DRAINING MY OWN. 



MY farm is in the township of Newcastle, "West- 

 chester County, N. Y., 35 miles from our City Hall, 

 and a little eastward of the hamlet known as Chap- 

 paqua, called into existence by a station on the Har- 

 lem Railroad. It embraces the south-easterly half 

 of the marsh which the railroad here traverses from 

 south to north my part measuring some fifteen 

 acres, with five acres more of slightly elevated dry 

 land between it and the foot of the rather rugged 

 hill which rises thence on the east and on the south, 

 and of which I now own some fifty acres, lying 

 wholly eastward of my low land, and in good part 

 covered with forest. Of this, I bought more than 

 half in 1853, and the residue in bits from time to 

 time as I could afford it. The average cost was be- 

 tween $130 and $140 per acre : one small and poor 

 old cottage being the only building I found on the 

 tract, which consisted of the ragged edges of two 

 adjacent farms, between the western portions of which 

 mine is now interposed, while they still adjoin each 

 other beyond the north and south roa,d, half a mile 

 (62) 



