278 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. > 



I may not be able to show you as large a bank account as 

 some, but can show you — taking into consideration the con- 

 dition of the farm when I bought it, the state of my health, 

 my inexperience, sickness since I have been on the place, 

 and the family I have had to feed, clothe, and educate, and 

 many other drawbacks which I have encountered — forty 

 acres of land in as good a condition as can be found in 

 Essex County. The use to which I put one of my principal 

 crops, namely, the hay-crop, I have not stated. I sell most 

 of it, as I think that a more profitable way to dispose of it 

 than to feed it out to stock. The price of milk is so low 

 (and it does not pay to raise beef in the East), that I think 

 it more profitable to sell hay, and buy manure. One ton of 

 hay will make not far from one-half cord of manure ; while 

 the price of a ton of hay will buy nearly four cords of 

 manure, or what eight tons of hay would make. I feed 

 English hay only to my horses, using for my cows second 

 crop and corn-fodder, refuse roots, &c. I keep only cows 

 enough to eat up all unsalable feed, usually buying a few 

 farrow cows late in the fall, and feeding them sufficiently, so 

 that they can be sold for beef in the spring, their milk 

 during the winter, paying for their keeping. 



Having passed briefly through my barn and fields, and 

 given you an outline of "my farm experience," leaving many 

 important questions unanswered, as almost every farmer has 

 his firmly-established theories, we will now adjourn to the 

 house, in my estimation one of the most important appen- 

 dages to a well-regulated farm. In my fifteen years' experi- 

 ence as a builder, I have seen many very important items, 

 as regards comfort and convenience, overlooked by those 

 who were planning for themselves or others a new house. 



In building my house I have endeavored to get all the 

 conveniences I could to make it as easy as possible for my 

 wife to do her work. My house is thirty-three by thirty- 

 eight feet, with an ell sixteen by forty-four feet, connecting 

 with the barn. In the second story of the ell the rooms for 

 my help are situated, on account of the convenience to the 

 barn, and also leaving the main house for my own family. 

 In the lower story of my ell are the carriage-house, wood- 

 shed, and wash-room for the men. Under this latter apart- 

 ment I have dug in the ground a circular cistern for rain 



