22 
QUANTITY OF SEED WHEAT PER ACRE, ETC. 
part of the bottom of the ditch only being 
hardpan. 
I ran a somewhat irregnlar ditch, shallower 
and very much narrower than the main one, 
around or near the outer edge of the swamp, dis- 
posing of the excavated earth in the same man- 
ner as the former. This last cut off' all the water 
supplied by the springs, except two larger 
ones near the centre, which I carried off by dig- 
ging a short narrow ditch from thence to the 
main one. 
My swamp was thus completely drained ; and 
although I had expended considerable money in 
the operation, I did not estimate it to have cost 
me a penny. The filling up and making avail- 
able the waste land of the meadow, the peat and 
rich mud for the muck heaps, and the roots and 
small stuff' cut off (where fuel is very high), I 
deem an ample compensation for the cost. 
The following autumn, I engaged a gang of 
very worthy Scotchmen, to dig out and level 
as much of the swamp as they chose, beginning 
at one end and working towards the other, for 
which their only compensation was the fuel they 
obtained in the roots, as I reserved the upper 
part for my own use. So well did they make 
out with their job, that they begged I would defer 
clearing off the remainder (they had done about 
half of it) till the next spring, that they might be 
able to finish it. Finding I had enough to com- 
mence my experiments with, I readily consented, 
and the following season they completed it. 
I threw two or three light bridges over the 
ditches to make them accessible, and before the 
fall rains set in, and when the swamp was driest, 
accompanied by a stout willing pair of oxen and 
a lar.ge sward D plow, I marched on to my 
newly-acquired territory with the stride of a 
conqueror, flourishing a long ox goad, rather to 
direct than to urge my team, for I always train 
them to mind my words and motions rather than 
my blows. My plow had the dial clevis, by the 
use of which I could plow close to the banks of 
the ditch, and allow the team to walk on the 
partially firm or sodded earth, and avoid stepping 
in the soft newly-turned furrows. The strong 
and sharp lock-coulter cut through the tufts of 
bog-grass and brakes, besides cutting up many 
of the extremities of long roots, the larger por- 
tions of which had been dug out for fuel. These 
I subsequently dragged together and burnt, with 
such hommocks as were not needed to fill the 
holes, and the ashes were spread over what had 
ceased to be a swamp, and had now become a field ! 
I then drew on about 50 bushels of unslacked 
lime to the acre, and spread it, then slightly 
harrowed it in. In the winter, I dug from an 
adjoining hill, sand and fine gravel, which I 
spread evenly over the frozen surface, about two 
inches deep, and followed this with a top dress- 
ing of 30 bushels of leached ashes, and 20 large 
sled-loads of barnyard manure to the acre. 
The ground was so light the following spring 
that it did not need plowing. I harrowed it with 
a heavily weighted long-toothed harrow, then 
sowed two bushels of oats, one peck of Timothy, 
and two of herds grass per acre, on one-half; and 
furrowed the remainder for corn and potatoes 
The season was quite dry, but I found a part of 
my crops suffered from some minor springs I 
had not discovered, but which subsequent ditch- 
ing remedied. On the part of the field not thus 
affected, I had large crops. As nearly as I could 
estimate, this piece yielded at the rate of 70 
bushels oats, 65 of corn, and 220 bushels of 
potatoes to the acre. The grass yielded the fol- 
lowing season, could not have been less than 
two tons at the first, and one at the second cut- 
ting ; which, at $12 per ton, the price it then bore, 
produced me a net value of $30 for one season, 
after paying for cutting and curing. I put the 
remainder of the land into oats and grass, which 
has done equally well ever since ; with the aid of 
a few narrow but deep ditches where necessary, 
and an occasional top-dressing of gravel, ashes, 
and stable-manure. After deducting the full 
cost of this top-dressing, I consider my reclaimed 
swamp has yielded me a net profit equal to the 
interest on $300 per acre, a sum I should 
promptly refuse if offered for my old swamp. 
I attribute my great success to the deep and 
thorough ditching, which effectually drains the 
land ; to the lime, which warms it, and converts 
the inert vegetable matter into food for the 
crops ; the sand and gravel, which furnish the 
silex for their frame- work (ashes) ; and the ma- 
nure, which both warms the soil and yields 
food for the plants. The deep bed of vege- 
table mold, incorporated in a bed of fine alluvial 
earth, which ages have been adding to it from 
the neighboring hills, will continue to remain a 
bed of almost perennial fertility. This will 
suffice for one specimen of Massachusetts 
swamp draining. 
An Old Bay State Farmer. 
Bush Hook. — This implement is made of 
various forms, but that of fig. 6, for general 
work, has proved the most convenient. It is 
Bush Hook. — Fig. 6. 
used for underbrushing in the forest as well as 
for cutting bushes and briars in open fields. 
We much prefer it to the short scythe or axe for 
the above purposes, more especially when the 
brush is rather large. Price $1 without, or $1 50 
with handle. 
QUANTITY OF SEED WHEAT PER ACRE. 
In a ramble recently among the farmers of the 
State of Delaware, we find that the most usual 
quantity sown by the drill, is five pecks to the 
acre, but some contend that it is not enough, and 
find their account in sowing two bushels. The 
average crops of well-improved limed land in 
Newcastle county, is twenty bushels per acre. 
Probably no part of the United States can show 
as gpeat improvement in worn-out farms, as in 
the above county. Lime has been the great 
cause of the fertility now to be seen there. 
Guano of late has also been extensively and very 
advantageously used. To these may added the 
very great improvements made in the plow, and 
