vol,. X\I. XO. 37. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER 



291 



from the first described, und a thrifty lnrifC molhor, 

 breed unknown. Tlie last ii boar, procured to pre- | 

 vent bleeding in-and-in. Last fall, I killed three | 

 hogs, weighing together 1028 lbs., since which I I 

 have sold two shoals for $11, and nine pigs for | 

 $16 ."iO. The hogs 1 now have will probably weigh 

 400 lbs. apiece when dressed. j 



27. 1 feed them with slops, weeds, some pota- 

 toes, and some meal. After apples begin to drop, 

 [ give th-'"Mi as many raw as they will eat. and some 

 refnse peaches. When potatoes are fit to use, I 

 boil thcin sometimes alone, and sonictimes with 

 apples or pumpkins, and at first put a peck of meal 

 into a kettle containing 45 gallons, and increase 

 the proportion, as they need richer food. I give 

 them cliarcoal occasionally, and put salt into every 

 kettle of dough. 



28. Have about 60 loads of hog n'aniire. My 

 horse stable manure is thrown into the hog yard. 

 The other materials are as stated in answer to 

 question '2(). The drain from my sink runs into 

 the hog yard, and the manure from the necessary 

 is mixed with it when it is taken out in the spring 

 and fall. 



29. I hire one man by the year, for liiHO; and 

 one by iUp day, he making fair weather, when I 

 wish it. I pay him 3 shillings per day, e.xcept in 

 in July and August, when I pay him 4 shillings. 

 I have also a boy nine years old, and I hired a few 

 days work at planting, a few at haying, and a few 

 at mowing bushes. In all perhaps 20 or 25 days. 



I use between 40 and 50 cords of wood a year in 

 my family, and in the winter my men are employed 

 in cutting and hauling it, and in preparing it for 

 the fire, and in drawing mud. The wood is drawn 

 generally from two to four miles, and the mud 1 1-4. 



Before last year, I had no tillage or grass land, 

 except peat meadow, which was not on my home- 

 Btead, and on this not more than ten acres, that 

 was not wood land, or very rough pasture. These 

 with all the improvement I could make upon them, 

 would not yield near the hay and other produce I 

 needed. For several years, I paid more than $100 

 annually for hay. This was an expense I could 

 not well alTord ; and I concluded instead of pur- 

 chasing more land, to convert some of my rough 

 pasture into field land. In the years 183S», '40 and 

 '41, I employed much more help than I do at pre- 

 sent. In the spring of 183!>, I began to subdue a 

 piece of bushy pasture land, so full of stones that 

 tny neighbors told me I should never be able to 

 plow it. It lay contiguous to my barn, garden and 

 orchard, and contained 4 1-2 acres. During the 

 months of April, May and June, I employed from 

 6 to 10 men, and 4 or P oxen, in digging stones, 

 hauling them, and laying them in walls, and pre- 

 paring the grounil for planting. liefore an attempt 

 was made to plow, all the stones that appeared 

 above ground, and could be raised with bars and 

 levers, were dug and laid in walls. On one side, 

 a wall was built about 5 feel wide and 5 feet high ; 

 and the walls on the other sides doubled in most 

 parts. Afier every plowing and harrowing since, 

 the stones that could be removed, were laid in the 

 walls. Two acres were planted with corn on the 

 29th of May. On these were put GO loads of 

 compost. The crop was 72 bushels. On the 29th 

 of June the remainder was planted. One acre 

 with ruta baga received 20 loads of compost, and 

 the crop was 251 bushels. The remainder, 1 1-2 

 acre, was planted with potatoes. This received 

 only 20 loads of manure, and the ground being 

 very rough, the dressing was mostly put in the 



hills. The crop was 1()7 bushels. Thu next 

 year, 184(1, one acre was planted with ruta baga, 

 beets and carrots. 'I he remaining 3 1-2 acres 

 were planted with corn, except the outside rows. 

 The whole received 200 loads of compost. The 

 ruta bagas wore planted about as soon as the corn, 

 which was too early, and the crop was much less, 

 in proportion to the ground occupied, than those of 

 the small parts planted with beets and carrots. 

 The ruta baga yielded 215 bushels, the beets 28, 

 the carrots 29, the potatoes 13, and the corn 140 

 bushels, which was 40 bushels to the acre. In ad- 

 dition, on the corn ground were raised 2 cartloads 

 of pumpkins and 1 1-2 bushel of beans ; and on 

 the ruta baga acre, squashes, melons, cucumbers, 

 and other things worth $7. In 1841, the field was 

 sown with wheat and barley, and grass seed. The 

 wheal and barley good crops, free from blight ; but 

 being threshed at different times, I have not been 

 able to ascertain the amount of them. The crop 

 of hay this year was about two tons to the acre. I 

 think rather more two tons than less. 



Besides open ditches of more than 100 rods in 

 length, I have made ^S rods of subdrains, 177 rods 

 of single wall, 4 1-2 t'eet high, 25G rods of double 

 wall, from 3 to 8 feet wide, and from 3 1 -2 to 5 

 feet high. The pieces of land reclaimed amount 

 in all to 12 1-2 acres. 



