No. 11. 



James Gowen's Report. 



339 



acre. My reports on the condition of these 

 fields, and the aforesaid crops, are in pos- 

 session of the Society. The corn land was 

 in this year with potatoes and oats. The 

 potatoe, four acres, yielded over 200 bushels 

 to the acre ; the oats were very good — it is 

 now laid down with wheat and orchard 

 grass. This sketch, with your own per- 

 sonal observations, will aiford you some idea 

 of what I had to contend with, and what I 

 have accomplished in the way of improving 

 land, and the present condition of my farm. 



From the difficulty and expense in pro- 

 curing manure from the city, and after three 

 or four years experience in that mode of 

 Bupply, I gave it up, and adopted the plan 

 of making a supply on the place, by an in- 

 creased stock of cattle ; from which I have 

 derived my sole supply ever since, with the 

 exception of light dressings of lime and 

 gypsum, and a small lot of stable manure 

 which I was tempted to purchase a few 

 weeks since at auction, and which I can 

 dispense with, should I meet with a pur- 

 chaser before its removal in the spring. The 

 keeping and breeding fine stock had in itself 

 strong claims upon my judgment, as well as 

 my taste; as I could never think a farm was 

 what it should be, unless it could exhibit 

 fine cattle, as well as an improved culture. 

 To maintain this stock, and bring my land 

 to a high state of cultivation, by the most 

 efficient and economical practice, has been 

 a leading object; and to accomplish this, 

 required no ordinary management on such a 

 farm. The stock in cattle has ranged for 

 years, from forty to fitly head, in addition to 

 the necessary horses, with a large stock of 

 swine for breeding and fattening; and these 

 I have fed from the produce of the farm, ex- 

 cept the purchasing occasionally of some 

 straw, and supplies of mill-feed for the 

 horses and swine, and some meadow hay 

 for the cattle, selling frequently its equiva- 

 lent in timothy. During the same period I 

 have sold hundreds of bushels of rye, some 

 wheat, and on an average, four hundred 

 bushels potatoes annually, with some three 

 to four hundred bushels of carrots, besides 

 providing for the family. But the chief in- 

 come was derived from the cattle, of which 

 I shall speak more at large presently. 



My expenditures during the whole period, 

 could not be otherwise than large; as I could 

 not put up so much stone fence, and picket- 

 fence, as enclose my farm, without incurring 

 a heavy outlay; but I view these improve- 

 ments as cheap in the end. It may be safely 

 inferred, that there is not at this day, any 

 farm of the same extent in this part of the 

 country, that can so easily be worked, or will 

 require so little expense for a series of years 



in keeping the fences in order, especially 

 when the hedges are taken into account. I 

 am also of opinion, that taking in view the 

 condition of the soil, as to depth and rich- 

 ness, as well as its being entirely free of 

 stones and other impediments, that I can 

 make it produce as much as any farm of its 

 size in any part of the country, for a series 

 of years, and at as small an expense. 



The secret of keeping so large a stock on 

 so little land, consists m my practice of par- 

 tial soiling, and green crops, whereby \ make 

 some four to five acres do the work of thirty 

 acres, in the "slow and easy go way." From 

 May to August, my cattle are confined to 

 one or two fields, most commonly one, to 

 which they are driven, more for exercise in 

 the cooler parts of the day, than for pasture ; 

 they being fed in the stables, early in the 

 morning, at noon, and at night, with food 

 cut for them from a lot adjoining the barn- 

 yard. This food is generally of lucerne, 

 orchard grass and clover, oats and corn. 

 The patches from which the corn and oats 

 are cut, are always sowed with turnips in 

 August. No one can credit, unless he has 

 had proper experience in the matter, the 

 quantity of food that one acre of lucerne, 

 one of rich orchard grass and clover, and 

 one of oats and corn, afford from May till 

 Augyst, nor can he estimate the great sav- 

 ing in manure, much less the comparatively 

 good health of the cattle, from not being ex- 

 posed on naked fields, under a fervid sun, 

 toiling all day in search of food. This prac- 

 tice allows me to crop almost the whole of 

 the land, and to make some 120 to 150 tons 

 of hay annually. In the fall, from August 

 till November, the cattle have the whole 

 range of the mowed lands, as I do not cut 

 second crop grass for hay. Then for winter 

 feed, I have always an acre of sugar beet, 

 half an acre of sugar parsneps; half an acre 

 or more of carrots, for my horses ; and gen- 

 erally three to four acres of turnips. I re- 

 port to the Committee on Crops this season, 

 over 100 tons of these roots. In 1843, I 

 gathered from one acre, 1078 bushels sugar 

 beets, 60 lb. to the bushel ; carrots at the 

 rate af 687 bushels; sugar parsneps 868 

 bushels. This year 972 bushels sugar beets; 

 970 bushels carrots ; 700 bushels sugar pars- 

 nep; and from three and a half acres, 2500 

 bushels of turnips, sowed with timothy seed. 



The farm buildings consist of three sub- 

 stantial stone barns, one 70 feet by 33, ano- 

 ther 50 by 26, and another hipt roof with 

 cupola, 57 by 25, besides a large overshoot 

 stable and hay house, stable-high of stone, 60 

 feet by 30 — the lower floors of all these are 

 made of broken stone and lime, planked, 

 being vermin proof. There are also a corn 



