\.4 



NEW ENGLAND FAR M E R , 



MARCH i, 1841. 



ted above; have ashed between two barns, under 

 which I put meadow mud ;ind throw tlie manure 

 from two stables 



I have been fur a cnnsiderabl.' time trying to 

 improve my breed of cuttle by mixing Englisli and 

 French with tlie best natives I could get. 



Those calves which I intend to raise I let suclc 

 two or three days and then take them off and learn 

 ihem to drink. I have this year raised six calvos, 

 which [ have pastured. I have also kept for my 

 neighbor-; seven cows nearly all the season. We 

 have this year milked two old cows, seven 3 years 

 old, and one 2 years old tiiat calved in July. My 

 fainily are pretty numerous, and of course make use 

 of considerable milk. We have made up to this 

 date 111.') lbs. of butter and 40 cheeses — a small 

 proportion of them new milk; nearly all of thcin 

 better than four-meal cheese. 



I 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 

 September; these I keep over winter and fatten 

 the next winter to sell. I killed ten hist winter; 

 ("le oldest weighed I think from 2'45 to 300 ; the 

 snoats weighed from 200 to 22.5. I have also en- 

 deavored to improve my swine by mixing wrth the 

 best breed that we can get in our section of the 

 country. We have had in t^is neighborhood a 

 boar from Mr Phinney, of Lexington, so noted for 

 keeping good hogs: the probability is if we had 

 his corn chamber loo, it would improve our pork 

 very much. I liave fenced off witli boards about 



2 1-2 acres of the thickest part of my orchard, and 

 let my hogs have access to that from spring till 

 about September, which I think helps the hogs and 

 orchard too, very much : my hogs have been in 

 but two 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 the 

 house, get their living in my orchards: in number 

 six old ones and four pigs that came the first of 

 March. After shutting them up I feed them with 

 raw pumpkins and apples as long as these last; I 

 then boil or steam potatoes a while; I then mix 

 some provender with them; at last make a pudding 

 of corn and peas, rye and oats ground together; 

 also occasionally give them a little corn in the ear. 



I make from GO to 7.5 loads of manure per year : 

 in the season for it, I cut what brakes I can find on 

 my farm and cart into the hug yard ; get turf and 

 loam from beside my walls; and use meadow mud: 

 I suppose I have now from 3 to 500 loads of mead- 

 ow mud thrown out, ready to cart or sled, if [ want 

 it, all the coming season. 



I have employed this season one man for four 

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

 other youngster, IB years old, for 8 months, for 

 which I paid IS 10 per month ; I also have a grand- 

 son about the same age that lives with me all the 

 year, and a small hoy 10 years old. I am not able 

 inysell to do hard work ; do not mow, chop or shov- 

 el ; but can put up the bars and spread hay. 



Have about 400 apple trees, most of them graft- 

 ed ; my winter fruit goes to market, e.\cept what 

 we want for family use. The ordinary apples are 

 principally given to my hogs in a raw state, but 

 are sometimes ground in my cider mill, when a lit- 

 tle provender is put with them and they are suffered 

 to ferment; which mixture the swine eat very 

 greedily. The last year we made but about two 



barrels of cider, which more than supplied us for 

 the year. 



I liave 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 few peach trees by 

 the borer. I 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 

 my farm. 



In conclusion, the subscriber would say that lie 

 came on to the iHrm eleven years ago ; found it 

 very much run down ; the pasture all run over to 

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

 the meadow very much run over with hassocks ; 

 from one half acre we took off 25 heaping cart- 

 loads. For several of the first years 1 could not 

 raise my bread nor fodder enough to keep my cat- 

 tle, summer or winter. I have now pretty much 

 subdued the bushes ; fenced off" 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 of the 

 hassocks on the farm, and reclaimed a considerable 

 portion of my unproductive meadow, as your agent 

 will see. I Have had to work my passage, as the 

 saying is, almost against wind and tide: 1 had to 

 run in debt for a considerable part of the farm, and 

 without means to buy much manure,! have had to 

 make it principally from the materials which a wise 

 providence lias so amply provided. 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, 



\VM. SALISBURY. 



Groton, Oct. 'Ust, 1840. 



MR read's STATEMF.NT. 



1. My farm consists of 85 acres. 



2. Nature of soil, rocky loam and peat. 



."j. Method of improving: I plough in Septem- 

 ber on my rocky land and cross plough in spring ; 

 when free from stone I plough in May ; my peat 

 land (8 acres) I have graveled 4 inches thick; put 

 20 loads of compost manure to tlie acre and seed 

 to grass in August. 



