596 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



spouts from mj' sink spout and back door, I con- 1 other youngster. 18 years old, (or 8 months, Tor 

 duct all the waste water and suds over the de- } which I paid $10 per month ; 1 also have a 



grandson about the same age that lives with me 



posite. 



1 have kept this summer and through the last 

 winter 4 oxen, 12 cows, 6 two years old, 9 year- 

 lings, 2 horses, 1 colt, no sheep. 



1 have one barn 82 by 30, one 52 by 30 feet ; 

 one barn built by my predecessor, lor sheep, which 

 I have convened inio a hay and siocU barn, 60 by 

 20 (eet : have no cellar under them, ^except as 

 staled above ; have a shed between two barns, 

 under which I put meadow mud and throw the 

 manure li'ora two stables. 



I have been (or a considerable time trying to 

 improve my breed of cattle by mixing English 

 and French with the best natives 1 could gel. 



Those calves which I intend lo raise 1 lei suck 

 two or three days and then take them oS and 

 learn them to drink. 1 have this year raised six 

 calves, which ! have pastured. I have also kept 

 lor my neighbore seven cows nearly all the sea- 

 son. We have this year milked two old cows, 

 seven 3 years old, and one 2 years old that calved 

 in July. My family are pretty numerous, and 

 of course make use o( considerable milk. We 

 have made up lo this date 465 lbs. of butter and 

 40 cheeses — a small proportion of them new 

 milk; nearly all of ihem better than (bur-meal 

 cheese. 



[ have kept no sheep for some years. I usually 

 keep one breeding sow, and have her produce 

 one litter of pigs, say in March or early in April, 

 which 1 usually kill the next winter lor my own 

 use : she will commonly have another litter by 

 August or Ser.teriiber ; these 1 keep over winter 

 and latien the next winter to sell. I killed ten 

 last winter: ihe oldest weighed I think from 

 225 to 300 ;' the shoats weighed from 200 to 225. 

 I have also endeavored lo improve my swine by 

 mixing wiih the best breed that we can get in 

 our section of the country. We have had in this 

 neighborhood a boar from Mr. Phinney, of Lex- 

 inofton, so noted lor keeping good hogs : the pro- 

 bability is if v^e had his corn chamber too, it 

 would improve our pork very much. 1 have 

 fenced off with boards about 2 1-2 acres of the 

 thickest part of my orchard, and let my hogs 

 liave access lo that (rom spring lill about Sepiem- 

 ber, which I think helps the hogs and orchard 

 too, very much : my hogs have been in but (wo 

 or three years, and many of my apples have 

 nearly doubled their size in that time, and are 

 less wormy. My hogs, with the wash from ihe 

 house, get their living in my orchards : in num- 

 ber six old ones and four pigs that came the first 

 of March. Afier shutting t^hem up I (eed them 

 wiih raw pumpkins and apples as long as these 

 last ; I then boil or steam potatoes a while ; I 

 then mix some provender with Ihem ; at last 

 make a pudding of corn and peas, rye and oats 

 ground together; also occasionally give them a 

 lii'Ie corn in the ear. 



I make from 60 to 75 loads of manure per year : 

 in the season (or it, I cut what brakes I can find 

 on my farm and cart into the hog yard ; get turf 

 and loam from beside my walls ; and use meadow 

 mud ; I suppose I have now from 3 to 500 loads 

 of meadow mud thrown out, ready lo cart or 

 sled, if I want it, all the coming season. 



I have employed this season one man (or four 

 months, for which I paid ^12 50 per month ; one 



all the year, and a small boy 10 years old. I am 

 not able myself to do hard word; do not mow, 

 chop or shovel ; but can put up the bars and 

 spread hay. 



Have about 400 apple trees, most of them graft- 

 ed; my Winter (ruii goes to markei, except what 

 we want ibr (amily use. The ordinary apples are 

 principally given to my hogs in a raw slate, but 

 are sometimes ground in my cider mill, when a 

 little provender is put with them and they are 

 suffered to (ermenl ; which mixture the swine eat 

 very greedily. The last year we made but about 

 two barrels of cider, which more than supplied 

 us (or the year. 



1 have about 20 pear trees, as many peach 

 trees, some plums, and some cherries. 



My trees have not been attacked by canker 

 worm. I think I have lost a (ew peach trees by 

 the borer. 1 sometimes dig round my peach trees 

 in the spring and- put ashes about them. 



We do not use ardent spirit at all as a drink on 

 m.y (arm. 



In conclusion, the subscriber would say that he 

 came on to the farm eleven years ago ; lound it 

 very much run down ; the pasture all run over to 

 alders and bushes, some of them 6 or 8 (eel high ; 

 the meadow very much run over with hatisocks; 

 (rom one half acre we took ofl 25 heaping cart- 

 loads. For several o( the first years 1 could not 

 raise my bread nor (odder enough to keep my cat- 

 tle, summer or winter. 1 have now pretty much 

 subdued the bushes ; (enced ofi ten acres of the 

 pasture ; tore up the alders and bushes ; manured 

 the land and converted it into productive mowing 

 fields ; have eradicated the principal part ot the 

 hassocks on the farm, and reclaimed a considera- 

 ble portion of my unproductive .meadow, as your 

 agent will see. I have had lo work my passage, 

 as the saying is, almost against wind and tide : 

 [ had to run in debt (or a considerable part of the 

 (arm, and without means lo buy much manure, 

 1 have had lo make it principally (i-om the mate- 

 rials which a wise Providence has so amply pro- 

 vided. On a farm so large as mine, I do not 

 think it so much an object to raise a large crop on 

 a small piece of land, as to make a large piece of 

 land productive. 



All which is respectfully submitted by your 

 ob't. servant, 



Witt. Salisbury. 

 Groton, Oct. 2lst, 1840. 



THE OYSTER TRADE. 



From the Baltimore American. 

 The extent of the oyster trade in this city can- 

 not be ascertained from any exact returns or esti- 

 mates, since no account is kept of the quantities 

 annually brought (or sale to our market. But that 

 it is a business of considerable importance, may 

 be known (rom the large number of vessels em- 

 ployed in it, from the vast quantities sent every 

 year to the west, and from the extent of the do- 

 mestic consumption, which is perhaps greater 

 here than in any other city in the union. Oysters 

 are also sent in considerable quantities to Phila- 