30. My grafted apple trees are most of them 

 young or old trees, which do not bear much 

 fruit. I have 101 apple trees fully grafted, and 51 

 not grafted, or grafted only in part. I give most of 

 my apples which are not fit for market or family 

 use, lo my hogs and cattle. I commonly make a 

 s.mall pressing of cider for apple sauce, and for 

 vinegar. I have apple trees in my pastures, not 

 enumerated above, which bear apples enough in 

 some years, for 12 or 1.5 barrels of cider. 



31. I have 24 grafted or budded cherry trees, 

 and 37 mazzards, and several Kentish cherry trees. 

 It) budded peach trees, and 29 not budded ; 8 graft- 

 ed pear trees, 5 only in bearing; 8 small plum 

 trees, 4 only bear. 



32. Before I purchased my farm, the old apple 

 trees had been nearly killed by canker-worms, and 

 my neighbors advised me to cut them down ; but 

 by using tar for several years, the worms have disap- 

 peared. Many of the trees that were the least 

 promising, I have headed down and grafted, and 

 they promise to bear fruit. I have suffered very 

 little, if any, from borers. 



33. I do not allow the use of ardent spirit or ci- 

 der as a drink on my farm. 



Respectfully submitted, 



EPHRAIM ABBOT. 



Edson Sezlon's Stalement. 

 Ans. 1. Eighty acres in the farm. 



2. Soil, a mixture of sand and clay. 



3. I have not had experience in all the varie- 

 ties of soil on my farm. I plow t'rom 5 to 7 inches. 



4. I have found that where a loam consists of 

 sand and gravel, and has been plowed shallow for 

 years, that deep plowing has a good effect. 



5. On some parts of my farm, plaster is the 

 cheapest manure. But the most effectual way is 

 to use barn-yard manure with plaster. 



6. I usually plow about six acres of green- 

 sward, and use about 16 loads of manure to the 

 acre. 



7. Usually apply my manure in its green state. 



8. I sometimes spread and plow in, and some- 

 times harrow in. 



9. My common practice has been to plow in th« 

 spring and plant with corn or potatoes. 



10. I mow usually about 30 acres. The ave- 

 rage yield about 1 1-2 or I 3-4 ton per acre. 



11. Not any land irrigated. 



12. I sometimes use a light dressing on some 

 parts of my meadow, say five or six loads per acre 

 applied in spring. 



13. Not any low lands. 



14. I have not had any experience in either hog 

 or peat lands. 



15. Three acres of corn. A part of the ground 

 was plowed last fall, and part just before planting. 

 I plow in the best possible manner, and harrow 

 from six to eight times in a place, with a thoroiigh- 

 "oing harrow. I then furrow it both ways to ma- 

 nure in the hill. If I plant without manuring ici 

 the hill, I make a slight mark with a chain or 

 something prepared for the purpose. My seed 1 

 put into the ground dry. For two or three years 

 I have practiced giving my land a light dressing 

 with common manure and harrowing it in, and then 

 putting the manure made in my hog-yard into the 

 hill. The quantity of corn is from (i5 to 80 bush- 

 els per acre. The committee of the Berkshire Ag- 

 ricultural Society, appointed to view crops, have 

 estimated my corn, two years back, at 100 bushels 

 per acre. 



16. Four acres of potatoes. I prepare my 

 ground much as I do for corn, with the exception 

 of manuring in the hill, which I seldom do. For 

 three years past, I have scarcely planted a potato 

 with a hoe. I have made my green-sward so mel- 

 low that I could plant my potatoes with one-fourth 

 the expense with my plow. The average yield 

 this year, about 200 bushels per acre : two years 

 past, from 300 to 400 bushels per acre. The va- 

 rieties are Mercers, flesh-color, Rohans and Kid- 

 neys. 



17. One and a half acre of other vegetables: 

 three-fourths of an acre of carrots ; the rest round 

 turnips: the carrots yielded at the rate of 838 bu. 

 per acre — the turnips 500 bu. per acre. I shall 

 feed them to my stock. 



18. Sowed eight acres of grain — oats : four 

 acres about the first of May, and four about the 

 20th. It was plowed twice and harrowed thorough- 

 ly, say from four to six times in a place. I take 

 more pains in plowing and harrowing, than most 

 farmers in this section. Quantity of seed sown, 

 about three bushels per acre. 



19. Eight acres laid down to grass. Four acres 

 the first of May — the other four about the 20th. I 

 use about eight quarts seed per acre — two quarts 

 of clover and six of herdsgrass, sowed alone. 



20. Means of making manure rather limited. I 

 say limited, because my materials are not easy of 

 access. My practice is to go into the low grounds 

 and bring muck into my hog and cow-yards, some- 

 times rich earth from the highways, and frequently 

 go into the forests and gather leaves, which I con- 

 sider a good ingredient in making manure. I have 

 bought many loads of manure from the livery sta- 

 ble, which is profitable for me. 



21. Stock, usually one yoke of oxen, from four 

 to six cows, about six young cattle, one pair of 

 horses, and from 05 to 90 sheep. My barn is 32 

 feet wide and 42 feet long, with two sheds, 30 feet 

 long each, and 18 feet wide. I have no regular- 

 built cellar under my barn, but it stands four feet 

 from the ground, and I frequently put roots under 

 the floor, and can keep them until the first of Jan- 



