(Generally used in the plural number.) The improvements made on new lands, by cultivation and the erection of buildings.--Pickering's Vocabulary.
"This word," adds Mr. Pickering, "was first used in the State of Vermont, but it has for a long time been common in the State of New Hampshire; and it has been getting into use in some parts of Massachusetts, since the passing of the late law, similar to the Betterments Acts (as they are called) of the States above mentioned. It is not to be found in Mr. Webster's, nor in any of the English dictionaries that I have seen except Ash's; and there it is called 'a bad word.' It is thus noticed by an English traveller in this country, in speaking of those people who enter upon new lands without any right and proceed to cultivate them:
These men demand either to be left owners of the soil or paid for their betterments, that is, for what they have done towards clearing the ground.--Kendall, Travels in the United States, Vol. III p. 160.