No. 3. 



Farmins: in Western Keio Yorh. 



85 



unfermented state, and applied in pretty 

 heavy dressings, it is difficult to dispose of 

 it without covering it with the plough. He 

 has nineteen acres of Indian corn, planted 

 on sod, — with Emery's seed planter, — which 

 we thought as promising in appearance as 

 any we had seen this season. His fallows 

 are worked very thoroughly. He takes spe- 

 cial care that no weeds or grass shall grow 

 on them, frequently going over the fields 

 with harrows or cultivators. They are al- 

 ways ploughed twice, and sometimes more, 

 and at the" latter ploughings the soil is cut 

 into fine furrA'S, not less than seven and 

 sometimes nine inches deep. This frequent 

 working is undoubtedly of great advantage 

 to this stiff soil. 



His sheep have formerly been from 1,000 

 to 1,200 in number. Lately, however, he 

 has substituted cattle for sheep to a conside- 

 rable extent. He has at present sixty head 

 of cattle, forty of which are three years' old 

 steers, bought last fall and fed through the 

 winter in the barn-yard on straw, oil-cake, 

 and corn-and-cob meal. They are to be 

 turned oflT for beef whenever the market is 

 most favourable. Mr. J. thinks the feeding 

 of cattle in this way has some advantages 

 over keeping sheep. He can buy the steers 

 in the fall and generally sell them in the 

 spring, during which time they will have 

 consumed a large portion of his straw, and 

 with the other food that will have been given 

 them, will be fat. The summering of the 

 stock is thus avoided, and Mr. J. thinks he 

 will have more manure, which is a great 

 object with him, than he could make by de- 

 voting his farm as much as he formerly did 

 to sheep. 



Superior Cow. — Among Mr. J.'s cows, 

 several of which were full blood Short-horns, 

 we particularly noticed a half-blood cow, 

 five years old, which had produced her se- 

 cond calf about five weeks before. Seeing 

 that she was really a fine animal, and had 

 the appearance of an uncommon milker, we 

 made inquiries in regard to her. Mr. J. 

 told us that she had been regularly milked 

 three times a day, since she calved. When 

 the calf was about two weeks old, the milk 

 of the cow was carefully measured for seve- 

 ral days, and found to range from thirty-six 

 to forty-two wine quarts per day. She is a 

 well formed and thrifty cow, and notwith- 

 standing the very great quantity of milk 

 she afforded, was in good flesh. 



Under-draining. — Mr. Johnston is of opin- 

 ion that the winter-killing of wheat is caused 

 by too great a retention of water in the soil 

 and subsoil. In this we fully agree with 

 him. To obviate the evil he has resorted to 

 under-draining with tiles, of which he has 



laid 700 rods. The tiles are made by Mr. 

 Whartenby, of Waterloo, after a pattern 

 procured by Mr. J., from Scotland. They 

 cost at the kiln twenty cents per rod. The 

 drains are dug about two and a half feet 

 deep, or so low that the water does not come 

 up through the bottom. The digging costs 

 from eight to ten cents per rod, making the 

 whole cost of the drains, including the car- 

 riage from the kiln, about thirty cents per 

 rod. The tiles appear to be made in the 

 best manner. They are not in the least in- 

 jured by the weather, even when exposed to 

 the most severe frost. Where the bottom of 

 the ditch is firm, the tiles are placed immedi- 

 ately on it; if the ground is soft, a hemlock 

 board is laid down, on which the tiles are 

 placed. A little straw is laid over the tiles 

 and the earth which had been excavated is 

 then thrown on. 



The beneficial effects of draining on Mr. 

 Johnston's farm are very apparent. Places 

 which formerly would bear no wheat, nor 

 indeed scarcely anything but a kind of sour 

 grass and reeds, are made, merely by drain- 

 ing, to produce the finest crops of every de- 

 scription of grain. He is so well convinced 

 of the advantages of the practice, that he 

 has laid 400 rods the present season, and in- 

 tends to continue it still more extensively. 



Mr. J. is now beginning to turn his atten- 

 tion, more than he has formerly been able to 

 do, to the improvement of his buildings and 

 fences. Along the roads, he is removing 

 the rail fences, and substituting for them 

 neat and substantial board ones; and he is 

 preparing to remodel and repair his barns. 



Col. Sherwood's farm, at Auburn, consists 

 of 300 acres. From the state in which it 

 came into Col. S.'s possession, he has been 

 obliged to begin at the foundation, and pro- 

 ceed in most respects as if it were a new 

 farm. He' has not yet had time enough to 

 bring everything into the most desirable 

 state, though he has made many important 

 improvements, especially in buildings and 

 fences. His farm is laid out in a very con- 

 venient manner, and can be managed with 

 as much facility as any farm within our 

 knowledge. He has devoted much atten- 

 tion to the improvement of live stock, and 

 his herd of Short-horn cattle, and flocks of 

 Merino and South-down sheep, are distin- 

 guished as among the best in the country. 

 Of swine, he has Berkshires and Suftblks. 



Col. Sherwood's crops this season, are 

 forty acres of wheat, most of which we 

 thought very good ; four and a half acres of 

 Mulficole rye, which looked fair for a very 

 heavy crop; fifteen acres of barley; twenty- 

 two acres of Indian corn ; four and a half 

 acres of oats; four and a half acres of peas; 



