FARMS. 73 



and applies two hundred and fifty pounds phosphate to the acre 

 in the hill, and intends to put just twenty-five hills to the square 

 rod. He has some low land subject to early frosts, upon which 

 he raises buckwheat, and considers it a valuable grain, partic- 

 ularly for fowls. He has a large amount of muck, which he 

 uses in various ways for manure, and thinks it valuable. One 

 feature in Mr. Kilburn's farming is worthy of note. He has 

 kept no swine for five years, thinks it costs him twenty cents per 

 pound to make pork, and that the refuse from the kitchen pays 

 much better when fed to poultry. He has six swarms of bees, 

 and one spring took from his hives two hundred pounds of nice 

 honey. Mr. Kilburn is a working man, and although threescore 

 and six years old, is full of enthusiasm for the future, and we 

 think him one of the men who make farming pay. 



"We also called on Mr. Simon Black, who has a farm of 112 

 acres not entered for premium, but by request we visitecl it ; and 

 although it has been in his possession only about three years, 

 he has made some valuable improvements. He thinks he has 

 doubled the capacity of his pastures by the use of plaster, and 

 the appearance of his ten cows showed that it was a paying 

 operation. He has also improved his low grounds by ditching, 

 ploughing, removing stones, pulling willows and top-dressing ; 

 and the Committee think that if his zeal for improvement does 

 not abate soon, he will be under the necessity of providing more 

 barn room in which to store his crops. His cows are stabled at 

 night, and as he uses sand for an absorbent, they are compara- 

 tively clean. Tliey were looking well, and some of them had 

 the appearance of being deep milkers. On the 4th of October 

 we again visited Mr. Kilburn, and found that his acre of winter 

 wheat, (by the estimation of the committee on grain,) yielded 

 thirty-four bushels, and the grain, as we examined it in the bin, 

 appeared to be a first-rate article. His corn was most of it cut 

 and stooked in the field, which he thinks is much the best way, 

 and usually gets from sixty to eighty bushels of shelled corn to 

 the acre. He is making some experiments in topping corn, and 

 also stripping off the leaves, which we hope the society will get 

 the benefit of at some future day. He raises no roots for his 

 stock — thinks it does not pay. He keeps sixty hens, and realizes 

 a profit of two dollars each annually. He keeps no account of 

 the total sales from his farm, but from the proceeds of the same 

 10* 



