154 



The amount of sales from this farm is not given ; the pro- 

 duce was mainly consumed in the fattening of beef cattle, 

 which were usually purchased in the autumn and sold at Brigh- 

 ton in the spring. By this process, as the farmer expressed it, 

 he usually doubled his money. But the result in such cases must 

 depend on various circumstances ; as the rate at which the cat- 

 tle Avere purchased ; the length of time they were fed ; the 

 amount consumed ; and the condition of the markets when 

 they were to be sold. 



This farmer, whose whole management was exceedingly ju- 

 dicious and careful, was in the habit of sowing clover with his 

 wheat ; and after mowing it one year, and sometimes when in 

 stubble, ploughing in the clover after it became dead, planting 

 corn on this land without other manure than a small amount 

 of gypsum and ashes mixed and put in each hill. His corn 

 crops, planted three feet apart by two and a half, averaged 

 a yield of seventy-five bushels to the acre. His yard manure, 

 in such cases, was applied to his grass land as a top-dressing. 



I might extend such examples ; but those which I have pre- 

 sented will give fair specimens of the general management in 

 the county. I shall leave it to the careful reader to make 

 such remarks respecting them as may suggest themselves to his 

 own mind, — observing only by the way that, while the yield 

 to an acre is in several cases large (though in none has it near- 

 ly reached its maximum), yet in most instances the amount of 

 land cultivated, in proportion to the size of the farm, is small. 

 No one more entirely than myself acquiesces in the position that 

 it is better to cultivate a little land well than to cultivate a great 

 deal poorly or imperfectly ; yet it would seem, where profit is 



