220 AN AMERICAN FARMER IX EXGLAXD. 



the ground, and the limbs trimmed so as to allow free passage to 

 cattle beneath them. The lapd was in an old weedy sward, and 

 was pastured by horses and cows. It had not been in any way 

 drained, and was in some parts boggy. In these, willows, and 

 sallows or osiers, (basket willows,) were growing. The trees 

 all appeared to be unhealthy, mossy and stunted. A few pear- 

 trees grew here and there, indiscriminately, among the apples. 

 The cider-mill was just like the old fashioned ones, with a stone 

 wheel, common in New England. 



After seeing the orchard in such condition, I was surprised to 

 find excellent, neat and well-ordered stables. The horse-stalls 

 were large, with iron racks and mangers, and a grating and drain 

 to carry off the liquid. The manure in the yard was piled up in 

 a large, oblong heap, covered with earth, to prevent evaporation, 

 with a space of clean pavement, wide enough for a cart to pass 

 all around it. The liquid overflow of the yard was conducted 

 off by a drain, so as to flow over the orchard pasture. 



We reached Leominster at noon, after a few miles further of 

 walking through a pleasant country, remarkable for its pretty 

 old cottages. At Leominster, (pronounced Lemi?ister,) there are 

 also a more than usually quaint sort of houses, grotesquely carv- 

 ed ; and on the market-house, an odd old building, there are 

 some singular inscriptions. I recollect only one, which runs in 

 this way: "As columnes do pprope up" a house, so do a gentry 

 support a state. 



In the afternoon we walked for some distance on the banks of 

 a trout brook, in which a good many ladies and gentlemen were 

 angling, w T ith but poor success. The trout were small, and if I 

 recollect rightly, rather lighter colored than ours, and not so 

 prettily mottled. Some of the anglers called the stream "the 

 Arrow," and some "the Harrow." 



