260 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
annum for each of the breeding ewes is regularly obtained, the lambs 
bringing from’$4 to $5 each before the fourth of July. : 
In Williamstown, in the White River Valley, Mr. Edson Martin has a 
farm of 120 acres, upon which he cuts about 100 tons of good hay an- 
nually, at the rate of two to three tons per acre, and finds profit in ag- 
riculture, as do all others who manage prudently to increase fertility 
and production. ‘ 
Mr. G. B. Brewster, of rasburg, bought a farm of 220 acres, nineteen 
years ago, costing $3,500. It was in poor condition; corn was a failure 
upon it; grass was light, and wheat would not grow. By successive 
manuring and good cultivation fertility increased, 25 bushels per acre of 
wheat were obtained, 70 of oats, 300 of potatoes, 70 of corn, and 900 of 
turnips. By legitimate farming a property of $15,000 was thus ob- 
tained from a beginning of a few hundred dollars, upon an intractable 
and unpromising soil. 
Mr. J. W. Pettee, of Salisbury, finds no difficulty in obtaining 80 to 
90 bushels of ears of corn per acre, on land which formerly yielded 
three-fourths of a ton of hay mixed with daisy and johns-wort. A 
moderate quantity of manure, combined with first-class culture, pro- 
duced this change. 
Mr. Levi Bartlett, of Warner, New Hampshire, a veteran observer of 
general agriculture, and a practical and successful farmer, in a region 
of not more than average fertility, (or sterility, asthereader may prefer,) 
communicates to the Department the following statement: 
A large majority of farmers here succeed in their business so far as to obtain a 
good living and pecuniary independence, and some accumulate very respectable fortunes. 
These facts are demonstrated by the numerous well finished and furnished houses, 
barns, and out-buildings for storing grain, carriages, farming implements, &e., to be 
seen in almost every town; and these facts bespeak a thrift and enterprise not even 
dreamed of by the most sanguine half a century ago. : 
On the other hand, in many of the long-settled towns in the hilly, rocky por- 
tions of the State, the population has gradually decreased during the past twenty 
years, as the late census returns plainly show; and in most of these towns there are 
numbers of once good farms that have been abandoned, the buildings have heen 
removed, and the once productive fields turned out to pasturage, and will ultimately 
be covered with a forest growth, the seedlings ef which spring up in these worn-out 
soiis; still, there are in ail these towns good farms, and farmers who annually find 
“there is money in their business,” even in the business of legitimate farming alone. 
The spirit of emigration is an inherent principle in the “genus homo ;” discontent 
among the farmers of the fertile soils of Illinois is as prevalent as it is among the same 
class residing on the granite hills of New Hampshire. To report fully ‘examples of 
profitable farming in New England” wouid require volumes; but for the information 
of the cultivators of the soil in different sections of our widely extended country, I 
will give a few “ illustrative examples” in this section of New England. 
During the past few weeks I have made excursions in several counties of this State, 
and noted down some facts connected with the farm practices in different sections, 
and on individual farms. We have no great staple crop like the wheat and corn of 
the West, or the cotton, segar, and rice of the South. 
Our soil, climate, and social condition compel us to pursue a mixed husbandry, to 
grow a variety of farm products, and these are varied according to the locality in 
which the farmer resides, and the requirements of the markets, and whether these are 
near or distant from his farm. ' 
Some weeks since I made a visij to the town of Littleton, 112 miles north of Concord, 
N. H., well up in the White Mountain region. While there I spent two days in four 
of those “northern towns,” and visited a large number of farmers, and found them in 
the ocenpaney of good farms, farm buildings, and everything betokening thrift and 
enterprise. I think the drought was not so severe there the past season as in the more 
southern portions of the State, as the crops generally were good; corn,on many of the 
farms, yielding 50 to 60 bushels, shelled, per acre. The hay and grain crops were in 
similar proportions. This section of the State is noted for its large yields of potatoes. 
Innmense quantities are annually worked up for the starch they contain. On one farm 
visited, there were over five hundred bushels grown on two acres. These, at the starch- 
mills, command thirty-five cents per bushel, thus giving a return of $175 for the pro- 
duct of the two acres. -I was told that much larger yields were haryested on some 
