154 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



NOV. 18! 4 



tion, so far as they can bi; determined by inspec- 

 tion, sucli examination is by no means all whicli is 

 required. It is necessary in every instunci-, by 

 careful observation and inquiry, to ascertain what 

 the cultivation is, what is its application and what 

 its results. And here the committee would remark, 

 that under the tern, cultivaticm is included every, 

 even the slightest labor of the farmer, from the 

 first motion of the plough to the transfer of the pro- 

 ducts of the soil to the hands of the purchaser. 



Nor is it important in this point of view to ob- 

 tain statements of the mode of cultivation and the 

 products of cherished |iortions of the farm only. It 

 is the cultivation of each farm as a whole, which 

 your committee have aimed to obtain. 



In order to raise large crops on particular favored 

 enclosures, many farmers rob their farms generally, 

 and dress small pieces so heavily as essentially to 

 injure them, or at least to occasion great waste. 

 There is a point in all land, the staple of the soil, 

 a degree of fertility, when not affected by injudi- 

 cious cropping, wliich the peculiar combination of 

 the soil produces. This point it cannot be made 

 to exceed by any dressing which does not change 

 its nature, and therefore those efforts frequently 

 made to induce an excess of fertility in small en- 

 closures, so often end in disappointment and dis- 

 gust. The pains and labor expended on such 

 enclosures, and the crops obtained from them, have 

 little bearing upon the general result. 



It will readily be perceived, therefore, how im- 

 mensely the field of inquiry is enlarged by the na- 

 ture of the questions submitted to the decision of 

 your committee, and how much more important is 

 a correct conclusion in this case than in matters to 

 be decided by other committees, since here the de- 

 cision embraces, and is made upon the whole sys- 

 tem, and all its varied operations and results 



while there the question in each instance affects 

 merely the results of a single branch of that system. 



Impressed with these considerations, the com- 

 mittee first carefully examined the whole of each 

 of the several farms, being accompanied by the 

 owner iiimself, and deriving from him on the spot 

 such explanations and statements as they deemed 

 necessary for a thorough knowledge of the condi- 

 tion and mode of cultivation of each separate lot. 

 They then obtained by cxamimition and from the 

 applicant a thorounh and detnilod description of 

 the farm, including the form, size, division, soil, 

 fences, water, &c., a minute stalement of the dif- 

 ferent rotations of crops, with the precise mode of 

 cultivating each particular crop, and tlie average 

 product — the manner of preparing and applying 

 manures, and the dilVurent kinds used — the condi- 

 tion and extent of the land mowed, the kinds anil 

 quantity of seed sown, the treatment of the land, 

 the mode of curing the hay, and the amount pro- 

 duced — the kind and quantity of fruit and its use 



the stock, their breed, quality, number of various 

 kinds, and their condition— the amount of labor 

 employed, with the proportion hired, and the price 



paid— the woodland, its quality and condition 



the buildings, their convenieiico and the order in 

 which they are kept— and lastly, the kind and value 

 of the different articles sold from the farm. 



The data thus obtained are as much condensed 

 and simpliticd in the following notices ns is consis- 

 tent with a fair descripti.ui of each farm. It was 

 thought by all means advisable to give the facts, in 

 order that the farmers might draw their own con- 

 clusions from tliem. if It should be supposed by 

 some that the committee have gone too much into 



detail, they beg leave to suggest that wh.t seems 

 plain to one may not be so to another, and that in 

 their opinion the value of their report (whatever 

 that may be) arises piiiicipally from this very mi- 

 nuteness. 



Farm of Mr Davis. 



Your committee first visited the farm of Mr John 

 B. Davis, of Derby. This farm, containing seven- 

 tyfive acres, and tbniierly for many years owned 

 and occupied for the culture of garden seeds,, by 

 Mr Leman Stone, lies upon both sides of the tu n- 

 pike from this city to Derby, and about one mile 

 this side of the latter place. It is beautifully situ- 

 ated upon an eastern exposure, and consists of 

 rolling land, with a very considerable average de- 

 scent to the east, and forms nearly an oblong 

 square, liltytive acres on the west end twenty on 

 the east side of the turnpike. 



Soil. — The soil is principally a dark sandy loam, 

 upon a subsoil of red loam, and is retentive of 

 moisture. 



Water. — The farm is watered by a brook, which 

 courses along its eastern boundary, and a small 

 stream running directly through its centre. By 

 means of a conduit, this latter rising from springs 

 on the northern border of the farm, affords a full 

 supply of the purest water at the house and barn. 



Buildings. — The house, with the barn and shed 

 adjoining, were erected by Mr Davis, and are in 

 good repair, but as little stock is raised or kept up- 

 on the farm, less attention is paid to convenieiice 

 of arrangement and labor-saving fixtures, than up- 

 on other farms visited by your committee. 



Fences. — A portion of the fences are excellent, 

 and they are generally good ; yet here, too, less 

 care is discoverable than on many farms would be 

 CO sidered indispensable. 



