401 



now thoroughly redeemed and cultivated would readily com- 

 mand two hundred dollars per acre, and will pay the interest 

 upon a larger sum than this, and keep up its condition. The 

 whole tax for the common improvements has been about two 

 dollars an acre ; but even of this trifle some of the proprietors have 

 complained. This reminds me of a case in which a kindly dis- 

 posed man having given a poor neighbor his winter's fuel from his 

 own wood-pile, was in the spring presented by this same neigh- 

 bor with a bill for cutting the wood given him. Where are the 

 limits to human cupidity ? As I observed before, the greater part 

 of this soil is a deposit of rich alluvial mud and decayed vegetable 

 matter, though in some parts a small amount of peat is fou!id. 

 Mr. Hill speaks with strong emphasis of the value of clay ap- 

 plied to these lands as to be preferred to any manure which can 

 be put upon them. He puts no clover upon them, but sows 

 herdsgrass, redtop, and fowl-meadow, which last he considers a 

 valuable grass. These meadows when subdued are capable of 

 producing almost any crop. From some acres the last season 

 he obtained crops which yielded him 150 dollars per acre. This 

 improvement promises to be one of the most beautiful as well 

 as one of the most productive in the commonwealth. 



Mr. Hill's objects are the production of vegetables, fruits, 

 milk, and hay. His ordinary number of cows is from 10 to 12, 

 These he changes twice in a year ; purchasing new milch cows 

 in the autumn which he turns off in the spring for fatting, and 

 selling in the fall the cows which he purchases in the spring. 

 He ov^^ns pasturage in New Hampshire to which bis cows are 

 sent in the spring, to be latted ; and his sales of beef the present 

 year amounted to about 15,000 lbs. In this way he has the 

 full advantage of his cows in the best of their milking condi- 

 tion ; and his sales of milk average about 800 dollars. The 

 average yield of milk he considers about 6| quarts, or a can a 

 day to a cow, which seems not a large yield under this manage- 

 ment. In changing his cows so frequently, he perhaps does 

 not give the same attention to the selection, as if they were 

 designed to be kept longer. The average cost of his new milch 

 51 