4. I till 7 acre.s; put 25 cartloads of manure to 

 the acre. 



5. My manure is applied in a compost. 

 <i. I spread and plough in my manure. 



7. I plough green sward in May, roll it, spread 

 my nianure and harrow it in. 



8. I mow thirty acres of upland ; average quan- 

 tity of hay per acre two tons. 



i). I do not irrigate any land. 



10. I manure my low lands that I mow ; 20 loads 

 of compost to the acre. 



il. 1 mow twelve acres not suitable for the 

 plough ; ■cut-twentyfive tons of hay of a good qual- 

 ity. 



12 I drain my low lands and gravel ; spread 

 on compost manure and raise two tons of liay to 

 the acre, with good success. 



l:i. I planted five acres of corn the present sea- 

 son. I ploughed my ground in September, cross 

 ploughed in spring, spread 25 loads of compost 

 manure to the acre, and had 30 bushels of corn to 

 the acre. 



14. I planted two acres of potatoes the present 

 season: 1 1-2 acre I ploughed in September, roiled 



in spring, and spread the nianure and harrowed ; 

 Ihe other half acre I ploughed the 20th of May ; 

 rolled it, spread the manure and harrowed it. I 

 planted Long Reds — raised 350 bushels to the acre. 



15. 1 planted 1-16 of an acre of vegetables to 

 use' in my family. 



16. I sowed seven acres of grain the present 

 year, where I had my corn and potatoes last year: 

 3 acres of oats about the 20lh of April, 4 acres of 

 barley the 10th of May : I sowed 2 1-5 bushels to 

 the acre. I ploughed my ground and harrowed it, 

 sowed my seed, harrowed and rolled it. 



17. 1 have laid down seven acres of grass the 

 present season; I sowed my seed with my spring 

 grain ; one peck of herds grass, one do. of red top, 

 and eight pounds of clover seed to the acre. 



18. I cart peat mud and loam info my barn yards 

 and hog pens. 



19. I keep 8 oxen, 8 cows, 12 young cattle, 2 

 horses, 25 sheep, through the year. I have one 

 barn (iO by 50 feet ; one 36 by 33 feel ; erne 36 by 

 26 feet. I have a long shed to cover my manure. 



20. My cows are of a native and Durham breed. 



21. I do not raise any calves. 



22. I made ten hundred pounds of butter this 

 year, six hundred pounds of cheese — one third new 

 milk. 



3. I keep 35 sheep of the native breed which 

 average 95 pounds of wool yearly. I keep my 

 sheep in a vjird, have a shed for them to go under, 

 feed them in racks in winter. My sheep lamb in 

 February ; one to ten of their young die from cold 

 weather : I sell my lambs in May, at from four to 

 five dollars per head. 



24. I keep 14 swine ; make thirty hundred lbs. 

 of pork. They are of a mixed breed. 



25. I feed my swine through the summer months 

 with potatoes, apples, and slops from the dairy ; 

 fatten them on boiled pumpkins, potatoes and meal. 



26. I take 80 cartloads of manure fr(un my hog 

 styes in a year: it is made of peat mud and loam. 



27. I eninloy three hands and a boy on my farm, 

 and pay .$300 a year for labor. 



28. I have 700 grafted apple trees. I carry the 

 fruit to Boston and Lowell markets; (600 of the 

 trees grafted since 1828.) 



29. I have 250 fruit trees ot different kinds, ex- 

 clusive of apple trees. 



30. My trees have not been attacked by canker 

 worms or borers, except two apple trees, which 

 were attacked by borers. I cut a hole in the tree 

 with a sharp pointed knife and run in a small wire, 

 which destroyed them. ( keep the ground around 

 the roots of the trees free from grass or weeds, 



31. I do not allow the use of ardent spirits on 

 my farm. Respectfully, 



ZACCHEUS READ, 

 Wcatjord, Od. 26, 1840. 



MR converse's statement. 



1. My farm consists of about 200 acres of improv- 

 ed land. 



2. The soil is mostly loamy; some swails. I 

 consider the best way to ditch and cart on loam or 

 gravel. 



3. I till from 12 to 15 acres ; plant about one 

 halfof that, and sow the other part, I put about 

 20 loads on the acre of my planting ground ; 10 

 loads green, spread and ploughed in, and 10 lo^ds 

 compost in the hill. 



4. I cart some manure on to my fields for plant- 

 ing in a green state, and make 200 or 300 loads a 

 year of compost. 



