FARMS. 95 



imagined. The buildings were old, inconvenient and much 

 out of repair. By slight repairs, (thinking much expense on 

 them would be money lost,) I made them answer my purpose 

 until I was able to build to my mind. In 1837, I erected 

 comfortable, convenient, and substantial buildings — the barn 

 forty by fifty feet, with a cellar. 



" When I came into possession of the estate, there was more 

 than a mile of post and rail fence, including my portion of 

 boundary fences, on and around the farm, and all of it in 

 poor condition. I commenced repairing the fences, by digging 

 stones and making walls. I made enough walls yearly, to 

 supply me with material for repairing the rest of my wooden 

 fence, and consequently, I have not bought a rail from that 

 day to this. After removing such stones as could conveniently 

 be dug out with bars and levers, I commenced drilling and 

 blasting. And now my fences are generally of stone wall, and 

 on my mowing and tillage there is not a rock above the sur- 

 face, and but few within reach of the plough. 



" When I bought, there were about sixteen acres called tillage 

 and mowing. I improve about the same quantity now, having 

 increased my fields an acre or more, however, by straightening 

 the fences. The remainder is pasture and woodland. 



" At first, but few acres of the mowing could be ploughed 

 without coming in contact with heaps of stones surrounded with 

 bushes ; and these had to be removed. I ploughed no more at 

 a time than could be manured and cultivated thoroughly. I 

 first got from the farm about four tons of English hay, and 

 two or three of swale and meadow hay. By buying standing 

 grass, I kept through the winter a horse and five cows. As 

 my crops improved, I was able to increase my stock, and conse- 

 quently my manure heaps, which, however, before I built my 

 barn, were exposed to the weather until applied to the soil. 

 I now keep a horse, a yoke of oxen, and nine cows, and sell a 

 few tons of hay annually. 



" Besides such stones as were suitable for walls, my land was 

 so full of others, that I could in many places fill a cart without 

 moving it. From seventeen acres, I think, more than five hun- 

 dred loads have been removed. After burying all I could in 

 trenches, under walls and many in other places, I can prob- 

 ably show as large a collection, in one pile, as can be 



