96 [Senate 



MONROE COUNTY REPORT ON FARMS. 



Extracts from the Report of L. B. Langworthy, chairman of the 

 Committee on Farms, to Monroe County Agricultural Society: 



Let a farm consisting of any number of acres, not too large — say, 

 for example, one hundred acres of arable land, independent of wood 

 lands, orchard, and garden — be in the first place well fenced, if with 

 rails, well staked and ridered ; or what is better, with corner stakes 

 and yokes, the yokes placed at two or three rails from the top, in 

 which case the stakes need not be set in the earth ; or what is better 

 still, where there is a sufficiency of stones, let the fences be made with 

 them, and it can hardly be conceived, by those unacquainted with the 

 process, how small and inferior an article will make a good and last- 

 ing fence, merely by the plentiful use of cedar, pine, or chestnut sticks 

 laid in crossways with the stone, always reserving a sufficient quan- 

 tity of stone to cope the wall, and form a cap, to cover and retain the 

 whole line. Divide the whole into such sized fields as shall comport 

 with the size of the farm, and in such a manner as will allow it always 

 to be nearly equally divided into a three-course rotation. The fences 

 to be clear from weeds, brambles, and shrubs, and of a sufficient 

 height to protect against all depredation : for there is no better opi- 

 ate to induce good nature, and calm an uninterrupted sleep at night, 

 than good strong and high fences. If there are any low or springy 

 lands, let them be thoroughly open or under-drained — under-draining 

 is by far the most convenient, safe, and economical. 



The barns should be large, with an under-ground basement, if pos- 

 sible ; sheds and stables, large and roomy enough to house every hoof 

 on the farm ; barn-yards not too large, with water handy ; a piggery, 

 with boiling apparatus ; and proper protection and fixtures for the 

 sheep ; with a well-built, snug, and convenient house ; an industrious 

 wife, not too handsome ; a kitchen and flower garden ; a well chosen 

 fruitery and orchard — and that is what this committe would consider 

 a pretty smart chance of a beginning. Now, we would propose that 

 there should be a flock of sheep, of a hardy ^ Jine-wooled variety if for 

 the fleece, or of a large-framed, long-wooled variety if for the carcase; 

 as an indispensable requisite to commence with, not only as to profit 

 from themselves, but as an important element in wheat husbandry. 

 A greater profit will be realized from the sale of the wool and carcase 

 than is lost to the farm by the food they consume, as their manure is 

 the perfection of food for the wheat plant, and, from its intimate divi- 

 sion and distribution, it is in a better state to feed the young plant 

 than any other, except, perhaps, the artificial compounds. 



The true wheat farmer should have no more cows, oxen, or horses 

 than are necessary to carry on the farm, and subsist the family — and 

 those of the very best breeds. It must be very bad economy to be 

 obliged always to keep half the farm in pasture and meadow, merely 

 for the sake of keeping a great herd of cows ; coupled with the privi- 

 lege of foddering 20 or more tons of hay, and making a few pounds 



