving in the 

 quantity and quality of the hay. 



Marlborough, Sept. \2th, 1846. 



E. A. 6f A. Lmvrence' s Statement. 



The piece of reclaimed meadow, to which we ask the atten- 

 tion of the Committee, contains about three acres, which, pre- 

 vious to its being reclaimed, was considered worthless, being 

 very wet and covered with bushes and stumps. We commenced 

 by thoroughly draining, cutting about one hundred and twenty- 

 five rods of ditches, and then cutting the bushes. A fire was 

 put in, which assisted much in the bogging and taking out the 

 large stumps, besides the benefit of the ashes it made. 



After bogging and taking out the wood, which was about 20 

 cords to the acre, we planted it with potatoes, manuring in the 

 hill. After digging the potatoes, we have seeded down in tlie 

 fall with herd's grass and red top seed, carting on loam or gravel 

 to mix with the soil, where it would bear up a team ; where it 

 would not, we have carted it on the following winter, when the 

 meadow was frozen, applying it as a top-dressing. The first 

 crop of hay was about 1| tons per acre. Continuing the top- 

 dressing of loam and gravel for two winters, we have nearly 

 doubled the quantity of hay, and kept out the wild grasses. 



