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 EXCERPTS FROM JEFFERSON'S "FARM BOOK' 



Jefferson kept a "Farm Book" in his own handwriting which gives fragmentary 

 but interesting sidelights on his farming activities. The original 

 volume is in the Massachusetts Historical Society at Boston, and 

 the United States Department of Agriculture Library has a 

 photostat copy. Whenever Jefferson observed or learned 

 something about farming which he considered worth re- 

 membering, he recorded it under an appropriate 

 heading in a section of his handbook which 

 he called "Aphorisms, Observations, 

 Facts in Husbandry." The follov/- 

 ing are examples taken from 

 pages 82 and 87. 



DUNG 



Folding. Mr Taylor says he knows by accurate & constant experience 

 that 40. head of cattle, folded of nights only, dung com- 

 pletely 20. yds square. 



before folding the ground should be coultered & covered with straw, 

 then folded one week, and the straw & dung immediately 

 turned in with the great plough. 



an Experiment to be tried. lay off a square acre & put 25 loads 

 [yds] of dung on it. lay off 8 acres separately around 

 it: fold 4 of them with a given number of cattle, & the 

 other 4. with 5. or 6 times as many sheep, giving 1. week 

 to one acre, l-g- to the 2d. 2 weeks to the 3d. & 2j to the 

 4th. sow the whole with wheat, and see which of the folded 

 acres is equal to the dunged one, in order to ascertain 

 the equivalence between folding & spreading dung. 



Dung hill should be on a level, paved, with a well round it, shaded, 

 channels at bottom to lead off superfluous moisture. . . . 



Young sais that 20. head of sheep will fold 1. acre a year in a 

 manner to equal 20. loads of dung. then the folding of one 

 sheep a year is equivalent to one load of dung. 3. exp. 

 yr. 166 This makes 20 sheep only equal to 1. cow. Mr 



