No. 5. Visit to the Farm of the Hon. Daniel Webster, Marsli field. 



149 



lawn in front; to the west, the orchard; in 

 the rear, f^rass, and a larn^e fish pond, orna- 

 mented with a boat moored iipnn its surfiice, 

 which an apprentice boy, while eiinjinred in 

 paintinjr the house, took a fancy to convert 

 into a mimic man-of-war; to the eas^t, an ex- 

 tensive fruit, vegetable, and tlowor j^ardcn, 

 of three or four acres; and beyond this a 

 conical hill, crowned with a summer house. 

 When we visited this farm five years ajjo, 

 this hill had the appearance of a miserable 

 gravel-knoll, with a few stinted shrubs and 

 trees. It was now covered by a luxuriant 

 growth of young trees and shrubs, 10 to 12 

 feet high — among them many locust and 

 other trees which had been raised from seed, 

 and other species which had been trans- 

 planted. The belts had been formed in the 

 same way. In rear of the garden, and at 

 the foot of the hill, is an extensive poultry- 

 yard, well stocked with every variety of do- 

 mestic fowls, with a pond for the accommo- 

 dation of the aquatic tribes. In the rear of 

 the house, at the north-east angles, are car- 

 riage houses, stable and other outbuildings, 

 and a little further back, a large and well 

 constructed barn. 



From the piazza of the house, beyond the 

 belt of trees, and on rising ground, in a 

 westerly direction, the eye rests upon exten- 

 sive fields of grain, roots, &c. ; southerly, a 

 sheep pasture, in which we saw the Leices- 

 ter sheep, and further to the east, woodland. 



The house of the head farmer is seen to 

 the east, as the visitor enters the avenue to 

 the mansion, and back of it, extensive 

 ranges of cattle yards, piggery and sheds, 

 and another fine large barn, now in the pro- 

 cess of building, and nearly finished. There 

 is no cellar under the barn, but Mr. Web- 

 ster has hit upon a method to save every 

 drop of the liquid manure, and in the best 

 possible way. The planks composing the 

 floor of the cattle's quarters, or byre, as the 

 Scotch call it, are laid with an opening be- 

 tween them of about one half inch, and so 

 arranged as to be easily taken up. The 

 idea is to place about two feet of loam or 

 other earth, under the floor; this will absorb 

 all the liquid part of the manure as it runs 

 down through the openings, and in the 

 spring will be converted into the finest ma- 

 nure, when it is to be removed and replaced 

 by fresh mould. Instead of having the upper 

 part of the barn tight, he has purposely had 

 it fini^bed with crevices between the boards 

 above the byres, to admit the air; but the 

 byres are made tight by battens nailed on 

 the inside. Instead of losing all the room 

 over the drive-way, as is the case in barns 

 generally, there is a flooring over two-thirds 

 the length, leaving room for a large load of 



liay on the floor below, a door being provided 

 for the oxen to go out at the end of the 

 drive-way, while room is thus made for at 

 least twenty tons of hoy more than if the 

 barn was finished in the usual way. Byres 

 are arranged on each side of the drive-way, 

 and yards are being made on each side of 

 the barn, so that the stronger cattle may be 

 kept by themselves, and prevented from in- 

 juring the weaker. The yards are so ar- 

 ranged as to receive the sun, and protected 

 by sheds from cold winds. In addition to 

 the two large barns we have mentioned, we 

 noticed others at distant points from the 

 mansion. 



Mantires and Cro^is. — We have already 

 remarked that fish and other sea manures 

 were extensively used on Mr. Webster's 

 farm. Of the beneficial efi^ects of fish and 

 kelp on corn and grass, we were an eye 

 witness. A field of corn of fit^teen acres, 

 had been divided into four sections, and ma- 

 nured as follows: 1st section with fish; 2nd, 

 kelp; 3rd, stable manure; 4th, guano. On 

 the three first sections, the manures were 

 spread upon the sward and turned under; 

 the section where the guano was applied, 

 was turned over without manure, and the 

 corn dressed with the guano soon after it 

 had appeared above ground, and a second 

 dressing given at the last hoeing, at the rate 

 of ?500 lbs. to the acre. Forty loads to the 

 acre of stable manure, were applied to the 

 section dressed with that substance: the 

 quantity of kelp applied was indefinite, the 

 ground having been well covered with it, 

 without counting the loads. Fish were ap- 

 plied at the rate of ten loads, of thirteen 

 barrels each, to the acre. Taking the field 

 as a whole, it gave the appearance of a re- 

 markably heavy crop. The section manured 

 with kelp took the lead ; that with fish, next; 

 that with stable manure, next; and the sec- 

 tion with guano, behind the whole. The 

 quality of the soil of the different sections 

 was nearly equal, excepting that which was 

 guanoed, which had the appearance of infe- 

 riority. The corn on this section, we were 

 informed by the foreman, looked very unpro- 

 mising in the fore part of the season, but 

 was now evidently gaining more rapidly 

 than that on either of the other sections, 

 and he said it was im|K3Ssible to make a just 

 comparison until after harvest. 



On a mowing field, we saw the effects of 

 fish, that had bren applied since the grass 

 was cut. The contrast between that portion 

 of the field which had been "fished," and 

 that which had not, was very striking, in 

 the deep green luxuriant growth of the 

 aftermath on the one, and the russet brown, 

 dead-like appearance of the other. But 



