FARMS. 133 



A. I keep them under cultivation, with root and corn crops, 

 until their foliage becomes so dense that no crop will grow : I 

 then plough' the ground and leave it fallow. 



26. " Do you think that old orchards may be new topped and 

 cultivated with profit ? " 



A. I do. 



27. " Do you keep a journal of your farm operations ? " 

 A. I do. 



28. " Any other information, that you may possess about farm- 

 ing or gardening ?" 



A. I have given a portion of my experience in a paper pub- 

 lished in the " State Transactions of the Agricultural Society 

 for 1850," pages 128 to 131, to which you are respectfully 

 referred. 



Shirley, Sept. 16, 1856. 



Statement of L. H. Hildreth. 



The farm to which I called your attention, I purchased in 

 1843, it being then very much run down, having been let two 

 years prior to my purchase, to a man who well understood the 

 process of skinning. For three years before, the standing grass 

 had been sold, so that it was not in the best head when he came 

 on to it. He, however, left it in a very low state, from which, with 

 judicious and careful nursing, it has not yet entirely recovered, 

 although I think it is gaining, and hope, should I live on it a few 

 years longer, to restore it to a healthful and vigorous condition. 



I labored under one disadvantage in my purchase and sub- 

 sequent movements, that I hope few of my brother farmers 

 experience ; that was poverty. I can see a thousand improve- 

 ments that I wish to make, but from which I am held back for 

 want of means. 



I paid for my farm $4,337. To make that payment, I was 

 obliged to mortgage it for $4,100, having but |237 of my own, 

 after buying seven cows to stock it with, and my few farming 

 tools. I thought then, and still think, that a young man, by 

 industry and calculation, — if he has as good a wife as I have, — 

 can make a living, improve his farm, and bring up a family of 

 children, be able to educate them well, pay his taxes, help pay 

 the minister, — if he likes him, — and lay up something for his 



