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Vol. XIX, Second Series. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y., JULY, 1858. 



No. 7. 



A LONG ISLAISD PKIZE FARM. 



In 1851, and also in 1852, the American Institute 

 awarded the first premium for the " best ciiltivated 

 farm of one himdred acres" to E. H. Kimball, Esq., 

 of Flatlands, Kings county, Long Island. The early 

 part of last month, we had the pleasure of visiting 

 this justly celebrated farm, and think a brief account 

 of it may not be uninteresting to our readers. 



The farm contains a little over one hundred acres 

 of arable land, and is situated about eight mUes from 

 New York, on the shore of Jamaica Bay, which 

 affords easy communication with the city by water. 



The soil is an exceedingly fine, friable loam, with 

 a thin layer of clay lying on a graveUy subsoil, 

 which affords excellent drainage. There is not a 

 stone on the farm. From its peculiar location, sea 

 weed and drift can be had in great quantities, and 

 they are placed in the cattle yards, where they are 

 converted into excellent manure. A considerable 

 quantity of manure is also brought from New York. 

 This is made into a compost with the manure of the 

 farm, muck, leached ashes, bone-dust, etc., the heap 

 being covered with sea weed and drift, which ab- 

 sorb the ammonia. The heap is turned once or 

 twice, till it is thoroughly rotted, and so fine that it 

 can be spread with a shovel without adhering to it. 

 The manure is applied wholly to spring crops, and 

 Mr. K. is undoubtedly right in decomposing it as 

 much as possible, as in such condition it acts with 

 great rapidity, and pushes the plants forward during 

 the early stages of their growth. He attributes 

 much of his success to this method of composting 

 manures ; but it must not be forgotten that the soil 

 is naturally rich, and also that manures are used 

 with great liberality. 



The principal crop raised on the farm is potatoes, 

 the main object being to get them early, while they 

 command a high price. They are planted in rows 

 three feet apart, and from ten to twelve inches in 

 the rows. The land is first plowed, and harrowed 

 tiU in fine tilth ; drills are then opened, and a sprink- 

 ling of Peruvian guano — say 50 lbs. per acre — scat- 

 tered in the drills ; the thoroughly rotted, composted 

 manure, previously alluded to, is then spread m the 



rows, and the seed planted on the manure and cov- 

 ered with the plow. Before the potatoes make 

 their appearance, the land is harrowed for the pur- 

 pose of breaking the crust and killing the weeds. 

 The cultivator and plow are fi-equently used, and 

 at the time of our visit nothing could exceed the 

 cleanliness and mellowness of the ground and the 

 luxuriousness of the crop. The varieties mainly 

 planted are the Early June and Blue Mercer. The 

 former are dug and sent to market before they are 

 fully ripe, and are sold at a very high price. As 

 soon as the early potatoes are dug, the land is 

 planted with cabbage, celery, spinach, or ruta 

 bagas. Celery is very profitable, and the necessary- 

 deep tillage and heavy manuring render the soil 

 exceedingly fertile for subsequent crops. Mr. K. 

 had four acres of celery last season, and intends to 

 plant ten acres the present year. 



Mr. Kimball has two rows of hot-beds, each row 

 about two hundred feet long and nine feet wide, 

 covered with sash. From these beds he has sold 

 this spring over $300 worth of lettuce, and the 

 beds at the time of our visit were occupied with 

 cucumbers, $200 worth having been already sold. 



A few acres only are sown with wheat — but 

 such wheat we have not seen elsewhere the present 

 year. It is the Mediterranean. Mr. K. formerly 

 sowed the Bergen wheat, a variety originating in 

 the neighborhood. It appears that Mr. Bergeji 

 discovered a single head of this variety growing in 

 a field of wheat. He kept it separate, and soon 

 raised enough to furnish seed for himself and neigh- 

 bors. It was known as the White Bergen^ and has 

 frequently taken prizes at the Fairs of the Ameri- 

 can Institute. Unfortunately, during the excite- 

 ment in regard to the Australian wheat, a few- 

 years ago, the Bergen was abandoned, and now 

 none can be found. It was an early and everyway 

 excellent variety, and far sitperior to the Australian, 

 which, in fact, is now little cultivated. 



In conjunction with underdraining, judicious ma- 

 nuring, and good cultivation, an early and produc- 

 tive variety of wheat of good quality would do 

 much toward enabling us to bid defiance to tliat 



