FARMS. 118 



under-draining, but in a very economical way, and only where 

 it was absolutely necessary ; consequently, he finds that it pays. 

 He has reclaimed some marsh, thereby adding an acre or more 

 to his meadow, but the outlay, in doing this, has been the 

 smallest possible ; now he knows, with certainty, that he may 

 reclaim more. He has made various experiments with manure, 

 but only with such manure as his farm produced ; so the dealer 

 in fertilizers has not sent him any of those bills which it is so 

 hard for a farmer to pay. 



In determining the amount of stock for his farm, Mr. Thomp- 

 son has endeavored to ascertain how much his farm could sup- 

 port, without any assistance from external sources. His cattle 

 have, heretofore, consisted of native stock ; but he is now 

 so far advanced in the way of improvement that he has recently 

 purchased two calves of the Jersey breed, one a heifer from the 

 stock of the president of the society, and the other a bull, from 

 the stock of Mr. Hobart of East Bridgewater. He has therefore 

 commenced, advisedly, by mingling strains of blood which have 

 not run together. The best team for him, he thinks, is a yoke 

 of oxen and a horse. He buys young steers, works them until 

 they attain maturity, and then sells them for beef. He keeps a 

 small flock of sheep, which he believes to have been a great 

 advantage to him in many ways, particularly in manuring, 

 almost without cost, his exhausted upland pasture, which was 

 so poor that it did not produce grass sufficient to cover its sur- 

 face. Last season he broke up this pasture, and planted it to 

 corn. At the same time, a field in a valley, naturally of rich 

 soil, was planted to the same grain, both fields being well culti- 

 vated ; but at harvest, the corn on the hill had cost fifty cents a 

 bushel, that in the valley, one dollar ; the difference in price 

 was mostly due to the sheep. 



The habit of keeping accurate accounts of expenses, which 

 a farmer acquires in competing for the society's premiums, 

 will be found to be of much more importance than any prize 

 can be. The committee will venture to say that Mr. Thomp- 

 son never knew the cost of any of the products of his farm 

 before he began his annual reports to the society ; or, if he 

 did, he was a very rare exception to the almost universal law 

 of ignorance on this subject, among the farmers of our county. 

 Now he speaks with confidence of the cost of everything wliich 



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