106 N. H. STATE AGRICULTimAL SOCIETY. 



by blasting, and otherwise, has been among the most expen- 

 sive items of improvement. The stock, kept the first year I 

 occupied the farm, I think, was sixteen head of cattle, two 

 horses and about twenty sheep. The number was increased 

 from year to year, and after four or five years I was able to 

 •winter from twenty-five to thirty-five head of cattle, two 

 horses and forty or fifty sheep. The number has varied but 

 little since. 



Hay has been my principal crop for market, and the 

 amount sold for several years I find to vary from two to 

 three hundred dollars a year. 



In 1853, a portion of the homestead was sold to my eld- 

 est son, at which time we commenced enlarging, remodeling 

 and fitting the house for two families. The barns have also 

 been enlarged and repaired, with cellars under all. We 

 have 160 feet in length of barn cellar, most of which is 40 

 feet wide and 90 feet under the house. 



The crops raised on the farm the past season, as far as we 

 have means of determining are as follows : "Wheat, 63 bush- 

 els; barley, 45 bushels; oats, 15 bushels; potjitoes, 275 

 bushels; carrots, 375 bushels; ruta bagas and other turnips, 

 some 60 or 70 bushels, with a good supply of beets, cab- 

 bage, (fee, for home use and some to spare. Fruit, a mea- 

 gre supply for our own use. My mode of cultivation, in some 

 respects, differs from that formerly practiced. I then planted 

 with rows only one way, nearly four feet apart, and the hills 

 in the row eighteen or twenty inches apart; but I think 

 by having rows both ways, say about three feet distant, and 

 running the cultivator in each direction, before lioeing, there 

 is quite a saving of labor, and I have adopted tliis method. 



I usually plant u])on the sod, the manure being turned un- 

 der it ; the next year seed to grass, with some grain crop. I 

 spread a larger portion of my manure than formerly ; using 

 only a small quantity in the hill and prefer for corn a com- 

 post of hen and hog manure and night soil. 



Our com crop was considerably injured the last season by 

 worms and by being broken down by the wind. 



