226 



FARMERS' REGISTER— MR. CRAVEN S FARMING. 



8th. In what manner do you gather your small 

 p;rain? with the cradle or sickle? and why do you 

 prefer one over the other? 



9th. What was the average product of your 

 tUrm in wheat and corn to tlie acre when yoti com- 

 menced your operations on it, and Avhat is it now? 



lUth. How many laborers do you work regu- 

 larly on your farm, and of what des(^ription ? and 

 are you in the practice of enij;loying day labor- 

 er:-^?" 



lllh. How many horses, mules, and oxen do 

 you work? do you raise them, and what is their 

 relative value on a farnn? 



r2th. What do youleed your horses, mules, 

 and oxen, with, and in what manner is it prepared 

 for thf'iii? 



131 it. What kind of plough do you prefer, a.nd 

 what are your reasons lijr that preft^rencel 



14lh. How many horned cattle do you keep on 

 your tarm ■and of what description? Do you keep 

 more than enough to supply the farm? 



15th. How many hogs and sheep do you keep, 

 and what is your manner of teeding them? 



16th. Do you pen your stock at night during 

 Kinniner? If so in what manner do you confine 

 them? 



17th. What quantity of manure is annually 

 made on your farm? of what description? at what 

 iseasons carried out, and in what manner do you 

 apply it? 



18th. What is your opinion (founded on expe- 

 rience) of the efficacy of plaster, in what quanti- 

 ties, at what seasons of the year, and what kmds 

 of crops it can be most profitably used on? 



19th. What quantity ol" clover hay do you 

 cure per annum? how much per acre? what }'our 

 process in curing, and in what mannerdo you pre- 

 serve it after it is cured? 



20ih. Do you gather your own clover seed from 

 the farm? If you do, in what manner? 



21st. Have you been aided in the improve- 

 ment of your farm by means of any other re- 

 sources than those received from the fann exhi- 

 bited for the premium] 



22d. What is your mode of managing your ne- 

 groes? 



B 



In reply to the questions propounded by the 

 Committee of Judges on farms, the undersigned 

 answers as follows: 



Question 1st. My tract of land contains 875 

 acres, of which I have about 500 acres under cul- 

 tivation. 



2d. Which is divided into ten fields of very un- 

 equal size as before explained to the conmiittee in 

 my re{)ort to them, of which ten fields I have sep- 

 arate and accurate plats. 



3d. My rotation of crops is one fifth part or 100 

 acres in corn, two-fifths or 200 acres sowed down 

 m small grain, say wheat, rye, and oats, of which 

 the principal part is wheat. 



4th. I prepare the soil for oats and corn as 

 soon after finishing the seeding of my wheat crop, 

 as I can, commencing about the 1st of November, 

 and frecpiently finish the breaking u]) by the end 

 of the year. I prefer sowing my cro])ofoats early 

 in March, on the land Hushed during the fall and 

 winter, without any other preparatiou; and liarrow 

 them iu with a heavy harrow, drawn cither by 

 three horses abreast, or three oxen, t\vQ under the 



yoke, and one with collar and hames. I think 

 this the best way to work oxen either in the cart 

 or harrow, as the single ox turns with naich more 

 ease than when encumbered with the yoke. 1 have 

 sometimes been obliged to vary my mode of pre- 

 paring the land for corn; for instance, it does not 

 answer to flush a blue-grass turf in the fall ol" the 

 year, for it \vill grow back, and be worse to plough 

 by the spring, than if it had not been broken dur- 

 ing the Itdl and winter. I jirefer breaking this 

 kind of land the last of April, and harrowing it 

 very well with a heavy harrow, the way it was 

 ploughed, ihv fear of turning the sod back and 

 planting the corn immediately, Avhich I have 

 always found best to be done with a shovel jjlough 

 liaving a coulter on the point, with wliich I open 

 the furrow; and then coxt'r the corn with one of 

 the same kind. A3 coon as the corn is large 

 enough to bear the large harrow, I pass it over it 

 backwards and fijrvvards on the same row, follov>r- 

 ing with small rakes, with four flat iron teeth, 

 about three quarters of an inch wide, with a very 

 small hoe or chisel in one end. With this I rake 

 the turf and clods oft' the corn, and with the small 

 hoe rc])lant, and chop up whatever may be likely 

 to choak the corn in the young state. I am now 

 speaking only of the management of blue-grass 

 land. As soon as I can get over in tliis way, I 

 follow with cultivators once or twice over, and 

 finish with the shovel plough, with the coulter on 

 the point, durmg or soon after harvest. Mj? ukkIc 

 of cultivating corn on land not set with blue-grass 

 is somewhat different. Insead of using the culti- 

 vators after the large harrows, I run tlie naked 

 coulter next to the corn on each side, and use the 

 cultivator lor the middle of the rows Until the last 

 lime, when I generally ])lough the land all o\^er, 

 as close as the farrows can be laid. My prepara- 

 tion for wlieat is very simple. I commence fallow- 

 ing very soon after harvest, for two reasons: the 

 first is, to let the clover seed ripen by which the 

 expense of pui-chasing seed is saved; the second 

 is, to save the labor of re-fallowing, as I think one 

 ploughing amply sufficient, if done at the proper 

 time. I sow my rye from the 1st to the 2Qth Sep- 

 tember, at which time I commence sowing wheat, 

 and consider from that time to the 20th of October, 

 the prime season. I am sure it ought not to be 

 sown sooner, and the crop is ver}' uncertain if sown 

 later. I sow all my clover seed the last of March 

 or the first of April. 



6th. I formerly sowed from one bushel to five 

 pecks of wheat, to the acre of land, but now sow 

 from five to six pecks to the acre, agreeably to 

 the quality of the land, and the time of seeding, 

 as also the condition in which the land is Avhen 

 seeded, sowing always thicker on rich land than 

 on poor, as also on rough land than on smooth, 

 where all the seed can vegetate, as also late in the 

 season, to enable the wheat to make its way ear- 

 lier in the spring, to escape the rust. 



7th. I have lor many years sowed the most of 

 my crop of the Lawler Avheat, and (although not 

 the most productive when the other kinds come in 

 well) I have yet considered it the safest crop, from 

 its capacity of resisting the fly more than any oth- 

 er. I am now sowing largely of the New- York 

 Flint wheat, which has done well. I always select 

 the best I have for seed, taking care to let it remain 

 longer in the field, so as to become rii)er than the 

 general crop. 



