190 [Senate 



cutting timothy as soon as it is out of blossom, and so on as fast as 

 possible. It spends best and furnishes more nutriment when pretty 

 ripe, but not so much so as to shell in handling. My hay is made 

 in the usual manner, and all put under cover. 



18. I have only twenty acres but what is plowed land ; that is low 

 black ash bottom, thoroughly drained, and will be seeded to red top 

 and timothy for permanent meadow. All other parts of my farm are 

 put into wheat as often as once in three years, and seeded down. 

 No such case can be properly tolerated as to have a wheat stubble 

 without clover. Timothy is worth very little as a fertilizer, and is 

 only used as hay and pasturage. 



19. I have not practised irrigation, not having the means. 



20. I have reclaimed about fifty acres of an old slashing of the 

 worst kind, grown up in bushes, elders, briars, and all abominable 

 things ! by thorough stumping, logging, bogging, piling and burning 

 the whole, and by effectually draining by ditches ten feet broad and 

 four to five feet deep. The earth taken out below the black muck 

 was distributed on the surface and plowed in. 



The first crop, white turneps, and potatoes after, and until sub- 

 dued, and then seeded down with red top and timothy. A part 

 being enclosed in a wheat field, was regularly summer fallowed, and 

 sown with timothy alone, on the 10th September, at the time of 

 wheat seeding. 



Domestic Animals. 



I have now on the farm six cows and five young cattle ; grade, 

 Durham and common ; one yoke oxen, five spans, and one single 

 horse, all heavy working teams. 



Hay near this city is too valuable to allow us to keep any more 

 dairy than for family use, and in the wheat farming process, a heavy 

 stock of cattle require too much meadow and pasture land to accom- 

 modate the wheat rotation. Sheep are much more profitable, and in 

 fact are indispensable for wheat farms, they keep down grasses and 

 weeds, and prepare and manure summer fallows better than cattle, 

 and are easier kept. 



22. Not being engaged in cattle raising or feeding, I am unable to 

 say anything definite from experience. 



23. Butter only for family use. 



