84 



Farming in Western JVew York. 



Vol. XII. 



bourers, singing at their work in the fields, — 

 with the cone-topped towers of some old 

 chateau lifting behind the wood, make up a 

 fresh bit of French picturing in my mind. 



Gentlemen's seats, with lawn, and gate 

 lodge, and park enclosure, and troops of 

 deer, come rarely under the eye in France. 

 The French character is not prone to rurali- 

 ties. Even the amusements of the peasant- 

 ry partake of a civilian character; dancing, 

 and music, and gallantries of speech, relieve 

 the tedium of field labour, in place of cricket, 

 or bathing, or fishing. Nor is it easy to find 

 a French peasant who does not wear a cour- 

 teous air. Even the old woman of the little 

 auberge, where you stop to lunch, receives 

 you with a ready polii.esse, that in the coun- 

 try districts of New York would pass for city 

 breeding. — Cultivator. 



Farming in Western New York. 



Mr. John Johnston's farm partly adjoins 

 Mr. Delafield's. Considering the disadvan- 

 tages under which Mr. J. commenced opera- 

 tions here, his success has been quite re- 

 markable. He came from Scotland twenty- 

 six years ago, and first purchased 120 acres 

 of the farm on which he now lives. The 

 land was so worn down by bad management 

 that he was laughed at for buying it, and 

 even the man of whom he bought, frankly 

 told him it would "bear nothing." Not in 

 the least discouraged, however, Mr. J. be- 

 gan, fully determined, as he says, that he 

 would make himself independent. His first 

 crops, as was expected, were light; but they 

 gradually increased, till by the fourth year 

 they were so heavy as to attract the particu- 

 lar attention of his neighbours, who had pro- 

 phesied so unfavourably. In the course of a 

 few years, he began to realize the fruits of 

 his labours, and seeing the prospect opening 

 brightly, he sent to Scotland for his family. 

 His farming continued to be more and more 

 profitable. Having paid for the first lot of 

 land, he bought more, and continued to make 

 additional purchases till he has now 306 

 acres in his home farm, and a farm of 200 

 acres in Yates county, — all paid for and in a 

 good state of improvement. Mr. J. there- 

 fore, now finds himself in the comfortable 

 state of " independence," for which he started 

 twenty-six years ago, with such a firm de- 

 termination of reaching. It is an important 

 fact, too, as well as agreeable reflection, that 

 he has reached this position unaided by spec- 

 ulation, having had no resource of conse- 

 quence but his hands and his farm. 



Mr. Johnston's principal products have 

 been wheat and wool. His soil is naturally 

 good, but has been greatly improved by sheep, 



which, with the adjuncts of deep and tho- 

 rough tillage, have been the chief instru- 

 ments in producing larger crops of wheat, 

 on the average, than have been obtained 

 from any other farm within our knowledge. 

 He usually has from fifty to eighty acres of 

 wheat in a season. His last three crops, — 

 for 1844, '45, and '46,— averaged thirty and 

 a third bushels per acre. The crop of the 

 present year appeared well, for the most 

 part, though like crops in general, it was 

 somewhat injured by the winler on that por- 

 tion of the farm which has not been drained. 

 The soil of this location, b^ngs, geologi- 

 cally, to the Hamilton shales. Its composi- 

 tion appears to be of the best character for 

 the production of wheat. Its excellence is 

 not, like most soils, confined chiefly to the 

 surface, but the earth to the depth of several 

 feet, or in some instances, to the underlay- 

 ing rocks, is equally fertile, after due expo- 

 sure to the air. In several instances, we 

 noticed on Mr. Johnston's and Mr. Dela- 

 field's farms, that where ditches and drains 

 had been dug, and the earth which had been 

 taken out was spread over the surface, the 

 wheat, barley, and oats were heavier than 

 in other parts of the field. In a field of bar- 

 ley, a ditch had been dug and the earth left 

 unspread on its banks. The crop was de- 

 cidedly more luxuriant on the bank of this 

 ditch than in any other place. 



Effects of Lime and Ashes. — Mr. John- 

 ston has frequently tried wood ashes on his 

 land, but could never perceive any effect 

 from them. He has also made frequent use 

 of lime, and with marked advantage. He 

 showed us three ridges or lands in wheat, 

 the two outside ones of which were limed, 

 and the centre was not limed. The supe- 

 rior stoutness of the crop on the limed lands 

 was obvious. Is there any theory which 

 will account for the beneficial action of lime 

 and the failure of ashes in this easel The 

 soil evidently abounds in lime — it rests on 

 limestone, and loose limestones are mixed 

 more or less through its surface. The earth 

 taken at various depths, from a few inches 

 to two and a half feet, effervesces strongly 

 in acids, showing that lime is one of its pro- 

 minent ingredients; and yet on this very 

 soil burnt lime produces extraordinary efl^ects. 

 This is not a solitary instance of the opera- 

 tion of lime in similar circumstances; we 

 have known several such, and Mr. Colman 

 informs us that in Europe the best action of 

 lime is frequently on limestone soils. 



Mr. J. prefers applying his barn-yard ma- 

 nures in the spring, to sward ground, which 

 is either to be planted to corn or used as fal- 

 low. The manure is spread and ploughed 

 in. As it is of a coarse nature, and in an 



