188 



Mount Airy Farm. 



Vol. V. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Mount Airy Farm. 



My Dear Sir, — In compliance with your 

 request, I herewith present you with an ac- 

 count of crops gathered from my Homestead 

 Farm in the harvest and fall of 1840. 



There is nothing remarkable in the yield, 

 save that in the aggregate, it is abundant, 

 considering the quantity of land under tillage, 

 its soil, and in many places, its untoward con- 

 dition for cropping. Nor is there anything 

 new in the practice ; the chief merit, from 

 the time of preparing the seed, until glean- 

 ing, being the economy, neatness, and effi- 

 ciency so perceptible in every stage of the 

 culture, of which I must be permitted to feel 

 proud : — and to you, Messrs. Isaac W. and 

 George W. Roberts, Robert T. Potts, &-c., of 

 " The Philadelphia Society for Promoting 

 Agriculture," who have had frequent oppor- 

 tunities of viewing the condition of the fields 

 and patches referred to, I submit whether I 

 am entitled to the distinction I seem to claim 

 for the style and manner in which the opera- 

 tions were conducted. 



With the close of the present year, I shall 

 have finished my apprenticeship to farming, 

 say five years, which, when it began, found me 

 as great a novice as ever entered a field ; and 

 now, with the characteristic vanity of the 

 " young and free," I think, from dungheap to 

 granary, I may not doft' my cap to any man 

 of clay in the country. It is not mere vanity, 

 however, that makes me say this ; it is the 

 desire to benefit the calling, and to encourage 

 others to persevere. I found, it is true, many 

 repulsive and discouraging circumstances in 

 my progress to the point at which I have ar- 

 rived ; but having put my hand to the plough, 

 I could not, I iDQuld not look back. Had I 

 consulted present interest and convenience, 

 however, I should never have arrived at the 

 headland, but left plough and team to finish 

 the furrow in their own way, and as they 

 best could. 



It may be inferred then from my position, 

 that I have made no money by cultivating the 

 soil for the last five years : neither have I. 

 Bos, the Farm, got all, and reaping all the 

 profit, it was but fair he should defend me, as 

 he did, against all loss, — and now that I am 

 " free," he shall, I promise you, give me in 

 future good wages for every job I undertake 

 for him. In fine, I am satisfied, from the pre- 

 sent condition of things on the farm, that, 

 with the blessing of Providence, and should 

 my life be spared for the next 5 years, I shall 

 derive as much income from the capital em- 

 ployed in farming, as will make as good a 

 percentage for the whole 10 years, as any 

 permanent fund for the same period can af- 

 ford. But, should I be disappointed in this — 



of which I have not a fear — I shall have the 

 satisfaction to think that I have added my 

 mite to the country's wealth, by the increase 

 of her products ; and that, instead of being 

 merely a consumer, I have been a producer ; 

 thereby furnishing to others the staff" of life; 

 and in having devoted so much of my time to 

 the improvement of those essentials on which 

 much of the health and comfort of my fellow- 

 citizens depend. 



I am, very respectfully. 

 Your friend, 



James Gowen. 

 23J December, 1840. 



Statement of Winter and Spring Crops, 

 raised by James Gowen, on his Homestead 

 Farm, Mount Airy, in 1840. 



WINTER CROPS. 



Sowed on the 14th Sept., 1839, 4^ acres 

 rye and timothy on potatoe land. In early 

 spring it looked promising, and on the 15th 

 May it was in bloom ; but exhibited an ap- 

 pearance of rust, which was mentioned to 

 many farmers, who, on examination, found 

 their rye in worse condition than it ; their 

 hopes of anything like a crop being entirely 

 destroyed. Produce, 12 bushels to the acre 

 — say 54 bushels. 



October 1st, sowed 5 acres red chaff" wheat, 

 with timothy, on oat stubble, well manured 

 from stable yard. 



October 8th, 8 acres with wheat and timo- 

 thy on corn land, manured in like manner : 

 both these patches, with the rye, had been 

 well Jimed the previous year. 



In early March I put the wheat under a 

 heavy roller ; and, with the exception of a 

 wet, clayey part of the field, that but a short 

 time previous was totally unproductive, the 

 whole was thoroughly rolled. This opera- 

 tion, at such a time — the stocking seeming so 

 perfect, and the plants so vigorous — was de- 

 rided by many who witnessed it. Some said, 

 " I had done for it — and the cows would har- 

 vest the crop." Others would ask " whether 

 I was going to plough it up," and thought " I 

 was acting wisely by rolling it, to make a 

 clean furrow." But I had long been accus- 

 tomed to such taunts, and had learned to 

 treat them lightly. I confess, however, in 

 about a month after, and when I saw my 

 wheat make so little progress, I began to fear 

 that the jokes cracked upon the Roller were 

 not so ill-timed as I had thought them to be, 

 for every one's wheat around me seemed more 

 forward than mine. In the beginning of June, 

 however, it made a start, and when in ear, it 

 put everything around it in the shade ; — all 

 other wheat in the neighbourhood being in- 

 jured by the fly, or lodged and rotting on the 

 ground, while mine stood erect, clean, and 



