338 



Jamas Gowen's Report. 



Vol. IX. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



James GoAven's Report to Philadelphia 



Agricultural Society. 



To THE Committee on Farms: 



Gentlemen, — It is known to most of you, 

 that since I became a farmer, I iiave spared 

 no pains to fulfil the duties of the calling, 

 in a manner creditable to the commuity in 

 which I live, as well as to myself and the 

 Agricultural Society to which I belong — 

 that while improving my own practice, I 

 have endeavoured, by sundry means, to stim- 

 ulate others to compete with me in spirited 

 efforts, to arrive at excellence in the highly 

 useful and delightful pursuits of agriculture; 

 and to promulgate as far as in me lay, such 

 improvements and results, as were likely to 

 promote the general interests of the farmer. 

 In carrying out this object, I have as part 

 of the system, always been found competing 

 in crops and cattle, for the premiums offered 

 by "The Philadelphia Society for promoting 

 Agriculture." It is therefore in accordance 

 with this practice, that I now present my 

 farm, as worthy of note, when you come to 

 award the premiums committed to your dis- 

 tribution : in view of which, and in fulfil- 

 ment of the rules and regulations of the 

 Society, I submit for your consideration a 

 general statement of its character and con- 

 dition. 



The Homestead Farm contained, when I 

 removed to it in 1834, about 60 acres; since 

 then I have added to it by purchase, some 

 40 acres, all of which is contiguous; making 

 over 100 acres, exclusive of the Woodland 

 Farm in Cheltenham township, Montgomery 

 county, part of which is cleared and worked 

 by me, and is in fine condition, as you may 

 recollect from my communication on the 

 crop of rye, raised there in 1842. 



From long neglect and a bad practice, 

 previous to my coming on the Homestead, I 

 found it in every respect in a wretched 

 condition. The results of bad ploughing 

 and bad seeding, were visible in the un- 

 evenness of the surface ; and the perni- 

 cious weeds that seemed to have entire 

 possession. I at once took up the old fences 

 which divided about 40 acres into small 

 fields, ploughed it up, eradicated the briers 

 and brambles that filled so large a space 

 along those fences, and removed the stones 

 within ploughing depth. It was cropped ac- 

 cording to circumstances — alternately with 

 potatoes, corn, grain, &c., until the soil had 

 been brought into proper subjection in the 

 fall of 1839; when it was laid down for 

 grass, by sowing it with grain and timothy; 

 since which it has not been disturbed, with 

 the exception of about eight acres in rye, 



this year; and yet this last summer it cut, I 

 may safely say, two tons to the acre, and 

 expect it to do as well next summer, should 

 the season prove favourable. By this prac- 

 tice I brought every inch of the land to 

 bear, and saved ten years expense, or wear 

 and tear of the six fences which formerly 

 stood inside this section. The fields in fli- 

 ture will be divided by hedges of the Ma- 

 dura thorn, or Osage Orange, raised by 

 myself; four of these hedges already in, 

 with plenty of quicks on hand to supply the 

 remainder. These remarks you will please 

 observe, apply to the land lying on the 

 south-east side of the lane that divides the 

 farm. The land on the north-west side, op- 

 posite, called the Spring fields, was, if pos- 

 sible, in a still worse condition. Owing to 

 the swampy nature of part of it, and the 

 washings from the higher lands on the other 

 side the lane, the posts were every spring 

 thrown out of place as the frost left the 

 ground, while the ravines furrowed out by 

 thaws and heavy rains, set at defiance all 

 attempts at cropping or farming. To obvi- 

 ate the yearly setting up of the fences, 

 which was not only expensive, but vexa- 

 tious, I substituted a stone and lime wall 

 for the post-and-rail fence. The wall is 

 about half a mile long, is two feet below 

 the surface at every point, two feet broad at 

 base, and averages over six feet high from 

 bottom, ending with an eighteen inch cop- 

 ing. One large under-drain, with grating 

 at mouth, takes the water from the lane, 

 while several smaller drains keep the sur- 

 face of the land perfectly dry. The ravines 

 were well filled up, and ever since, for a 

 series of years, good crops of potatoes, corn, 

 grain and grass, have been taken, where 

 formerly grew spatterdock and rushes. 



The land added to the farm at sundry 

 times within the last five or six years, was, 

 in the general, in as bad a condition in many 

 respects, as the worst of that already de- 

 scribed ; indeed, it could furnish material 

 for a more repulsive picture than any that 

 has been drawn yet ; but as most of you have 

 repeatedly seen it in its original state, I need 

 not trouble you with a description. To show 

 its condition now, I need only remind you, 

 that two years ago I obtained a premium for 

 raising upwards of four hundred bushels of 

 Mercer potatoes to the acre, on this land ; 

 and that on the succeeding year, from the 

 same potatoe land I took upwards of fifty 

 bushels of wheat to the acre, without any 

 additional manure. Also, that last year I 

 submitted a field of some seven acres of 

 corn, on another portion of this land, which 

 yielded at the rate of 200 bushels of ears, 

 equal to 100 bushels shelled corn to the 



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