68 WHAT I KNOW OF FARMING. 



hundred bushels of Corn (ears,) I judge that two- 

 thirds would be accounted fit for seed anywhere ; 

 my Grass was cut twice, and yielded one large crop 

 and another heavier than the average first crop 

 throughout our State. My drainage will require 

 some care henceforth ; but the fifteen acres I have 

 reclaimed from utter uselessness and obstructions are 

 decidedly the best part of my farm. Uplands may 

 be exhausted ; these never can be. 



The experience of another season (1870) of pro- 

 tracted drouth has fully justified my most sanguine ex- 

 pectations. I had this year four acres of Corn, and 

 as many of Oats, on my swamp, with the residue in 

 Grass ; and they were all good. I estimate my 

 first Hay-crop at over two and a half tuns per acre, 

 while the rowen or aftermath barely exceeded half a 

 tun per acre, because of the severity of the drouth, 

 which began in July and lasted till October. My 

 Oats were good, but not remarkably so ; and I had 

 810 bushels of ears of sound, ripe Corn from four 

 acres of drained swamp and two and a half of up- 

 land. I estimate my iipland Corn at seventy (shelled) 

 bushels, and my lowland at fifty-five (shelled) bushels 

 per acre. Others, doubtless, had more, despite the 

 unpropitious season ; but my crop was a fair one, and 

 I am content with it. My upland Corn was heavily 

 manured ; my lowland but moderately. There are 

 many to tell you how much I lose by my farming; 

 I only say that, as yet, no one else has lost a farthing 

 by it, and I do not complain. 



