68 Our Farming. 



come into line. Swales that men had gone around for forty years 

 had to give up their existence when the onward march began. 

 Ditto cat swamps that old settlers had slashed the timber standing 

 near into. Ditto stumps, clay spots, springy places, etc., etc. 

 Some of these things died hard, but die they had to that we 

 might live. I hardly need to tell you that we arranged the land 

 so as to give us long rows, as far as was possible. Let me illus- 

 trate the change a little : The two acres mentioned above that we 

 first cultivated well were right along the road which runs nearly 

 east and west. They were on the south side, and in a strip about 

 eight rods by forty, with the barn and barnyard cutting into the 

 centre, nearly dividing the strip into two pieces. But this was 

 naturally drained land, and we had to use it at first where we 

 could find it. When we brought the old farm into line we had 

 seventeen and a half acres of clear drained land in a body, with 

 the rows mostly sixty rods long and running north and south. 

 This, worked in three strips (no inside fences, of course), made 

 the three lots numbered 4, 5 and 6, the crops on which are given 

 in another chapter. Now, in the front part of each of these three 

 lots, although mostly in the first two, there was some of that 

 original little garden farm that we manured so heavily, sometimes 

 putting on forty loads per acre. The rest of the lots were never 

 thus manured, but were largely brought up by the tile drainage 

 where needed, and then tillage and clover. These are the facts, 

 and you can now see plainly how I came by accident to have such 

 a nice chance to see whether clover would bring the rest of the 

 field up to where heavy manuring had brought a small part, and 

 you must certainly say that I have a better chance to know the 

 exact truth about this than any other living man. Now, we will 

 drop the clover and manure question until they come up regularly. 

 They were only brought in here because I could best explain this 

 one point as I was showing the evolution of fields. 



It would seem as though one hardly need to say anything in 

 favor of long fields. It is so self-evident that one can do nearly 

 all farm work faster than where he has to turn around more, and 

 thus waste time, that it seems almost too simple a matter to take 

 up space with. And still, in many sections, men do not get their 

 farms into shape. This is particularly the case where the soil is 

 variable, and there are many cat swamps, swales, etc., as we have 

 around here. In laying out our land, there was one little corner con- 

 taining an acre and a half that was nearly square. This, of course, is 

 a bad little piece for tillage. But we had none too much available 

 land, and this was naturally dry, and we disliked to leave it out 

 in the pasture that we afterwards sold. So it was taken in, and 

 forms part of the seventeen-and-a-half-acre field above spoken of. 

 Most of the rows in the lot are sixty rods long ; those in this cor- 

 ner are about one-third as long. When I was planting potatoes 

 the other day I worked pretty steadily to plant that one and a half 