Cultivation. — The land rrenerally, is in excellent 

 condition. The portion so long occupied by Mr 

 Stone for raising garden seeds, and also until re- 

 cently so occupied by Mr Davis, has been kept up 

 to the staple of the soil by heavy and constant ma- 

 nuring, and careful cultivation, and is uncommonly 

 fertile. Your connnittee admired the exceeding 

 thrift and vigor of the vegetation upon it. Tiie 

 other portions of the farm, particularly the mead- 

 ows, have been greatly ameliorated by the present 

 occupant, in the adoption of the improved system 

 of cultivation, introduced within the sixteen years 

 nf his occupancy. .-Ml the farm, except the wood- 

 land, has been subjected to the plough, and by 

 thorough manuring, and a course of cropping adapt- 

 ed to the soil, its fertility has been greatly increas- 

 ed. Hay is the princijial object aimed at in the 

 cultivation, and therefore only small portions of 

 ground are tilled on which the cultivated grasses 

 have become less luxuriant. These afford occu- 

 pation during the portion of tlie year not required 

 for the care of the meadows, and in securin;: the 

 crop of Lay and fruit. 



Rotation tif cultivated crops — The only routine 

 of crops now adopted on the farm, extends through 

 three seasons, and consists, 1st, of corn on sward, 

 with manure ; 2d, potatoes, with manure ; ;jd, win- 

 tor rye, or oats, with grass seed. Turnips are 

 sometimes interposed after early potatoes and are 

 succeeded by oats. 



Corn — Ihe Diitton and White Flint varieties 

 are preferred. Twenty double loads of manure 

 per acre are spread upon grass and the land is 

 ploughed clean with a deep furrow. In the first 

 or second week in May, holes are dug four feet 



apart each way, and a small handful of plaster and ' 

 ashes dropt in each hill and mixed with the soil. ' 

 The corn is immediately planted, three or four I 

 kernels to the hill, is ploughed three times in one , 

 direction and hoed three times. Generally the 

 top stalks are cut and the crop husked in the field, 

 with an average yield of seventy bushels. 



Potatoes — are planted after corn, with equal ma- 

 nure and two ploughings, (the early on ridges, and 

 the ordinary crop in the latter part of .May, without 

 ridging,) in hills two feet, and on rows three feet 

 apart. For seed, one potato of ordinary size is 

 used in each hill, requiring 8 to 10 bushels piT 

 acre. They are hoed twice, being ploughed both 

 times, are dug in October and November, and 

 yield two hundred bushels to the acre. 



Rye. — After corn or potatoes the land is plough- 

 ed and harrowed, one bushel of rye is sown and 

 burrowed in, and the grass seed covered with a 

 bush. The ordinary yield istwentyfive bushels. 



Turnips — After early potatoes the land receives 

 a single ploughing, and four to six cords of com- 

 post. It is again ploughed and harrowed, and the 

 seed mingled with plaster and sown broad-cast both 

 ways, is bushed in. Four hundred bushels is con- 

 sidered a fair crop. No ruta baga is raised. 



Oats — are sown after potatoes or turnips. Thai, 

 land being ploughed and harrowed once, two and a 

 half bushels are sown and ploughed in, and har- 

 rowed, and grass seed covered with the bush. The 

 crop this season was by far the finest which your 

 committee saw. Seventy bushels is the ordinary 

 crop. 



Manure. — Seventy five loads are annually made- 

 in the usual manner in the barn-yard and hog-pen, 

 and fifty purchased at two and a half dollars per 

 cord. I 



One ton of plaster in each year is used to much j 

 advantage, being generally sown with ashes upon j 

 mowing lands. ; 



Half a Urn of shell lime is added to the compost 

 heap, and is considered almost indispensable. 



About fifty bushels of ashes are also purchased) 

 each season, and with those made are applied to i 

 the farm. ( 



Meadows. — Twenty acres are in meadow, all of ^ 

 which has been cultivated and seeded in different! 

 years. It remains in grass from six to eight years, ' 

 with occasional top dressing, as needed, of plaster 

 and ashes. It is fed closely in the fall and in the 

 spring, until May. One peck of herd's grass is 

 used in seeding. 'I he average crop of hay is esti- 

 mated at two and a half tons per acre. 



Pastures. — 'I hese are fair and are evidently not 

 over fed. They are occasionally manured with 

 plaster, and when the grass begins to fail are fal- 

 lowed for rye and grass. . 



Fruit. — The orchards aie in admirable condi- 

 tion : they bear every year and are not molested 

 by canker worm-s. Five hundred dollars were re-; 

 ceived last year for winter apples of the choicest i 

 varieties, and forty dollars for cider sold, besides 

 thirty barrels kept. All droppings from scattering 

 trees are eaten by stock, and apples are fed to hogs, 

 and occasionally to the oxen and horse. 



Labor. — Although .Mr Davis resides on the pre- 

 mises, the farm is leased to Mr Austin. The les- 

 see and one hired man at ,|15 per month, are em- • 

 ployed through the year, in addition to the labor 

 performed by Mr Davis. One extra hand is hired 

 through haying and harvest. 



.S'<otA-. — The stock upon the farm consists of 

 two pairs of uncommonly fine oxen ; two milch • 



