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No. 63.] 315 



nomy on the part of some who have occupied it, some portions are 

 now far less so, than otherwise they might have been. I do not say 

 that all my predecessors on this farm were bad, or even poor farmers. 

 Of the management of any of them, I had no personal know- 

 ledge; but observing, when I came into possession, that the depth of 

 tilth was generally shallow, I could from this circumstance alone infer 

 that the general previous management had not been either scientific 

 or "thorough-going." Some fields had been plowed too much, and 

 others too little; some had been plowed and highly manured until 

 the land had become filled with thistles and other weeds; and others 

 had been plowed without manuring until they had become very thistly 

 and much worn; and nearly all wore the appearance of having been 

 repeatedly plowed and worked when too wet. The opportunity for 

 improvement, therefore, which in these respects existed, early en- 

 gaged my attention; antl hence a course of treatment was adopted 

 with these several fields, as nearly the reverse of that which had ef- 

 fected those results as circumstances would admit. This treatment, 

 however, is in accordance with, and constitutes a part of my general 

 system of farming; which, while it embraces the means of restoring 

 to the soil the qualities lost or impaired by injudicious treatment, ex- 

 tends also much farther, and contemplates as its leading object, an 

 unlimited and tonstantly progressive improvement of the soil. 



The division of my farm into fields is not such as I should prefer. 

 In such a division the size of the fields would be nearly equal, and 

 the number of such fields into which the farm should be divided, 

 would be just once, twice, or some even multiple of the number of 

 years embraced in each period of rotation of crops; in which case 

 the number of acres annually broken up, or the quantity of ground 

 annually appropriated to any given crop, might always be the same. 

 But from the circumstance of several previous owners — and that of 

 the intersection of public roads, such a division of this farm cannot 

 well be made. By the circumstances just alluded to, my farm is now 

 divided into five principal lots; availing myself of this primary di- 

 vision, I have '■^ Lots'''' A, B, C, D and E. These are subdivided 

 into " Fields^'' and numbered 1, 2,3, and so on. This farm contains 

 no woodland. The \-^% acres however above referred to as unculti- 

 vated, is covered with a sapling growth, which has sprouted up where 

 the timber has recently been cut off. 



No part of the farm is used exclusively for pasture. My stock is 

 small, and I hire it pastured off the farm till after haying — except 

 my team, which is " kept up." The coarse fodder has all been used 

 on the farm. Of the hay, from fifteen to twenty tons annually have 

 been used, and the remainder sold. This last, however, is a practice 

 which I would by no means recommend; and which I intend to dis- 

 continue as soon as I can, without too much outlay, sufficiently in- 

 crease my stock. For the two first years, the loss of manure occa- 

 sioned by the sale of a part of the hay, was more than compensated 

 by the use on my own land of coarse fodder, raised on an adjoining 

 farm, of which I then held a lease. Since that time, or for two sea- 

 sons past, I have had access to no such replenishing means from off 



