was applied, the
whole well ploughed, harrowed, seeded to grass with barley,
harrowed, and rolled. The barley was taken off last week; and, from
the five and three-quarter acres, seventeen heavy loads were hauled
into the barn, each estimated to exceed a ton in weight. The grain
from a measured acre was put apart to be separately threshed, and I
will advise of its yield when ascertained.[A] This was said, by the
many farmers who saw it, including some from the Western States,
to be the "handsomest field of grain" they had ever seen. The young
grass looks well; and I hope, next Summer, to report a good cut of
"hay from drained land."

[Footnote A: This was threshed about the middle of November, and
yielded "51 bushels, round measure." The entire field averaged 45
bushels per acre.]

Last Winter, there were no snows to cover the ground for sleighing
until March; and, lying uncovered, our fields were all frozen to an
unusual depth. But, _our drains did not cease to run through the
Winter_. And Mr. O. W. Straw, who works the farm, and was requested
to note the facts accurately, wrote to me this Spring, "the frost
came out of the drained land about one week first" (that is,
earlier than from the undrained land adjacent); and, "in regard to
working condition, the drained land was in advance of the
undrained, ten days, at least." The absence of snow permitting this
unusual depth of frost, had caused a rare equality of condition the
last Spring, because, until the frost was out, the drains would not
draw surface-water. Usually, when early snows have fallen to
protect the ground, and it remains covered through the Winter, the
frost goes off with the snow, _or earlier_, and, within a few days,
the land becomes in good condition for plowing--quite two weeks
earlier than the driest of my undrained fields, or any others in
the vicinity.

These remarks apply to land in which the drains are four rods
apart. The farm lies with an inclination northerly and easterly,
the fall varying from 1 in 33 to 1 in 8; that in most of the drains
laid four rods apart, being about 1 in 25. The drains in the
"barley field" fall 1 in 27, average, all affording a rapid run of
water, which, from the mode of construction, and subsequent
subsoiling, finds ready access to t