20 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No.l. 



it convenient to come out with a horse, and turn 

 the plough. He puts one large or two good sized 

 potatoes in a hill. He steeps his seed corn before 

 planting, in a mixture of 1 lb. of saltpetre, to 3 

 pints of water; and then rolls the seed in plaster. 



He purchases large numbers of cattle in the fall; 

 those which are in condition to kill, he slaughters 

 and packs; and it is then forwarded to the New 

 York market, where it is repacked, inspected, and 

 fully salted, at the expense of 75 cents per barrel. 

 The cattle not in condition for beef, he win- 

 ters, and disposes of the next spring and au- 

 tumn. 



He kills and packs great quantities of pork, and 

 bacons the legs. For packing his beef, he uses 

 four quarts of salt, with some saltpetre; and for 

 his pork, fourteen quarts of salt to each barrel, 

 which he deems sufficient to keep it until it is re- 

 packed in New York. He considers this a better 

 mode of disposing of his pork and beef, than to 

 send his cattle on the hoof, or his pork unsalted, to 

 market. 



His preparation for his hams is 4 oz. saltpetre, 4 

 qts. of salt, 1 pint of molasses, 1 oz. of pearlash, 

 to 100 cwt. of meat. They are to be smoked three 

 weeks with maple or walnut wood. Recently he 

 slaughtered twenty hogs, whose average weight 

 was 414 lbs. each. His hams are preserved by 

 being sowed in paper, or coarse bags, whitewash- 

 ed, and suspended in his storehouse. He has at 

 present 700 sheep, which he considers as a profita- 

 ble stock. He has thirty cows. He has paid lit- 

 tle attention to the improvement of his stock, se- 

 lecting his cows from the numerous droves which 

 he purchases tor feeding or slaughter. He never 

 puts his young cattle in the barn. He has large 

 and commodious sheds for their protection; and he 

 would always choose to have wooden floors in the 

 sheds for them to lie upon. He chooses to keep 

 his different kinds of stock separately from each 

 other: his milch cows in one 3 r ard, his young cattle 

 in another. 



With his laborers he always makes a written 

 Agreement, stipulating to board them, but furnish- 

 ing no ardent spirits; and requiring of them good 

 manners and good temper; early rising; a readiness 

 to assist in husking in the evening, and to do any 

 extra job which may be customary on a farm; 

 and an attendance upon public worship in their 

 turn. 



Such were a few hasty and cursory observations 

 which occurred to me in a short but highly gratify- 

 ing visit to his interesting and instructive, establish- 

 ment; and I beg leave to express my grateful sense 

 of the kindness and hospitality which I received, 

 and the politeness with which the information I 

 sought was communicated to me. In extent, in 



froductiveness, or in its admirable management, 

 have seen no individual establishment to be com- 

 pared with it. In extent, I except the magnifi- 

 cent farm of Mr. Wadsworth, in Genesee, which 

 is confined to grazrflg, and where, a few years 

 since, for it is some time since I had the gratifica- 

 tion of visiting it, not a bushel of wheat was raised. 

 As a dairy farm, likewise, that of Mr. Bussey, at 

 Hoosic; and the grand establishment of Robert 

 Smith, Esq., near Baltimore, where one hundred 

 cows were soiled, are likewise before it; but I speak 

 of it in respect to the variety of its business, culti- 

 vation, and products: and the skill, system, and 

 success, displayed in its management. 



Mr. Stimson has peculiar advantages in his 

 abundant capital: in the profitable consumption of 

 a large amount of his produce by means of his 

 hotel, which is much frequented; in a most abun- 

 dant supply of manure from his stables, slaughter 

 house, piggery, and potash establishment; and in 

 his facilities tor procuring labor. But I saw no 

 part of the process of his farming, which may not 

 be copied by other farmers, on a smaller scale; and, 

 especially as he does not apply a larger amount 

 of manure to an acre than what is applied in other 

 cases by many farmers. 



The great points of difference between his own 

 and the management of other farmers, and almost 

 all other farmers, deserve particular attention. 

 They consist, first, in the regular arrangement of 

 his lots, which are all laid down upon a plan; and 

 the management of each pursued systematically; 

 and made matter of exact record. 



Secondly, in his shallow ploughing, by which 

 the vegetable mould is always kept in its proper 

 place; or what he says, nature teaches is the proper 

 place, on the surface. 



Thirdly, in the incorporation of the manure with 

 this vegetable matter, instead of burying it amongst 

 the gravel or loam. 



Fourthly, in his exact and systematic mode 

 of planting; his corn being as regularly deposited 

 as straight lines can make it. 



Fifthly,in his economy of labor, his ploughing 

 after breaking up the green sward, which is done 

 by two horses, always being performed with one 

 horse to a plough. He informed me that the last 

 spring, with eight horses, he set eight ploughs in 

 operation. 



Sixthly, in his pursuing with each piece of land 

 a regular rotation of crops. In this way the land 

 is taxed but once in six years for the particular 

 qualities in the soil, demanded by each particular 

 crop; and by being three years in grass and clover, 

 a new supply of vegetable matter is lefl upon the 

 surface, to be turned under for its improvement, 

 preparatory to a second rotation. 



His ploughs are an improvement upon the 

 Scotch plough, and of very easy draught. Of 

 other utensils, I remarked- none of a peculiar con- 

 struction. He has a superior cider mill, and made 

 last year from his farm five hundred barrels of 

 cider. He has contrived a saw to go by horse 

 power, with which he says two men, a boy, and 

 a horse, are able to saw thirty cords of wood per 

 day for the fire. 



His men breakfast at six o'clock; dine at 12 M.; 

 and sup when work is done at night. A large 

 party of them were at work in the field nearly a 

 quarter of a mile from the house, pulling flax, soon 

 after 4 o'clock in the morning. He furnishes them 

 a luncheon of bread and butter, or bread and 

 cheese, in the field, at 10 o'clock, A. M.and 4 

 o'clock, P. M. Their drink, consisting of cider, 

 cider and water, molasses and water, milk and 

 water, is carried to them in the field. Above 

 all, his farming, as well as all other of his op- 

 erations, are tinder his constant and immediate 

 supervision. To the inquiry, who was his fore- 

 man, his answer was, that he had no foreman; he 

 was his own foreman. To every man was as- 

 signed his proper task, which he was expected to 

 perform, so that the responsiblity rested upon him- 

 self alone; and under this conviction, he was the 



