NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



119 



It has a clear muck or decayed vegetable soil of 

 about four or live feet deep, resting upon a hard pan 

 subsoil, and I think capable of being well drained, 

 which, of course, is the first thing to be done. But 

 will that alone bring it into better grass ? And what 

 effect will sand have upon it ? I wish to bring it 

 into English grass, (hcrdsgrass and red top,) if it can 

 be done, and should like to see something in the 

 New England Farmer on this subject. 



IlcspectfuUy yours, 



L. A. LUCAS. 



Proctorsville, Vt., March 10, 1849. 



Editorial Remarks. 



In improving low lands, the bushes should be cut 

 even with the ground, and burned or removed. If 

 there are only a few large bushes or small trees, so 

 that the land is generally free from roots, and can be 

 ploughed, it is frequently better to remove the prin- 

 cipal roots with the tree, as they can be extracted 

 more conveniently in connection with the tree than 

 they can after the tree is cut down. 



Thorough di'aining is essential to the improvement 

 of wet land. A main channel or drain should be 

 made in the centre or lowest part, sufficiently wide 

 and deep to carry off the water from different parts 

 of the meadow. In some cases, it is necessary to cut 

 a ditch, four or six feet deep in some parts, in order 

 to give a moderate descent from all parts. 



Next to the main channel or ditch, marginal drains 

 should be made at or very near the margin of the 

 meadow, to receive the water that oozes out of the 

 high land. These drains should run along in a line 

 with the margin of the meadow, for if the drains run 

 directly from the high land to the main channel, 

 and they are no more than two rods apart, the water 

 will run from the high land, and spread out, between 

 the drains, to a considerable extent on the meadow, 

 and prevent thorough draining. 



A sufficient number of cross drains should be made 

 to carry off the water. As to the distance between 

 them, much depends on circumstances. If the de- 

 scent be siriall, the land very wet, and the soil reten- 

 tive of moisture, it may be necessary to make the 

 drains within two or three rods of each other. In some 

 cases, meadows of two or three acres have been well 

 drained merely by making a marginal drain around 

 them ; as no stream of water passed through them, 

 and none boiled up in them, they became sufficiently 

 dry when the vv'ater was cut off from the high land. 



In draining, it is better to cut through the mud 

 into the hard soil, unless the mud is very deep ; and 

 in that case deeper draining will be required than 

 where there is a hard subsoil. 



After a meadow is drained, it is better to plough 

 it, if it can be done conveniently, as this thoroughly 

 destroys the wild grasses and weeds. But if it is too 

 wet, or there are so many roots that this cannot be 

 done, it may be improved by applying several inches 

 in depth of gravel, sand, or loam, preferring them in 

 the order in which they arc named, and adding 

 manure, and harrowing or working it into the gravel 

 or other substance that is applied ; and then sow it 

 to grass. 



Draining will have a tendency to destroy the wild 

 grasses, and encoiurage the cultivated kinds that arc 



sown. Ploughing has a good effect in the same 

 way. The earth applied promotes the growth of 

 cultivated grasses in preference to the wild ones, and 

 the manure has the same effect. 



In many cases, meadows may be improved at a 

 small expense, after draining, by applying gravel, 

 &c., and a small quantity of manure, covering up a 

 mass of vegetable substance at the surface, without 

 ploughing, which will decay and form manure. 

 After a few years, the land will become drier, and 

 more firm at the surface, from its settling, and from 

 a grass sward, and the roots of bushes and trees will 

 have decayed, and then it can be further improved 

 by ploughing, applying more high land soil and 

 manure, and sowing down again. 



As the soil and location of meadows vary greatly, 

 it is impossible to give definitely the best mode of 

 improvement, without an examination of the prem- 

 ises. These suggestions are general. Thorough 

 draining, and the liberal application of sand or gravel, 

 where the soil is mud, muck, or clay, and a mod- 

 erate quantity of manure, are all essential to an 

 improvement sufficient to produce large crops of 

 excellent grass. 



FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES. 



At the agricultural meeting, at the State House, 

 Mai'ch 13, Hon. Marshall P. Wilder in the chair, 

 the above subject was discussed. 



Mr. Wilder opened the discussion. He said, that 

 the culture of fruit trees, or, in modern language, the 

 science of pomology, occupies a wide field. Grain 

 and vegetables may be considered the necessary and 

 substantial blessings of Providence ; but he had 

 ever regarded delicious fruits as the overflowings of 

 his bounty. Formerly the cultivation of fine fruits 

 was linrited to the gardens of the opulent and the 

 vicinity of good markets. But the increased facili- 

 ties for information, intercourse, and transportation 

 has spread over the land and awakened an interest 

 in the subject, so that now thousands of trees are 

 planted instead of dozens ; and the most humble 

 cottage without its fruit trees and grape vines is 

 considered as an anomaly. In no part of the world 

 is this enterprise crowned with better success than 

 in our own country. Mr. Wilder here alluded to 

 the statement of Mr. Barry, (which is on page 103,) 

 in regard to the demand in England for American 

 fruits, showing that so vast an amount of fruit was 

 necessary for home consumption and for foreign mar- 

 kets that there -was no danger of overstocking the 

 market. Several varieties of different species were 

 recommended as worthy of general cultivation. 



Hon. J. C. Gray, of Boston, recommended sub- 

 soiling or trenching the land before planting trees, 

 and taking up trees with great care, so as not to 

 break the roots. He remarked, that our climate was 

 better for fruit trees than that of England. 



Mr. Marshall S. Rice, of Newton, spoke of the great 

 injury to apple-trees by the caterpillar, and he 

 recommended destroying their eggs, which may be 

 seen on the small branches, glistening in the morning 



