134 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



old age, after running in debt for the whole. Still, it is up-hill 

 work, and if he wishes to make any improvement on his farm 

 it must be very gi-adual. Mine has been so much so, that I 

 have to take a retrospective glance through a series of years 

 backwards, to make it visible. 



Still, by doing so, I can see that whereas, when I bought I 

 cut only hay enough to keep seven cows and one horse through 

 the first winter, I now cut enough to keep four oxen, twenty 

 cows and one horse, from the same land. That while the first 

 year I made but fifty-two loads of compost manure, I now 

 make, or have, by my cows, the last year, made three hundred 

 and eighty-two loads of a better quality. 



That, notwithstanding, my buildings, when I came here, were 

 wofully out of repair, many of my fences only baits to teach 

 honest cattle to jump, and my orcharding in bad condition, I 

 can see that all these things are vastly improved ; and, consid- 

 ering the limited means I have had at my command, I am per- 

 fectly satisfied with my exertions and the results. I would 

 close this part of my statement by giving a due amount of 

 credit to my wife, who has truly been a helpmate to me at all 

 times, assisting, encouraging and cheering me, as only a good 

 woman can, her husband. I now proceed to answer the ques- 

 tions proposed. [For questions, see Mr. C.'s Statement.] 



1. Eight acres of my home farm and ten, each, of woodland 

 and brook meadow, at a distance of one mile from my house. 



2. In 1848 I think my farm Avas in better condition than in 

 1843, when I bought it ; I hope it is better now than it was then. 



3. Thirt3^-five in tillage, twenty-five in pasture, and twenty in 

 woodland. 



4. I do not remember the amount in 1848. The present 

 year I have enough to feed amply twenty cows, four oxen and 

 one horse through the winter. 



5. Corn and oats mostly, although I am this fall growing 

 considerable wheat and rye. 



6. Some years carrots to a considerable extent. This year I 

 have about six or seven acres in flat turnips, which are a very 

 cheap root, if not a valuable one. I am in hopes, from present 

 appearances, to get a good crop. 



7. I seed with clover, both spring and fall. In the spring, as 

 early as it will do to plough. In the fall, I seed in August and 



