490 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 8 



the scow ; and the carts, so soon as the manure 

 Ibr the corn and potatoes in 1800 is carried out, 

 are to be incessantly drawing it to the compost 

 lipaps in the fields, whir/h are to he manured by it. 

 What number of hands can be set apart tor this 

 all-imporiant work, remains to be considered and 

 decided upon. 



Penning catlU and folding sheep 



On the fields intended for wheat, from the first 

 of May, when the former should be turned out to 

 liasture, until the first of November, when they 

 ought to be housed, must be practised invariably; 

 and to do it with regularity and propriety, the pen 

 for the Ibrmer, and the fold for the latter, should 

 be proportioned to the number of each kind of 

 stock ; and both these to as much ground as they 

 will manure sutficiently in the space of a week for 

 wheat, beyond which they are not to remain in a 

 place, except on the poorest spots ; and even these 

 had better be aided by litter or something else, 

 than to depart from an established rule, ol' remov- 

 ing the pens on a certain day in every week. For 

 in this, as in every thing else, system is essential, 

 to cany on business well, and with ease. 



Feeding. 



The work-horses and mutes are always to be in 

 their stalls, and all littered and cleaned, when they 

 are out of harness; and they are to be plenteously 

 fed with cut straw, and as much chopped grain, 

 meal, or bran, with a little salt mixed therewith, 

 as will keep them always in good condition for 

 work ; seeing also, that they are watered as-resTji- 

 iarly as they are fed ; this is their winter feed. For 

 spring, summer, and autumn, it is expected, that 

 soiling them on green tbod, first with rye, then 

 with lucern, and next with clover, with very little 

 grnin, will enable them to perform their work. 



The oxen, and other horned cattle, are to be 

 housed from the first of November until the finstof. 

 May ; and to be fed as well as the means. on the 

 farm will admit. The first (oxen) must always be 

 kept in good condition; housed in the stalls de- 

 signed for them ; and the cows (so many of them 

 as can find places) on the opposite side. The 

 rest, with the other cattle, must be in the newl}^ 

 erected sheds; and the whole carefully watered 

 every day ; the ice, in frozen weather, being 

 broken, so as to admit them to clean water. 



With respect to the sheep, they must' receive 

 the best protection that can be siven them this 

 winter ; against tlie next, I hope they will be 

 better provided (or. 



And with regard to the hogs, the plan must be, 

 to raise a given number of goorf ones^ instead of an 

 indiscriminate number o\^ indifferent ones, half of 

 xvhich die or are stolen before the period arrives 

 ibr putting them up as porkers. To accomplish 

 this, a sufficient number of the best sows should 

 be appropriated to the purpose; and So many pigs 

 raised from them as will insure the quantity o( 

 pork, which the farm ought to furnish. 



Whether it will be most advisable to restrain 

 these hogs from running at large or not, can be 

 decided with more precision after the re^sull; of those 

 now in close pens is better known. 



The exact quantity of corn used by those, which 

 are now in pens, should be ascertained and regu- 

 larly reported, in order to learn the result. 



Stables and farm pens. 



These ought to be kept well littered, and the 

 stalls clean ; as well for the comfort of the creatures 

 that are contained in them, as for the purpose of 

 manure ; but as straw cannot he afibrded for this 

 purpose, leaves and such spoiled straw or weeds as 

 wiir not do fbr food, must serve for the stables ; 

 and the first, that is, leaves and corn-stalks, is all 

 that can be applied to the pens. To do this work 

 effectually, let the corn-stplks be cut down by a 

 lew carei'ul people with sharp hoes, so low as 

 never to be in the way of scythes at harvest ; and 

 whenever the wheat will admit carts to run on it 

 without injury, iet them be brought oft'and stacked 

 near the farm pens. In like manner let the people, 

 with their blankets, go every evening, or as often 

 f\s occasion may require, to the nearest wood, and 

 fill them with leaves Ibr the purposes above men- 

 tioned ; bottoming the beds with corn-stalks, and 

 covering them thick with leaves. A measure of 

 this sort will be, if strictly attended to, and punc- 

 tually performed, of great utility in every point of 

 view. It will save food, make the cattle lie warm 

 and comfortable, and produce much manure. The 

 hogs also in pens must be well bedded in leaves. 



Fencing. 



As stock of no kind, according to this j Ian, will 

 be sufiered to run on the arable fields or clover lots, 

 (except sheep in the day on the rye fields, as has 

 been i^ientioned before,) partition fences between 

 the fields, until they can be raised of quicks, may 

 be dispensed with. But it is of great importance, 

 that all the exterior or outer fences should be sub- 

 stantially good ; and those also which divide the 

 common, or woodland pasture, from the fields and 

 clover lots, are to be vej-_v respectable. 

 , To accomplish this desirable object in as short a 

 time as possible, and with the smallest expense of 

 timber, the post and rail fence which runs from 

 the negro quarters, or rather from the corner of the 

 lot enclosing them, up to the division between 

 fields Nos. 7 and 8, may be placed on the bank 

 (whicli must be raised higher) running to the 

 creek. In like manner, the fence from the gate, 

 which opens' into No. 2, quite down to the river, 

 along the cedar hedge row, as also those rails 

 which are between Nos. .1 and 2, and between 

 Nos. 2 and 3, may all be taken away, and applied 

 to the outer fences, and the fences of the lanes 

 from the barn into the woodland pasture, and from 

 the former ("the barn) into No. 5 ; ibr the fences 

 of all these lanes must be good, as the stock must 

 have a free and uninterrupted passage along them, 

 at all times, from the barn-yard to the woodland 

 pasture. 



All the fencing from the last mentioned place, 

 (between rae and Mr. Mason,) until it joins Mr. 

 LeaV's fiirm, and thence with the line between 

 him and me, until it comes to the river, will require 

 to be substantially good ; at its termination on the 

 river, dependence must be placed in a water fence; 

 fbr if made of common rails, they would be carried 

 off" by boatmen fbr fire-wood. The ftinces separat- 

 ing fields Nos. 1 and 8 from the woodland pasture 

 must also be made good, to prevent depredations 

 on the fields by my own stock. 



Crops, 8rc. for 1801. 



No. 5, is to be in corn, and to be invariably in 

 that article. It is to be planted (if drills are 



