NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



11 



ly valued at five or ten dollars higher than this. 

 Six hundred and twenty-five dollars then may pur- 

 chase the requisite amount of pasture land for 

 maintaining one hundred sheep. Thus without 

 taking- into account the cost of keeping up fences, 

 &c, the mere interest on the value of the land will 

 be forty-three dollars and seventy-five cents, or for- 

 ty-three and three-fourths cents for each sheep. On 

 the whole, therefore, fifty cents must be regarded 

 as the lowest sum for which a sheep can be kept 

 through the summer. 



With respect to wintering-. Fourteen tons of 

 good hay is the least quantity that any one sup- 

 poses the strictest care can carry a flock of one 

 hundred sheep through the winter upon, and more 

 than this is usually fed. — N. Y. Transactions. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 HOW TO MEASURE AN ACRE. 



The Farmer of last week contains an article, 

 which is also copied into this week's Congregation- 

 alist, from the American Farmer, headed " How 

 to Measure an Acre," which, if correct, "will not 

 only be valuable to farmers," and " to the reader 

 generally," but certainly " knocks into pi" all my 

 previous conceptions of square measure, and, indeed, 

 of all measure. 



In order to understand the following analysis, 

 please refer to the article, which you will find in 

 the New England Farmer, (weekly,) for Nov. 29th, 

 1st page, last column, near the bottom : 



" Land — 30.^ square rods make a square rood." 



According to my " Arithmetic" 40 square rods 

 make one square rood. 



"4819 square yards make one acre." 



I supposed before that 4840 square yards make 

 an acre, " or 157 rods make one acre." 



According to foregoing statement, viz. : — 30£ 

 square rods make a square rood ; 4 square roods 

 make 1 acre," — 121 rods make 1 acre ; — but in- 

 stead of either " 121" or " 157 rods make one 

 acre," 1G0 rods make an acre. 



" In measuring an acre by yards, the usual prac 

 tice is to trace off 79 yards in length and 79 yards 

 in width ; this, in a rough way, may be considered 

 near enough for practical purposes." 



Rather too " rough," as 79 by 79 produces 6241, 

 ■which is 1422 more than 4819, said above to bean 

 acre, and 1401 more than 4840, the real number 

 of yards in an acre. 



"But as 79 yards either (each?) way makes 

 4999 square yards." 



This must be by their new system of multiplica- 

 tion. 



" It exceeds one acre by 69 square yards." 



4999 exceeds 4819 — said above to be the number 

 of square yards in a square acre, by 180 ; and, it 

 exceeds 4840, the true number of yards in a square 

 acre, by 159. . 



"To determine an accurate acre, it should be 

 measured 78 yards in length by 66 1-7 yards in 

 breadth." 



By my system of multiplication 78 by 66 1-7 pro- 

 duces 5,159 1-7, which is 340 1-7 more than 4819, 

 one of their square acres, and 229 1-7 more than 

 4930, — the difference between 4999 and 69, another 

 of then square acres, — and it is 319 1-7 more than 

 4840, my square acre. 



" The same result may be arrived at by measur- 

 ing 229 feet in length and 196 feet in width." 



_ 229 multiplied by 196 produces 44,884, which, 

 divided by 9, the number of square feet in a yard, 

 gives 4987 1-9. Is that the same as 78 by 66 1-7 ? 



" Or, by measuring 78£ yards in length by 66 

 yards in breadth." 



78J by 66 produces 5170, which is neither 5159 

 1-7, the product of 78 into 66 1-7, — nor is it 4987 

 1-9, the product of 229 feet into 196 feet, reduced 

 to yards. 



There, according to all my " mathematics," in 

 the 14 fines now under review, there are two, and 

 only two truths communicated, viz: "4 square 

 roods make 1 acre," and, " 640 acres make 1 

 square mile," together with an almost endless 

 number of mistakes and contradictions, some 15 of 

 which I have named above. ' No less than 5 differ- 

 ent numbers are given as the accurate number of 

 square yards in a square acre, no one of which is 

 correct. 



Can you wonder that I am perplexed, when I 

 remember that this " rule" was taken from the 

 American Farmer, and after passing the keen 

 scrutiny of the New England Fanner's Editorial 

 Quinary and the Theologico Editorial Quaternary 

 of the Congregationalist , is given to their fifty 

 thousand readers as " information not oidy valu- 

 able to farmers, but to the reader generally?" 



Will you, Messrs . Editors, kindly come to my 

 aid? Please say where the difficulty is ; whether 

 in the southern latitude of the American Farmer, 

 in the much-abused, yet patient types, or in the 

 brain of a constant and interested 



Reader of the New England Farmer. 



South Weymouth, Dcc.Gth, 1851. 



Remarks. — The error cannot be in the brain of 

 our pains-taking and " constant-reader," we are 

 confident. It might have been a dolt-head who 

 compiled the article originally, and his blunderings 

 since magnified by the types. We cannot relieve 

 you, and must rest satisfied with your results until 

 we are caught at a country inn on some rainy day, 

 where there is nothing to read but a last year's al- 

 manac. It makes one's head ache to think of the 

 labarynth of figures in which you have been in- 

 volved, and draws from us hearty thanks that you 

 noted the errors, and were so obliging as to correct 

 them yourself. 



FARMERS' DWELLINGS. 



We need a great improvement in this respect; 

 we need a distinctive rural style of building — com- 

 fort and convenience combined with neat and simple 

 elegance. Nothing expensive, gaudy or obtrusive, 

 but graceful in form, chaste in ornament, with quiet, 

 neutral colors, sweetly blending with the surround- 

 ing green, all breathing an air of peaceful calm re- 

 pose on which the eye may rest with pleasure. I 

 would gladly enlarge upon this did time permit. 

 The house should not only be sheltered, but adorned 

 with trees — none more beautiful than those of our 

 own forests. 



A few choice fruit trees of various kinds, with 

 grapes and smaller fruits which need but little care, 

 with flowering shrubs and ornamental climbers, 

 should be there. None of the adornments of beau- 

 ty are more graceful or attractive than fragrant 

 and blooming vines around the rustic porch. And 

 let there be a garden, too — it need not be a large 



