FARMERS' REGISTER— FARMING, &c. IN NEW YORK. 



545 



days. In a fortnight more, I plough it the wide- 

 esl way of planting:, twice between the rows, and 

 throw the ground towards the plant. I cut the 

 stalk above the ear as soon as the kernel in the 

 ear is hard, and secure the stalks in shocks. We 

 husk the corn on the hill, and two men will gather 

 100 bushels of ears in a day. The lot which was in 

 corn I put down the succeeding year to oats, and it 

 usually j)roduces about 40 bushels per .icrc. This 

 lot I seed down witii western clover seed about eight 

 quarts per acre. Two lots are in wheat, which 

 Avere likwise the year previous in clover sod. The 

 one was ploughed the first of August, and again 

 just previous to sowing in September ; the other 

 but once the last of August, or first of Septem- 

 ber, about a fortnight previous to sowing: these 

 lots iiad the benefit of my barn manure which was 

 scattered over such portions as I thought required 

 it most. I commonly sow about one bushel twelve 

 quarts |)er acre, and my common yield is about 

 twenty bushels of wheat per acre. Thus four lots 

 are employed : one in corn, one in oats, two in 

 ■wheat ; the remaining three are in pasture — mak- 

 ing seven, (besides the meadow.) Two of these 

 are again to be ploughed up in the fall for wheat, 

 and the remaining one is for corn the succeeding 

 season. The ex|)erience of twenty years has con- 

 firmed me in the belief that this is the most suc- 

 cessful mode of cultivation for our soil, and 1 have 

 at all events been satisfied with the amount of pro- 

 duce my farm lias yielded me. I annex a state- 

 ment showing the amount of produce, and the pro- 

 ceeds therefrom, of my form, for the year 1833. 



CR. 

 20 acres meadow, 2 tons hay per acre, sold 



at $7 50 per ton, .^300 00 



20 acres producing 1000 bushels corn, at 



62.J- cents per bushel, 625 00 



40 acres producing 800 bushels wheat, at 



81 06|, 850 00 



20 acres producing 800 bushels oats, at 37^ 



cents, ' 300 00 



500 bushels potatoes at 25 cents, 125 00 



3000 weight pork, sold at $5 50, 165 00 



Sold one beef, 25 00 



500 weight butter at 16 cents, 80 00 



225 lbs. wool at 50 cents, 112 00 



55 iambs, increase of my flock, 80 00 



The item of pasturage not put down, 



DR. 



To hiring 1 man per year at $ lOO 00 



To do. do. do. 7 months, 70 00 



To hiring 15 days in harvest, 13 12 



3| tons plaster, at S&7 50, 26 25 

 3i bush, clover seed at #7 50, 26 25 



Taxes, 15 00 



Mechanic's bills, 50 00 



^2662 00 



Income, 

 The farm sold at ^60 for two 



hundred acres, ^12,000 00 



Stock for working the farm 



and implements, 1,000 00 



S 13,000 00 

 Interest on this sum at 7 per cent, 



320 62 

 2341 38 



910 00 



Vol. I.— 69 



Gain, 



§1431 38 



Making the entire interest upon ^^3,000, after 

 deducting expenses, about 18 per cent. 



There are other profits from the farm not enu- 

 merated in the preceding statement, such as house 

 rent, garden, orchard, raising of poultry, &c. I 

 will put them against any little incidental expen- 

 ses not enumerated, but which they will be amply 

 sufficient to defray. The labor upon my farm is 

 performed by two men as above stated, but under 

 my own direction, and all our operations tend to 

 lessen the amount of labor as much as practicable, 

 and I find that nothing conduces more to this result 

 than to keep ahead of my work through the season. 

 For myself, I labor but moderately, but keep up a 

 constant supervision. I will only add, Uiat since 

 I have adopted the principle of total abstinence 

 from ardent spirits at all seasons of the year, I 

 think I have not only gained vastly in the amount 

 of work done by my men, but my farming busi- 

 ness has gone on more cheerfully. 

 Yours respectfully, 



TEUNIS HARDER. 



Columbia Co. ¥. Y. Dec. I8th, 1833. 



[The writer of the first of the two foregoing commu- 

 nications, fills tlie honorable station of Corresponding 

 Secretary of the State Agricultural Society of New 

 York, and is no less distinguished as a scientific agri- 

 culturist, than successful as a practical improver and 

 cultivator of the soil It is not only for the intrinsic 

 merit of his communication (which needs not our com- 

 ments,) that this new correspondent of the Farmers' 

 Register is most welcome — but also as indicating the 

 commencement of a friendly and instructive interchange 

 of opinions, and results of practice, between very dis- 

 tant members of the agricultural community. In this 

 resj)ect, we hope that the example of Dr. Beekman will 

 not be permitted to stand alone — and that many others 

 will be as ready to join in this plan of exchanging in- 

 formation — a kind of trade by which many (if not all) 

 will gain, and none can possibly lose. 



Notwithstanding the general opinion to the contrary, 

 we are satisfied that there arc as good farmers in Virgi- 

 nia, as perhaps in any part of the world — meaning by 

 that term, individuals who combine sound theory with 

 the practices which are most judicious and suitable to 

 their situation and circumstances, and who derive the 

 best profits from their capital, counting the improve- 

 ment of their farms as well as the amount and value of 

 annual crops. But it must be confessed that these 

 bright examples are "few and far between," and are 

 exceptions to our general practice. Besides — such far- 

 mers are almost confined to good lands, (or such as were 

 originally fertile,) and their management bas been deem- 

 ed unsuitable to poor soils — and therefore such exam- 

 ples have had no very extensive influence. Yet it is 

 precisely upon the great body of our lands, where these 

 examples have had almost no effect, and where there 

 has been scarcely any good farming, that the greatest 

 improvements may be cheaply made, and the gi'eatest 

 pi-ofitsare in prospect to all who will attempt a proper 

 course to reach them. The statements of Dr. Beek- 

 man, and of Mr. Harder, especially deserve the atten- 

 tive consideration of the cultivators of the poor sandy 

 soils of the tide water region of Virginia (and the Caro- 

 iinas) which poor as they are, are not worse in quality, 

 or in appearance, than the soils described in the forego- 



