184 [Senate 



through the middle of the meadow. Lateral cuts from this main ditch, 

 with gates, distributed the water. 



^ 20. Of the bottom lands mentioned, about twenty acres were very 

 wet, and may have come under the denomination of " low peat lands." 

 This land has been thoroughly drained, with ditches from three to five 

 feet deep. Very heavy oats were this year raised upon some of this 

 land, and about one-half of my corn was upon this description of land. 

 The next year, the whole forty acres are to be planted or sown to 

 oats. 



21. There have been four oxen, seventeen cows, and sixteen head of 

 store cattle, eighty sheep, eleven horses and thirty-three swine kept on 

 the farm the past season, with the exception of a short time. The 

 cattle are either thorough bred, or high grade short horns. 



22. I have made no accurate and careful experiments to test the* 

 comparative value of different breeds of cattle. 



23. No account is kept of the butter and cheese made on the farm, 

 as it is mostly consumed on the premises. 



24. There have been but eighty sheep kept on the farm the past season. 

 The flock has recently been very much reduced, with a view to substi- 

 tute pure Merinos. My sheep yielded a little over four pounds of wool 

 each, for the whole flock. The pure Merino ewes, each raised a lamb, 

 and they averaged a little over five pounds to the fleece. I think that 

 about ninety lambs may be expected to be raised from one hundred 

 ewes. I have heretofore raised mutton sheep, but have disposed of all 

 my sheep whose chief value was for mutton, and intend to turn my 

 attention to the raising wool, as the first consideration. Two dollars has 

 been about the average price I have received for mutton sheep fattened 

 on grass. 



25. There have been thirty-three swine, of grade Berkshire, kept on 

 the farm this year. About one-half of them have been slaughtered. 

 Our hogs weigh from two hundred and fifty to five hundred, averaging 

 over three hundred and fifty, when dressed. 



26. No accurate experiments have been made by me, to test the 

 value of roots as compared with Indian com. I fatten my hogs and 

 cattle on corn ground with the cob. Cooked for hogs, and sometimes 

 cooked and sometimes raw for cattle,being governed in this particular, 

 by the amount of grain I am feeding. I think corn the most economi- 



