farmers' miscellany. 71 



mted upon our mulual friend H. S. Randall, Esq., whose elevated 



nd correct views of education, joined to his activity as county 



uperintendent of common schools, has secured him a fame and 



onor which extends beyond the bounds of the State. But it is 



s an agriculturist that I visited him, and it is in this sphere I 



ball speak of him. But I will only say at this time — as I have 



Ircady spun a long yarn — that his farm is one mile from Cort- 



iiulville, and is sufficiently elevated to overlook the village, 



11(1 from it you have a fine landscape, though not sufficiently bold 



) call forth strong admiration ; it is beautiful but not romantic, 



1(1 sufficiently hilly to be free from monotony or taraeness. The 



auty, however, is increased by a number of valleys which open 



ito the plain in different directions, and by the contrast of wood- 



nd and meadow, and a thickly settled village with its streets, and 



luntry mansions scattered upon the distant slopes. In some 



rcctions you have long, vista-like views, and in others, the view 



limited by the wood-clad hills, which always rise up in even, 



ihroken slopes, and which are based by imperfect circular ter- 



s. The soil of the farm is (and in speaking of this farm I 



-peaking of a class of farms, and not an individual farm,) a 



avelly drift, in part with sufficient clay to give consistence, and 



sufficient degree of tenacity to prevent leeching ; it is, strictly 



caking, a grain and grazing farm ; that is, it produces excellent 



irley and maize and is, of course, excellent for grass. Good 



heat can now^ be raised, yet it is not so profitable as other crops 



111 other kinds of husbandry. The farm is divided into lots of 



(derate size,by excellent stone fences, banked up by earth eighteen 



twenty inches on each side, which arrangement increases greatly 



e durability of the fence. In cultivating grains, Mr. R. inform- 



' me that he follows, usually, a three course system ; first, Indian 



Mn and roots after grass — second, barley — third, w^heat with 



s seed. The first and second crops sometimes reversed in 



ii order. When a fourth grain crop is determined upon, Mr. R. 



!ys he never sows wheat after corn and roots, as the amount of 



iinure applied to them, will not allow the straw of the succeed- 



i^' crop of wheat to stand until ripening. He rarely sows oats, 



id these only on the poorer and more humid portions of the 



fm. 



'This is the result evidently of experience, and may, without doubt. 



