HAMPDEN SOCIETY. 105 



the present season I took from it the best crop of grass I ever 

 saw. I intend, therefore, to complete my job in that way, the 

 object being to clean the land and change the quality of the 

 grass. 



I opened an account with my lot when I commenced, charg- 

 ing every day's work, every load of maimre, every bushel of 

 seed, &c. I gave credit, as I passed along, for all the crops I 

 took from it, including wood, &c, ; and, at the end of four years, it 

 had paid principal and interest of the amount expended, (over 

 $300,) and brought me in debt about $15. Since that time, I 

 have made no estimate of the expense or profits, until the pres- 

 ent season, and now only with a view to this statement. 



The net profits of my lot, then, the present season, are as 

 follows : — 



25 tons of hay at $8 per ton, ----- $200 



Deduct 16 days' -labor at $1 per day, - - $16 



" " " boy, 50c. per day, - 8 



" 32 days' board at $1 50 per week, 7 



" use of oxen and tools, - - - 2 



— 33 



Net balance, $167 



Chester, October Sth, 1846. 



Reclaiming Waste Land. 



The Committee are deeply impressed with the importance of 

 this subject, and especially from the fact that, in their opinion, 

 it is the thing on which rests the agricultural interests of Mas- 

 sachusetts. We now speak of upland, which is cultivated every 

 year ; and land, too, which belongs to the home-farm, in the 

 face of every body, producing less and less, and presenting a 

 pale and sickly appearance, the rocks and smaller stones, scat- 

 tered promiscuously, occupying a large portion of the surface, 

 while their proper place presents an appearance, if possible, still 

 worse — a mass of nettles and sour weeds, propped up by elder 

 bushes, and a few fragments of feeble rails. Here is waste 

 14 



