258 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
sept milk to New York. His sales have been mostly dairy products, and fruit, and an 
oceasiona! crop of tobacco. 
Farming in Middlefield.—Middiefield is situated near the central part of the State, and 
is well located for farming. Mr. P.M. Angur sends the following statement relative to fair 
representative farms, and adds: “I believe that in Middlefield there is not one farm 
that with fair management, after allowing full charge for labor and fertilizers, will not 
pay a fair percentage on the investment. There are probably few places where ma- 
chinery, out doors and in, has been more generally introduced or with better results 
A better class of stock is kept than formerly, and more attention is paid to making 
permanent improvements. Concerning agriculture in Middlefield the future looks 
hopeful. 
Ko. 1.—Valne of farm, $6,000; implements, $500; stock, $1,000; total, $7,500. Pro- 
duce’ sold: Wool, $25; garden vegetables, $40; poultry produce, $100; potatoes and 
turnips, $200; butter, $150; forest products, $150; orchard, $120; slaughtered ani- 
Pa $150; growth and sale of animals, $300; total, $1,285. Labor, $450. Net returns, 
785. 
No. 2—Value of farm, $12,000; implements, $500; live stock, $2,300; total, $14,800. 
Produce sold: Tobacco, $1,200; wool, $24; potatoes, $75; orchard, $105; pg pro- 
ducts, $252; butter, $300; forest products, $75; slaughtered animals, $700; sale and 
growth of animals, $400; total, $3,131. Labor, $1,500; fertilizers bought, $300; total 
expenses, $1,300. Net returns, $1,331. 
No. 3.—Valne of farm,-$10,000; implements, $300; stock, $2,200; total, $12,500. 
Products sold: Tobacco, $300; potatoes, $38; orchard, $60; butter, $375; cheese, $24; 
forest products, $180; slaughtered animals, $735; sale and hase of animals, $375 ; 
total receipts, $2,587. Labor, $1,200 ; fertilizers bought, $150; total expenses, $1,350. 
Net returns, $1,237. 
No. 4.—Valne of farm, $7,000; implements, $300; live stock, $1,095; total, $8,395. 
Produce sold: Potatoes, $200; wool, $45; orchard products, $100; butter, $200; forest 
products, $185; slaughtered animals, $634; sale and growth of anivials, $300 ; total 
receipts, $1,664. Labor, $550; fertilizers, $50; total expenditures, $600. Net returns, 
1 ; 
Colonel! Thomas A. Wood, of Greenwich, a successful farmer of more than three- 
score and ten years, writes me of his farming experience, and especially of bis success 
with plaster, by the moderate application of which the product of the pastures made 
a three-fold increase: “ My farm of 260 acres is assessed at $32,000; buildings, $4,000 ; 
farming implements, $950. Wheat before the aphis appeared averaged 25 bushels per 
acre ; corn averages 75 bushels per acre; potatoes, 175 bushels; oats, a little over 50 
bushels ; hay, 2} tons per acre. Sales consist of fat cattle, lambs, pork, hay, apples, 
corn, and a little wheat and oats and a few potatoes. The average yearly aggregate 
of sales from 1860 to 1870 has been $6,700. No account is taken of what is used in the 
family. Milk, butter, and other small sales meet the grocer’s bills. The expenditures 
for cattle and labor smoutit to $3,100; mechanics’ bills, $433; taxes, $927—making a 
total of $4,460, and showing a balance of $2,240. 
“My rotation is corn, oats, wheat, and then grass eight years. I have about 45 grown 
cattle and horses in the stables. Every morning the droppings are removed and piled 
up or drawn to the field designed for corn. The litter, when saturated with urine, is 
replaced with fresh straw, and is as good for manure as the solid droppings. For the 
corn crop I apply about 25 loads of manure, of 30 bushels each, per acre. ‘This is 
spread as soon as the frost is out of the ground, usually from the 20th of March to the 
1st of April, so that the rains shall wash the soluble parts into the soil and canse the 
grass to grow. By the early part of May, when I begin to plow, the grass is four to 
six inches in height. Grass, and the young roots of grass, feed the worms until the 
corn gets beyond their reach; and the sod rots quickly, and forces the corn 
forward rapidly. This was the eulture the past season: I plowed with furrow 10 
inches wide and 5 deep; harrowed three times with an iron-toothed harrow, and 
use marker of my own construction 3 feet 7 inches each way, placing the corn on the 
surface, 3 grains in a bili; ploughed four times, hoeing 3} days on each acre; put but little 
dirt tothe corn. Planted the 12th and 13th of May, and cut up the last week in 
September. ; 
“In plowing the corn I only plow deep enough to cut up the grass and weeds, say two 
inches, twice from and twice toward the corn. I use two horses, one horse taking the 
farrow, making a steady and fast team—not more than half the labor for the plowman, 
and doing one-third more work in a day, and worth nearly two plowings with one 
horse. Irom the commencement of plowing to finishing cutting the stalks, it takes 15 
to 2) days’ work to the acre, at $1 25 per day, say $22, or including team $30 per acre. 
“Tf we add to this the labor of applying the maunre at $10 per acre, and interest on 
the land st $250 per acre. $15 more, we have $55 as the total cost per acre. Counting 
the corn at $1 per bushel, this leaves $27 50 net profit per acre, or $318 on the whole 
ficld. The stalks pay for the husking, and the produce fed on the farm supplies manure 
ior another crop, — ; : 
