Year: 1871

UNDERTAKING..


Near his buildings there was piece
of land that was very wet and very
rough; an eyesore to the owner and a
laughing stock, or something worse, to
the boys who had to NOW it every year.
Some hurricane had probably prostrat-
ed by the roots forest of large trees
that once grew on this land, for its sur
face was succession of cradle-holes and
hillocks.


1t was not exactly swamp, but was
so wet very little could be done with it
by wav of cultivation, especially in the
spring. Some seventy rods of stonedrain
have let in the plough and harrow and
now it is one of the smoothest, most beau
tiful and most productive fields on the
farm.


H digs his bitches two fees wide and
two feet deep and lays the stone so as to
form water course four inches wide by
six inches deep, leaving the sides some
what loose to admit water, and covers
with fiat stones, and then with soil. He
has stone remarkably we'll adapted to
this purpose; being granite in thin stra-
ia, or what we suppose is called gneiss.
and is about equal to brick for ditch
making. Mr.. Pratt is very much pleas
ed with his experiment in undertaking
which has been done mostly at odd jobs.
He raised this year 800 baskets of corn,
OF variety which he calls the Sheep
tooth, a cross, as we understood, of a
small early and larger variety, of
which he preserves the desired size of
ear by careful selection. He is very
particular in his selection of tools, es-
pecially of the plough, the proper form
of which he regards of great impor-
tance.


We next called on Thomas S. Fletch-
err, whose house is at the foot of the hill,
and whose land joins that of Mr.. Pratt
On the upper part of this hill lot he has
beon quitesuccessful for several years in
experimenting in


IRRIGATION.


using the water from Mr.. Pratt's under
drains to the manifest improvement of
grass both for hay and pasture, on dry
warm side hill. Mr. F's farm is the
smallest of our half dozen farmers, though
he has comfortable home, in which he
has reared or has now growing up FAM
lily of six children, of whom he can say
as did the Roman matron, these are my
Jewels" He has also a fine orchard, but
( this year apples were so plenty that they
could hardly be sold at any price.
| A mile or two south of Felchville and
Just within the borders of the town OF
Weathersfeld, we again leave the main
road and the little stream which now ap,
pears so innocent, and SO utterly ineapa-
BILE of the irresistible force with which il
rushed through village, farm and mead
ow during the great flood of 1869, es-
teeming " iron as straw and brass as rot
ten wood" and regarding bridges, stone
abutments, and highway and other en-
bankmeots as Every little things" A
sharp ascent of about half mile, brings
US to shelf of land on the side of Lit
tie Ascntney. some three hundred feet
above the valley, which is of sufficient
extent for two farms. Here the highway
terminates, as its further extension is pre-
vented by the precipitous sides of the
mountain. One of the two farms is own
ed by James Sherwin, and his land reach
es to the summit Of Little Ascutney.
Though we had often assembled Great
Ascutney from its eastern side, where
there is comfortable road by which Wis
itors ascend from Windsor, and have
looked down on the spur known as Little
Ascutney, we bad never stood on its sum-
NIT, and we therefore gladly accepted
Mr.. Sherwin's invitation to take a walk
up his pasture, to see his cattle and sheep
and to enjoy the prospect from that ele-
vation. His sheep are good sized meri-
nos and part Of his cattle are grade
Devons. Notwithstanding the extreme
drought, they were in good condition.
True TO their well.known habits, the sheep
had evidently made the very summit of
the mountain their sleeping chamber
during the season, as there was an amount
of manure here that would tell much
better on the hungry fields below than on
these granite rocks.


THF PROSPECT FROM LITTLE AscUTNEY
is beautiful rather than grand, pleasing
rather than sublime though the first
look down its almost perpendicular west
ern face of some twelve hundred feet,
which cverhangs Greenbush Meadow,
produced momentary sensation of gid
diness. This meadow which is about two
miles long by nearly one-third of mile
wide Is evidently filled-up pond or lake
/ r