386 [Senate 



deserving of credit for the neatness and thrift exhibited about his 

 premises. Mr. Vanderheyden applies all his manure upon his mea- 

 dows, and seeds the land he tills with clover and herdsgrass, and gives 

 it an annual top dressing with plaster; his depth of plowing is from 

 six to ten inches. As to the expense of cultivating his farm, he em- 

 ploys one person in addition to himself and two sons, with additional 

 help in haying and harvesting, amounting to about $75. Here fol- 

 low^s his statement made of the produce of the farm for the present 

 season: 



In meadow, 95 acres, estimated at 150 tons of hay. 

 Winter wheat, 10 do do 25 bushels per acre, 250 bush. 



Winter rye, 34 do do 25 do do 850 do 



Oats, 17 do do 40 do do 1080 do 



Corn, 13 do do 35 do do 452 do 



Potatoes, 15 do do 200 do do 3000 do 



Buckwheat, 8 do do 30 do do 240 do 



Fallow, 18 do 



Pasture, 30 do having pastured 9 horses, 30 head of cattlej 



- 32 sheep and 14 swane. 



Your committee next called to view the farm of Isaac Akins, Esq, 

 of Greenbush, which lies on the bank of the Hudson river, about two 

 miles below the village of Greenbush, containing 320 acres; 160 of 

 which are under cultivation, 115 in meadow, and 45 in pasture and 

 under the plow. About one-half of the farm is low bottom land 

 along the river, the soil alluvial — being overflowed every spring by 

 the river, consequently wants no manuring or plowing. About 40 

 acres of the upland of this farm are in meadow, w^iich Mr. Akins in- 

 forms us he has for the last five years manured with about 40 loads to 

 the acre, spread upon the surface. The soil of the upland is princi- 

 pally a sandy loam, the ridges occasionally mixed with a slate gravel. 

 Mr. Akins had 10 acres of spring wheat and 5 of corn, which ap- 

 peared very promising, and had sown 8 acres of buckwheat. Mr. 

 Akins plows from six to ten inches deep, puts his manure on the sur- 

 face and harrows it in. The kind of manure he has used for the last 

 five years is principally from a distillery, mixed wath his barnyard ma- 

 nure, and the quantity he puts on his plow land varies from 25 to 40 

 loads per acre, according to the quality of the land. Your committee 

 found the farm of Mr. Akins in a high state of cultivation; the fields 

 well arranged; the upland divided into suitable lots. The fences are 

 principally composed of cedar posts and boards, and put up with a 

 great deal of neatness and regularity. His barn and out-buildings are 

 well arranged and substantially constructed — his barn being seventy- 

 two feet by fifty, and with an open floor, the posts twenty-eight 

 feet high, with a hay press underneath the open floor; his barn and 

 out-buildings placed upon substantial stone walls and painted. 

 Among the several out-buildings, our attention was directed to his 

 shops for repairing the tools and implements on his farm, and the pe- 

 culiar construction of a work-bench in his carpenter's shop, with some 

 five or six drawers underneath for the reception of various tools. A 

 place for every thing and every thing in its place. While here, a 



