90 ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW-YORK 



to have been adopted. For had the land been thoroughly 

 cleaned and sub-soiled in one season, it would have required an 

 amount of labor and manure that could not he aJBforded; while, 

 by the gradual process, fair crops have been obtained at moderate 

 expense. The cost of clearing the land of stumps, roots and 

 stones, and the manure necessary for each acre, thoroughly pre- 

 pared and sub-soiled, could not be estimated at less than thirty 

 dollars per acre; w^hich is an amount of expense that can only 

 be incurred by those who make farming a pastime without regard 

 to profits. 



In the intervales and natural water-ways, on my farm, the 

 hard crust was thickest. There the water in the spring and the 

 drouth of summer were alike unfavorable to vegetation of any 

 valuable kind. In order to remedy these evils I commenced a 

 system of blind drains, of a width and depth proportioned to the 

 water that might be expected to pass through them. They are 

 from three to six feet deep, and the width is from two to three 

 feet. Stone are laid on the sides of the drain at the bottom^ from 

 six to ten inches high, and covered by flat stone. The ditch is 

 then filled up with small loose stone, within a foot and a half of 

 the top. Straw is laid over the stone to prevent the earth from 

 obstructing the drain, and the soil dug from the drain filled in. 

 The result has been most satisfactory. Lands that were formerly 

 useless are made the most productive spots on the farm, and the 

 adjacent soil quickened. I have about two hundred rods of these 

 drains constructed at an expense of about fifty cents per rod. 



I make a compost heap annually of one hundred to one hun- 

 dred and fifty loads. The hop vines and other vegetable sub- 

 stances that are not useful for feeding stock are gathered in the 

 fall and placed in the centre of the barn yard. Straw and other 

 coarse fodder is scattered over it and the animals feed and tramp 

 it down during the winter. In the spring when the frost is out, 

 the heap is gathered and covered with muck from a neighboring 

 creek, and additions made to the heap during the summer, of such 

 materials as will increase its value. Salt is added to the heap 

 before and after the muck, for the purpose of retaining moisture 

 as well as for its fertilizing properties in small quantities. When 

 the heap is formed the soap suds and other waste waters are 

 thrown upon it, to keep it moist and prevent the escape of gases, 



