358 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



sat the milk, which is skimmed when twenty- 

 four hours old. Upon examination I found 

 that the cream was nearly one-fourth of an 

 inch thick on milk not over two inches in depth. 

 This place, I am told, was bought lor fifteen 

 thousand dollars, and might have been sold 

 since for thirty thousand dollars. It contains 

 seventy acres. I am more than ever con- 

 vinced than in trees and well-arranged walks 

 and grounds there is a positive value that will 

 be appreciated more highly as the years pass 

 by. 



Mr. Leonard Brown's Farm and Stock. 



Still farther east from Mr. Belmont's is the 

 farm of Mr. Leonard Brown, which extends 

 to the shore. He is an industrious and intel- 

 ligent firmer, who has no fear of investing 

 money in his business. He has sixteen good 

 cows, some of which show strongly the Dur- 

 ham blood ; being of large size and in good 

 order. The number of his oxen varies I'rom 

 time to time, — ^usually three or four pairs. 

 The neighbors say "Leonard Brown don't 

 care what price he pays for cattle, if he takes 

 a fancy to them, but ^oe havn't money to throw 

 away." He says, "I buy good cattle and 

 make more money on a pair that has been fed 

 some, than on a poor pair." His cattle are 

 tied in the stable, as is the almost universal 

 custom here, by the horns with a rope, with 

 about three feet slack. They stand upon 

 earth and not upon plank, and sand is used for 

 bedding. The cattle eat from the barn floor, 

 on both sides, — the oxen one side and cows 

 the other, with stable doors wide enough to 

 back in a cart to remove the manure or to 

 leave the bedding. 



The clear beach sand used by the farmers 

 is sometimes drawn three miles. On the 

 middle beach I saw at one time thirteen teams 

 after sand and gravel. This shows the enter- 

 prise of the farmers in increasing their manure 

 pile, and is a strong reminder that I and my 

 Vermont neighbors would do well to work 

 our deposit:s of muck for the same purpose. 



Mr. Brown has a flock of forty breeding 

 ewes. South Downs, from Tbos. B. BuflFum's 

 stock. I find sheep of this blood on many 

 farms from one end of the island to the other, 

 and learn that they give universal satisfaction. 

 He sold his lambs last summer for six dollars 

 each, and many of his ewes bear twins. He 

 has tried the cross of Cotswold buck upon 

 some of these ewes and the half blood lambs 

 seem to dress heavier than the full bloods. 

 The buildings, walls and lots do credit to their 

 owner. 



Mr. "Walker's Market Garden. 



Near by the last places mentioned is a mar- 

 ket gardener, Mr. Walker, who had at the 

 time of my visit in February, 37,000 cabbage 

 plants in cold frames for early marketing. 

 They were started in the fall in open ground, 

 and when large enough to transplant were set 

 closely together in the frames, and are kept 



cool to prevent growing. They were to be 

 set in the lot early in the spring, and mature 

 in July. Mr. W. considers it very desirable 

 to have stable manure freely mingled with the 

 soil, and then use concentrated manure near 

 the seed or plant. His compost heaps are of 

 soil, fish guano, stable manures and night soil. 

 The southern part of the island is very good 

 farming land and is generally well managed, 

 and the ready market for all produce, from 

 an egg to a fat ox, and the facilities for ob- 

 taining fertilizers from the city and the sea, 

 make success in farming almost certain. 



Col. Geo. E. "Waring's Thorough Draining, 

 Barn, Stock, &c. 



There is a farm of sixty acres in charge of 

 Col. Geo. E. Waring, Jr., author of Elements 

 of Agriculture, and well known as a writer on 

 draining, &c. This farm, I am told cost one 

 hundred dollars per acre, and during 1868 it 

 has been drained at an expense of another 

 hundred dollars per acre. It is situated on 

 an elevation that descends toward the west, 

 with ample fall to afford suflicient surface 

 drainage to satisfy most farmers. But it was 

 poor, cold, wet land, and a great work has 

 been done in putting down tile in ditches forty 

 feet apart. After draining it was ploughed 

 up and but little was raised last year. 



I found among the neighboring f irmers a 

 disposition to criticise and almost to censure 

 the expenditure involved in this improvement, 

 and ihey ask "what will he do with the land?" 

 For my part, I have faith in the tiles. With 

 this large plot of smooth land now in one field, 

 the partition walls having been removed, I can 

 see that soiling can be extensively and con- 

 veniently carried on ; all labor-saving ma- 

 chines can be used to advantage, and the soil 

 will be dry and warm and yield up its stores 

 of plant food whether the season is wet or dry. 



Then a spledid barn has been built with cel- 

 lar for manure, the size of which I did not 

 ascertain, but judge it to be 50x100 feet. 



First story of Col. Waring's Barn. 

 South. 



The south stable has stalls f. r two horses, two mules, 

 and tie» forpeveralJersey cows, which stand on ai-latted 

 floor thoutjh which Water passes rtadily. The ootted 

 lines repre.-'eiit a railway on which runs a Ciir with 

 ste.imed food, &c. Fig. - represents the pos-iti'n of the 

 steamer, and Fig. 3 a baml f jr ccokud food for bwine. 



