152 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



plough for each and every crop) ; second and third years, 

 Indian corn (^the hind was then considered fit to seed down ; 

 and oats and grass-seed, including clover, were sown together 

 in spring) ; fourth year, clover and after-feed ; fifth, sixth, 

 and seventh years, Timothy and red-top, with the native 

 grasses gradually taking the place of those sown ; eighth, 

 ninth, and tenth years, and often two to five more, a light 

 crop of inferior hay, and pasture, or pasture exclusively: 

 when the same round was begun again. Ploughing sod was 

 a much-dreaded operation, requiring a strong team and much 

 patience ; and to plant and tend from two to three acres of 

 corn and potatoes was considered a pretty good summer's 

 job. 



Thirty years ago a radical change was made in the man- 

 agement. Indian corn as a grain-crop, and which had rarely 

 yielded forty bushels per acre, and frequently less than 

 twenty bushels, was abandoned, and corn for green-feeding 

 was grown instead. Oats were also cut earty, and fed green, 

 or made into hay. The number of milch cows was gradually 

 increased to ten, and an extra yoke of oxen was added to the 

 team. 



Small fruits, for home use, and orchard-trees of many 

 varieties, were planted for market purposes; though the 

 dairy was made the leading business of the farm, and re- 

 quired the purchase of large quantities of grain. Additions 

 were built to the barn, and better conveniences provided for 

 the dairy. The dam across the meadow was dug through, 

 and numerous ditches opened for carrying away surface- 

 water. A cellar was dug under the barn, and the manure 

 saved with care, and spread bountifully over the fields as far 

 as it would go. As they were needed, better ploughs, and 

 other modern farm-implements, were purchased. Mowing 

 pastures to keep down bushes was discontinued, and some 

 thirty acres given over to the growth of wood ; while a few 

 acres of the old mowing and tillage land, that was farthest 

 from the buildings was set apart for a permanent pasture 

 and exercising-ground for the dairy herd. The clearing and 

 enriching operations, commenced near the buildings, were 

 gradually extended, until twenty-six acres were rendered fit 

 for cultivation, — twenty-two acres in one field, and four in 

 another, — separated by a lane leading from the barn-yard to 



