MIDDLESEX SOCIETY. 141 



at present. I raise my own cows, and some to sell ; I have 

 raised four heifers the present season, and three the last. I 

 keep the finest bull I can find, and raise calves from my best 

 cows. I have an orchard of about two hundred and fifty apple 

 trees, two hundred of which I raised from the seed, and they 

 are now in a bearing state, all grafted with choice fruit. I have 

 sold more than one hundred barrels in a year ; this year I have 

 not so many, and what I have are very wormy, which I attri- 

 bute to neglect last year, in consequence of sickness of myself 

 and family. I intend to set out another orchard, next spring. 

 I have a peach orchard, of about two hundred trees, which have 

 produced some beautiful fruit, this season. Among these trees 

 are some nearly thirty years old, that are productive and 

 healthy. I have also pears, plums, quinces, cherries, grapes, 

 &c., &c. 



Two years ago, I built a barn, sixty feet by thirty-eight, six- 

 teen feet posts, rafters twenty-five feet, with a cellar under the 

 whole, and three ventilators on the top. My cows are kept in 

 the barn, during the nights, all the year round, and I keep four 

 hogs in the cellar, to assist in manufacturing manure. Since last 

 spring, I have composted over one hundred and fifty loads of 

 manure, seventy-five of which are* now ready to be spread on 

 my grass lands. I consider one load of manure, composted in 

 this cellar, worth three which has been exposed to the action 

 of frost, rain, evaporation, &c. My cellar is close, excluding 

 the frost and rain altogether. My barn is kept locked at night, 

 to exclude strollers, who, I think, cause more fires than are 

 caused by lightning. 



The following is an estimate, according to a memorandum 

 kept for several years past, of the profits of my farm, for one 

 year : — 



Stock, pork, butter, milk, poultry, fruit, &c., pro- 

 duced ...... $1,000 00 



Expended in cash, for laborers, farming tools, house- 

 hold affairs, taxes, repairs, &c., about . . 750 00 



I calculate to improve my farm, to the value of from fifty to 

 one hundred dollars a year, by laying over wall, reclaiming low 

 land, setting out fruit trees, &c. 



