LINCOLN COUNTY SOCIETY. 217 



the soil has been raised to a high state of cultivation, producing 

 heavy crops ; and in this way more profit can be realized from a 

 small piece of ground, than from a much larger one poorly cultivated. 



Another advantage is, where full crops are grown, so as to shade 

 the ground, there will be less trouble with Aveeds. I have repeat- 

 edly choked out "twitch-grass" in one season, where the ground 

 •had been literally filled with the roots. I make the ground rich 

 enough to sustain a heavy crop ; plow deep, so as to cover the roots 

 deep in the ground ; then plant with corn, putting the rows as near 

 together as the cultivator will admit, and the hills, with four stalks 

 in each, about two feet apart in the rows, with beans between the 

 hills, and "some pumpkins"; keep the grass down with cultivator 

 and hoe, till these shade the ground, and that is the last I see of the 

 twitch-grass, except dead roots, which go to feed the next crop. 



My mode of keeping and preparing manures is as follows : — That 

 from the stable, both liquid and solid, goes down from the stable 

 into the hog-yard, where it is not exposed to the weather, and muck 

 thrown on frequently to prevent waste. I have found by experi- 

 ment, that a load of this mixture, being two-thirds muck, was 

 stronger and produced better crops, than a load of all stable manure 

 'which had been exposed to the weather. 



I have an orchard of forty apple trees, most of them young, but 

 nearly all in bearing. They yielded last year about fifty bushels 

 apples — this year not more than one-third that quantity, owing to 

 damage they received last winter. I have also thirty-five standard 

 plum and cherry trees ; seventy-five dwarfs, most of which are pear 

 trees ; fifteen varieties of grapes in bearing ; currants and goose- 

 berries, several sorts, for family use and for sale ; raspberries, black- 

 berries, rhubarb, asparagus, &c. Also, five or six thousand nursery 

 trees, vines and shrubbery. 



On the products of the field last year, I wintered a cow and two 

 years old heifer, that came in last spring ; fed them every night; 

 through the summer, (the pasture being poor.) I also kept a horse 

 the year round on hay, grass, carrots, &c., without corn or grain of 

 any kind, and expect to do the same this year. I also raise from 

 twenty to forty bushels corn and grain annually, besides vegetables 

 for table — such as beans, peas, potatoes, squashes, cabbages, mel- 

 ons, T&C. 



